the participation not only of german chancellor angela merkel and german president punk rocker steinmeier but also of the leaders of those 4 eastern european countries that we saw in our report i'm not such the leaders and not only the leaders but also young people he referred to the political and the personal implications not only of. such of those 28 years that germany was divided but as well that 9th on november 989 the date of the burden for the wall fell and what came afterwards so our socks what we discovered today what we realized today right here at the piano was tossed morial was in a way a commemoration in various levels of commemoration in a personal level but also commemoration in a political level and something else that i believe was particularly important is the fact that lessons can be drawn from the 9th of november and that was something that was also stressor day in particular by the young people attending what they can learn from that very important day and what that means not only for them but also for the future of germany and thomas also the chancellor herself talked

german president from walter steinmeier and the u.s. ambassador to germany were also in attendance as it were for eastern european leaders whose countries were played a role in ending the cold war. well d.w. has been covering 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 ac

this we heard from germany president frank steinmeier was that the official celebrations early on we heard from michelle. the mayor of reminded 6 lynas that those who enjoy freedom also responsible for the freedom of the future and this is listen to what the german president steinmeyer said there was a lot to read between the lines. is the the origin today isn't just about the old pictures on the highs of days gone by. then we can feel that today is for us to mourn today's about union our country was a day when we remember the brave people back then with gratitude and maybe even tears in our eyes. and we can't just sit by and watch as that for which they fought is forgotten. like started over to go can be dust can't allow people to be excluded and attacked. from next to us just mentioned democracy to be disrespected and our solidarity destroyed their sticks of gum and hardened can't allow that to happen. via next to nothing thank you. and quite clearly meant was the far right if the posse didn't leave which has an extreme right wing this is also looking at looked at very closely by t

simon young there meanwhile german president frank felt the steinmeier has involved invited rather the heads of state of poland the czech republic hungry and slovakia to berlin for the celebrations the invitation is official recognition of the role these countries played in bringing down the berlin wall. paving the way to democracy poland became the 1st country in the warsaw pact to tolerate an independent trade union solid on the also on a diety in english this led to the 1st semi free elections in june of 1989. during the same month activists held a protest picnic in hungary officials allowed them to cut its border fence to austria. thousands of east german holidaymakers seized the opportunity to enter the west in the summer of 1909 more and more east german refugees escaped the country via hungry and the former czechoslovakia then in september 1989 the west german foreign minister. addressed the thousands of refugees who had been stranded in prague. from the balcony of the west german embassy he announced that these east german citizens were allowed to enter the west freely. ossifie

he was saying in your introduction the chancellor angela merkel the president of germany also mr steinmeier are at a memorial ceremony in a different part of the city right now a place called better knowledge that is where when the wall was built back in august 1961 the wall went through streets and it divided people from their friends and families in a very serious and very real tangible way images viewers might recall of people jumping out of. the houses in the east the land on the street in the west so desperate was their desire to be free and so that's taking place right now and then later in the day there will be a special event being held at the brandenburg gate a an icon for all germans of germany a place where president reagan came in 1907 to say to the soviet leader mikhail gorbachev tear down this wall well this evening there will be a special ceremony there and musical festival as well where many people will be able to commemorate this iconic moment in german history and dominic 30 years on there are still plenty of divides in germany inequality racism the rise of the far right h