thomas spare reporting for us from the berlin wall memorial thank you very much. and as we've been hearing today's commemoration of events have also been honoring the memory of those who died trying to flee across the world and wall to escape communism and oppression w l 1st is standing by at the spot where the last person was shot dead trying to flee over the wall to west berlin so your heart tell us a bit about where you are right now. well when i was in the south east of berlin at the moment as you can see it's a recreational area it's a favorite of joggers and bike right as people walk along this here but 30 years ago just behind those trees was the wall and where i'm standing right now that was the infamous death strip that was sort of the border strip that separated east and west germany and this is actually the place where i'm standing right now is the very spot where chris get froyo died 9 months before the wall came down when he tried to flee to western germany and again here hide who was chris get froyo what can you tell us about him. well chris was a ve

the german capital and our political correspondent thomas farrow is standing by at the berlin wall memorial thomas it's kind of a gray and rainy day in berlin you've been watching the commemoration of events taking place what have you seen today. we're standing here mary i'm out in one of the main main morial for the burning waldo memorial at the barren hour in the center of the german capital and this is one of the most important memorials i've just said on this is such the place where the big political commemoration took place earlier this morning with the participation not only of german chancellor angela merkel and german president funk. but also of the leaders of those 4 eastern european countries that we saw in our report are now such the leaders and not only the leaders but also young people here refer to the political and the personal limitations not only of the berlin wall sucked of those 28 years that germany was divided but as well that 9th on november 989 the date of the wall fell and what came afterwards so our socks what we discovered today what we realized today right here at the pi

today's commemoration events here in the german capital with our correspondent thomas sparrow at the berlin wall memorial and here in the studio i'm joined by john barrack it's great to see both of you now thomas i'd like to start with you tell us a bit about the events of this morning at the commemoration at barito as tosser. arianna we're standing now at the bernauer. memorial this is one of the most important in wall memorials right here in the center of the german capital it was not far away from here where the wall actually stood on the wall that by the way stood right in front of many buildings that dividing families dividing friends on a such today is a very powerful symbol not only of division but also of that division that was later overcome when the burden wall fell 3 decades ago and we're standing now actually you know places where people after the official ceremony they could actually come here leave a rose as you can actually see there's music behind me and people are attending that sort of improvised concert so this on the one hand was obviously a very political event with chancellor angela

and the berlin wall memorial here in the capital one of the main spots where celebrations are taking place today is my colleague thomas sparrow we can join him now thomas tell me more about where you are exactly getting the you mention that this is one of the key spots where the amount of events will be taking place today here in berlin this is the ben hour. memorial and as you can probably see behind me the wall that used to run exactly in this street a divided family and friends and it stood right in front it's a completely in front of many buildings here in van allen and such now it is one of the key memorials here in but it's also by the way a moral where people can learn a lot about how that division in german history was overcome and what the 9th of november 989 actually meant and we've got a piece where we can show exactly what the night on the 989 meant for people living here in berlin let's have a look. was the wall must go what had seemed unimaginable became true on november 9th 1989. after 28 years a chink in the wall and suddenly immeasurable freedom. and what i my mother and my father over there can i go

thomas aspira the berlin wall memorial here in the capital and in the studio i'm joined by john beric great to see you both thomas i'd like to start with you then because tell us what is in store where you are. we are right here as you said in the wall memorial in the center of. the wall divided this city you can probably see part of the memorial behind me on a such this was a very powerful symbol of german education by the way it was also a powerful symbol of how that division was overcome 30 years ago and the political commemoration will take place here in just a while that commemoration will have a presence of on that i'ma call the german chancellor also the german president flanked by shimei are as well as the leaders of various countries like poland czech republic slovakia and hungary and the idea behind that is to show that the fall of the berlin wall 30 years ago was not only due to the protests in eastern germany was not only due to germans but it was something that went well beyond germany and where eastern european countries like the one that i just mentioned played a very i

>> thomas sparrow, a correspondent for deutsche welle, you can see their english programming on their website, dw.com. we are asking you your thoughts, your memories of the follow of the berlin wall. we are asking you your thoughts of the fall of the berlin wall, 30 years ago today, this is cristina and maryland ohio. got to get that right? >> christina. >> i have lived in ace germany and west germany, we were naturalized germans in 1944. we were polish, born in 1933, and i remember that we went, and were naturalized, so my father could continue working. i was separated and in the hospital in 1944. and that was taken across the border, because the russians were moving in and the germans were evacuating the hospital, so they put me on the train and i ended up in mecklenburg, in germany, without parents. i was about 10 years of age, maybe about 12. a lot of things have happened since then. i lived in east germany for a total of five years. in 1950, i escaped from behind the iron curtain into west germany. notice here, i have letters from berlin. i was supposed to show up and get my papers so that i could go back to poland, and i did not want to go back to poland. when i escaped, i