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 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

well our political correspondent thomas sparrow is with us here in the studio good morning thomas morning terry technically germany has been reunited for longer than it was divided and yet as we just saw many east germans are former east germans say that they still feel like 2nd class citizens in this country why has germany failed to recover a sense of unity among its people i think it's important to stress that germany has indeed advanced a lot in these last 3 decades that a lot of those differences have been at least reduced but as the german commissioner for german unity said there is still a way ahead the goal has not been completely achieved i think that has to do on the one hand with reality with that what linda just explained in her piece the fact that for example in the eastern part of the country salaries are lower pensions are different but there is a real difference between what people in the east and people in the west and the other one with perception and perceptions what do you specifically mentioned the fact that people feel that they are 2nd class citizens they feel that

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 i don't know 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 banaue. memorial and as you can probably see behind me the wall used to run exactly in the street it divided here family and friends and it stood rightly in front it's completely in front of many buildings here in van alledged haas and as such now it is one of the key memorials here in berlin and 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 901989 meant for people living here in berlin let's have a look. god the world must die what had seemed unimaginable became true on november 9th 1989. after 28 years a chink in the wall and suddenly immeasurable freedom. when i'm with my mother and my father over there can

been covering today's demonstration events in the german capital and our political correspondent thomas sparrow 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 not in one of the main memorials for the burning waldo memorial at the back and i watched the center of the german capital and this is one of the see 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 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 o

i spoke earlier with correspondent thomas sparrow who was at today's memorial event at ben i watched asa. we're standing here mariana and one of the main men morrill for the burning waldo memorial at the back now is tossed in the center of the german capital and this is one of the most important memorials i've just said on this is as 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. but also of the leaders of those 4 eastern european countries that we saw in our report are not such the leaders and not only the leaders but also young people that he referred to the political and the personal invitations not only of the wall as such of those 28 years that germany was divided but as well that 9th on november 989 the date of the berling wall fell and what came afterwards so as such what we discover today what we realized today right here at the end i watched morial was in a way a commemoration in various levels of commemoration in a personal level but also a commemor

well for some analysis thomas sparrow from our political desk is here with his crews good to see you told us technically germany has been reunited longer than it was divided thomas but as we just saw many many former east germans feel still feel like 2nd class citizens 30 years later yes why is germany failed to recover a sense of unity among its people well it's important to stress that germany has indeed achieved a lot since the fall of the wall the wall 30 years ago since those street demonstrations that led to the fall of the wall where people were fighting for for freedom for democracy and even back then many people didn't know what was going to happen afterwards in that story that happened afterwards is a story indeed that many consider to be a story of success a story where people managed to bridge that divide with the differences were reduced in many ways but as you said problems still remain and there is still a very big challenge for german authorities when it comes to trying to reduce some of the differences that still persist that we saw for example in libya as reported wh

to all political correspondent who has been following this is ceremony on proceedings for us thomas sparrowwho is poised at ben our shasta one of the main sites for memorials over the course of the day thomas just give us a sense if you were nischelle assessment of what the german chancellor had to say during her address. it was a solemn speech by the german chancellor who by the way is just walking beside where we are talking right now greeting young people who have different messages but you could also climate messages they have in their hands but it was a very solemn message by the chancellor in various ways it was solemn because she presented some stories of how the berlin wall affected people directly and that is something very important right here in baton our strother where we're standing because this is the memorial where people can understand that the burden will divided not only those who did but divided also families and friends it was also a clear acknowledgement of the role that for example eastern europe played in the fall of the bird in a waltz or such i think her speech but

. >> 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 pape