BERLIN – Tens of thousands of people celebrated 35 years ago the Berlin Wall fell Open-air concerts, art installations and official events commemorating one of the country’s most historic days took place in the German capital on Saturday. 9 November 1989.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was “a lucky day for which we Germans are still grateful.”

Built in 1961, the Berlin Wall was at the forefront of the Cold War between the Americans and the Soviets for 28 years. It was built by the communists to separate East Germans from the so-called ideological contamination of the West and to stop the flow of people fleeing East Germany.

It had opened a 156.4-kilometer (97.2 mi) stretch through the heart of Berlin and the surrounding countryside, and through hearts from most of its people. But when the border opened 35 years ago, the country was less than a year away from reunification on October 3, 1990.

Today, only a few sections of the wall remain, mostly for tourist purposes.

For Saturday’s anniversary celebrations, event organizers created a temporary wall of 5,000 posters designed by children and adults under the slogan “We defend freedom”, which attracted a steady stream of visitors, including many foreign tourists. It stands along a four-kilometer (2.5-mile) section of the old wall in downtown Berlin.

The posters combine the demands of East German protesters against communist authorities in the autumn of 1989, such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of travel, with today’s wishes, and were created as part of workshops held in schools, parishes, and local institutions. arts groups and cultural projects.

“Support freedom, because without freedom everything else is nothing,” Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said at the official anniversary event at the Berlin Wall Memorial with Mayor Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

“Freedom and democracy have never been a matter of course,” the mayor said, warning that both were now under attack from many sides.

On Saturday night, 700 professional and amateur musicians were expected to play songs simultaneously on different stages along the path of the old wall.

Among other songs, they planned to perform David Bowie’s “Heroes” and German rock star Marius Müller-Westernhagen’s “Freiheit”, or freedom song. The lyrics will be displayed on the screens so the audience can sing along.

Russian opposition group “Cat Revolt” He is expected to take the stage on Sunday as the highlight and closing of the anniversary celebrations.