Twentieth anniversary: the collapse of a wall that shook the world

The week of Remembrance Day was a time of remembrance for reasons outside of Nov. 11.
While countless gathered to remember fallen soldiers from past wars, as well as soldiers who lived to pass on the memories of those two destructive wars, many gathered Nov. 9 for another cause of remembrance.
November 9 marked the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, that became more than just a symbol of unity for the country of Germany and continues to mean more and more to the world with every year of recollection.
One thousand plastic foam dominoes where the wall once stood toppled one-by-one as part of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the wall's collapse in Berlin. Painted by school children across the world, these 2.3-meter-tall blocks stretched for 1.5 kilometres and fell one after another - with planned stops for speeches and memorials.
"The Berlin Wall - cold, ugly, overbearing, despised - was not just a physical barrier that divided the city between East and West, and separated families, friends and neighbours," said Elizabeth Vlossak, History Professor at Brock University. "The wall became a symbol of a Europe divided since the end of the Second World War. It became the embodiment of the 'Iron Curtain'. The wall was both a physical and psychological reminder of the great tragedy that had befallen Europe, but also of the Cold War more generally."
In vastly different times, this 20th anniversary's celebrations brought all 27 European Union leaders together, as well as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who attended ceremonies in Berlin on Nov. 9.
"I was a teenager and living in Europe when the wall fell," said Vlossak. "I remember watching the events unfold on television. It was surreal; nobody had expected it.
"I'll never forget those images or how it felt to witness this moment. I'll also never forget seeing my father cry as he watched men and women chip away at those hated blocks of concrete and celebrate their victory over oppression."
This profound reaction was one shared by many, as the world watched in awe on Nov. 9, 1989.
Twenty years later, the world finds the first leader of reunited Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel, taking a ceremonial walk acrossed the Bornholmer Strasse Bridge from formerly divided East Berlin and West Berlin with former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former Polish leader Lech Walesa, two figures who were instrumental in the end of the communist system.
Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, dubbed the collapse of the Berlin wall as one of the happiest moments of her life.
"The wall represented the brutality of the communist system," said Vlossak. "Its destruction was both very real as well as a symbolic final act in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
"We were not only celebrating the end of a divided city and the first step toward German reunification, we were also celebrating an event that marked the end of a divided Europe, the end of European communism and the end of the Cold War.
"A dark chapter was closed. A new era began. And freedom, democracy and the will of people were triumphant.