Prime Minister Stephen Harper marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall

November 09, 2009

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper today attended a commemoration ceremony marking the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  The ceremony took place at the Government Conference Centre in Ottawa, where a piece of the Wall is on public display.

“The point of no return was reached 20 years ago today, on November 9, 1989.  That is when, with the world watching, thousands of Germans from the east poured across a border that would soon cease to exist.  They chose with their feet the principles long upheld by Canada and our allies, embracing freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” said the Prime Minister.  “Border guards at first uncertain in the face of so many, became unwilling, and were quickly unable, to stop them.  The life had gone out of the communist system.”
 
For almost thirty years, the Berlin Wall separated East Germany from West Germany, a tangible symbol of the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc.  On November 9, 1989, the government of the former German Democratic Republic announced that travel restrictions had been lifted and that citizens could visit West Germany.  In the following weeks and months, citizens began tearing down the concrete division and poured across the border, escaping Communism and finding freedom.

Prime Minister Harper used the occasion today to announce that the section of the Wall housed at the Government Conference Centre since 1991 will be moved to the Canadian War Museum.  It will be made available for public viewing.

“I am pleased to announce that this section of the Berlin Wall will be relocated to the Canadian War Museum as an important relic of the Cold War,” said the Prime Minister.  “There, it will honour the men and women of the Canadian Forces who served during that confrontation.  It will also complement the memorial to the Victims of Totalitarian Communism, planned for the capital region by Tribute to Liberty.”

The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, is participating in the Berlin Wall Commemoration Ceremony today.  This ceremony will mark the 20th Anniversary since the Wall came down.  The Canadian Forces (CF) were stationed in Germany for 40 years during the Cold War, with nearly one million CF members and their families stationed in Germany during that period.  The heavily-guarded Wall separated East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989.



Backgrounder

20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

November 9, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, an event that will be commemorated around the world.  For Canada and its citizens, the fall of the Berlin Wall holds a special significance.  It marked the culmination of forty years of foreign policy objectives pursued in partnership with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies.  It also reminds us that Canada has welcomed tens of thousands of newcomers fleeing communist regimes.

It was during the ‘Open Skies’ Conference in February 1990 in Ottawa that an agreement was reached between the foreign ministers of the Federal Republic of Germany, the then German Democratic Republic, France, the United Kingdom, the now-defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States to commence the historic ‘Two-Plus-Four’ talks which led to the reunification of Germany.

In 1991, Germany gave Canada an original piece of the Berlin Wall.  This piece, which measures approximately one metre wide and more than three metres high, is presently located at the Government Conference Centre in Ottawa.  It will be moved to the Canadian War Museum for public viewing.

Two organizations – Tribute to Liberty and its partner the Open Book group – are proposing to erect a commemorative monument to honour the approximately 100 million lives lost under Communist regimes.  The monument would recognize the experience of the many Canadians who emigrated to escape these repressive regimes and pay tribute to Canadian ideals of liberty, freedom, democracy and human rights.  The monument is to be entitled Memorial to the Victims of Totalitarian Communism – Canada, a Land of Refuge.

According to the organizers, the design and construction of the monument is expected to begin in the fall of 2010 and an unveiling ceremony is scheduled for November 2011.