— Germans mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall with rallies, memorials and exhibitions

— Leaders of Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary lay roses at a Wall memorial

— In Berlin, young people from all over Europe share their perspective on the continent's future

All updates in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC/GMT)

21:02 DW's Kate Brady has just posted a video of the fireworks display in Berlin, saying: "Fireworks over Berlin's government district as Germany marks 30 years since the #FalloftheWall on November 9, 1989. It would be another decade before German parliament, the Bundestag, officially returned to the Reichstag building in April 1999."

Earlier this evening, Kate reminded us of the contribution of Berlin swimming pools. She said: "Berlin swimming pools contribute to remembering the #FalloftheWall, 30 years ago today, with an offer for saunas. "The Berlin Movement: Don't sweat anymore." German Chancellor Angela Merkel famously said she was relaxing in a sauna on the night of November 9, 1989."

Also, check out Kate's article on today's commemorations as she reports from Berlin: Germany's Steinmeier warns of 'invisible' walls that threaten social cohesion.

20:12 Speaking to thousands of people at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an emotional speech: "This evening, we stand here with gratitude, even with tears in our eyes."

19:26 On a slightly sour note, DW's political correspondent in Berlin, Peter Craven, feels that "massive resentment" still exists among people in eastern Germany, reminding us that well over half of Germans living in the former East German states "view themselves as second-class citizens."

"I found a very interesting example that might help explain this," Craven continued. "Of all the colleges, universities and centers of higher education in eastern Germany, of which there are dozens, maybe 80 plus, how many have got directors who are from the east?" he asked rhetorically. "The answer is zero."

19:09 The UK delegation to NATO has piled in on the David Hasselhoff memories by posting a video on its Twitter feed of the iconic moment "The Hoff" sang at the Berlin Wall to see in the New Year.

18:37 A Berlin-based citizens' group on Saturday tried to deliver a section of the Wall to the White House in Washington but were turned away. The move was conducted as a way of reminding US President Donald Trump of a world without walls and a free society, the group said.

The 2.7-ton slab is an original from the barrier that divided the two parts of the German capital, Initiative Offene Gesellschaft (Open Society Initiative) said. A group representative told news agency dpa that the delivery was rejected.

Trump has seemingly snubbed the gift from the citizens' group

The piece of wall is inscribed with a letter to Trump saying that "no wall lasts forever."

"We would like to give you one of the last pieces of the failed Berlin Wall to commemorate the United States' dedication to building a world without walls."

The group remain undeterred and will make further attempts to deliver the slab. If they continue to be unsuccessful, the group would like to take it on a tour through the US.

Watch video 07:28 Share The Day: German activists send Trump a piece of Berlin Wall Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3SjBq The Day: German activists send Trump a piece of Berlin Wall

18:19 Soccer fans tore down a symbolic "Berlin Wall" placed across the center of the pitch at Hertha Berlin's Olympiastadion prior to the Bundesliga game against Leipzig on Saturday.

Hertha had a retro scoreboard for the day and wore white shirts with a Berlin bear on the front, to replicate the jerseys that Hertha players wore in their first match after the fall of the Wall.

The home support had little to celebrate come the game's end as Leipzig went on to win 4-2.

18:12 Here is a moving piece as Abeje Gadle, who moved to former East Germany as a student, reflects on the period before the Wall fell, as well as the consequences.

17:19 Still no sign of US actor and sometime singer David Hasselhoff. "The Hoff" famously sang his song "Looking for Freedom" at the Berlin Wall on New Year's Eve 1989, just weeks after the Wall came down.

Here is Hasselhoff belting out his song "Looking for Freedom" in an iconic moment as 1989 came to an end. Many will remember his scarf as much as the performance itself

16:46 US President Donald Trump has weighed in as he praised Germans on the "tremendous strides that have been made in reuniting their country and in rebuilding the former East Germany."

Trump's statement continued: "The eyes of the world watched as a generation of East Germans reclaimed their God-given liberties with each successive swing of their hammers."

He added that for decades East German propaganda "touted the existence of a thriving workers' paradise on their side of the wall. Yet the dilapidated apartments and depleted grocery stores told a different story."

Trump also echoed the sentiments of his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, as the president sent a warning to regimes that try to limit freedom. "Let the fate of the Berlin Wall be a lesson to oppressive regimes and rulers everywhere: No Iron Curtain can ever contain the iron will of a people resolved to be free."

Compelling attempts to escape the GDR Across the Baltic in a dinghy Not everyone in the former East Germany waited until the Wall came down to go west. In 1977, a truck driver from Dresden daringly set out with his wife and daughter in a tiny rubber boat across the Baltic Sea. Fifteen hours later, a fisherman took them on board his trawler and brought them safely to Lübeck in the West. It should be noted, however, that many others died trying to flee by sea.

Compelling attempts to escape the GDR The other shore In 1974, biologist Carmen Rohrbach swam out from the GDR into the Baltic with her boyfriend, a rubber boat in tow. Before they could make it to Denmark, a search light went on. They released the boat and continued swimming. Captured by East German guards, Rohrbach then spent two years in prison. Today, she's still an adventurer, traveling far and wide for her research and book-writing.

Compelling attempts to escape the GDR Swimming to freedom Axel Mitbauer, a GDR national swim team member, used pure muscle to flee. In 1969, the 19-year-old swam across the Baltic Sea from Boltenhagen to Lübeck's bay area when guards turned search lights off to allow them to cool. "I had one minute to cross both the first and second sandbanks," he recalled. He smeared himself with masses of petroleum jelly to protect himself against the icy temperatures.

Compelling attempts to escape the GDR Ocean escape Over 5,000 people tried to escape the GDR via the Baltic — by boat, air mattress, swimming or even submarine. At least 174 adults and children died in the endeavor. According to Bodo Müller, who wrote a book with his wife Christine entitled "Across the Baltic Sea to Freedom," 901 people actually succeeded between the Berlin Wall's construction in August 1961 and its fall on November 9, 1989.

Compelling attempts to escape the GDR Up from the depths There were the more classic escape attempts, such as by this woman, who is pictured being pulled out of a West Berlin shaft in October 1964. The shaft led to an escape tunnel connecting East to West Berlin. One of several ingenious underground border crossings, 57 people escaped through the so-called "Tunnel 57" over two days before it was discovered in an East Berlin street.

Compelling attempts to escape the GDR Taking the leap 19-year-old East German policeman Conrad Schumann escaped on August 15, 1961 by jumping the hastily-constructed barbed-wire fence that made up the new border erected just two days before. The image circulated around the world, with Schumann ostensibly the first of over 2,000 East German police and soldiers who made the attempt. Schumann committed suicide 37 years later in 1998.

Compelling attempts to escape the GDR Rear window In September 1961, this woman first pushed her dog and then her shopping bag out of this window and into a rescue net provided by West German fire fighters. Though some people tried to pull her back into the building that stood on the border in East Berlin, she persisted and climbed out a back window to freedom in West Berlin.

Compelling attempts to escape the GDR Slaughterhouse 14 While most attempted escape by foot, thus risking being shot or stepping on mines, one group was exceptionally inventive. In September 1964, 14 East Germans, among them children, were smuggled across the border in a refrigerated truck as they lay under the carcasses of slaughtered pigs being transported to the West.

Compelling attempts to escape the GDR Up, up and away Surely the most compelling of escape attempts was by hot air balloon. In September 1979, two daredevil families — including four children aged 2 to 15 — successfully floated across the sky from Pößneck, Thuringia to Naila, Bavaria, then situated eight kilometers (five miles) south of the Iron Curtain. They reached a height of 2,500 meters (8,200 ft.) in the homemade balloon.

Compelling attempts to escape the GDR Inspiring tales That endeavor inspired both the 1982 British-American film, "Night Crossing," as well as the 2018 thriller, "Balloon," directed by Michael Herbig. Author: Louisa Schaefer



16:05 Slovak President Zuzana Caputova has tweeted a photo of her placing a flower in Berlin. She expressed her gratitude to President Steinmeier and extolled the virtues of freedom: "Fall of Berlin Wall together with the revolutionary changes in V4 is a fascinating story of desire for freedom and democracy. Glad to commemorate it together. Thank you President Steinmeier for hosting us in Berlin today."

15:00 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has tweeted his take, along with a photo of a section of the wall outside the organization's HQ in New York. He posted: "This segment of the Berlin Wall in our NY Headquarters is a daily reminder of the artificial divisions sometimes created to separate us — but also of our power to dismantle them and create a better world, together."

14:53 German rock star Udo Lindenberg, once banned by GDR authorities, said that the events of November 9, 1989, were "the best party of [his] lifetime."

"Germany became wider, I'm still as happy as if it were yesterday," he wrote on Twitter. He also spoke to DW ahead of today's commemorations.

14:36 Outgoing European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker described the fall of the Wall as a "peaceful revolution," which was pushed through by people who "risked their own freedom to achieve freedom for all."

"Instead of suffering history, these people made history," he said.

14:02 French President Emmanuel Macron praised the people who pushed for the end of Germany's divide.

"The Berlin Wall did not fall 30 years ago," Macron said in a tweet published in French and German. "It was brought down by the bravery of thousands of people who desired freedom, paving the way to German reunification and European unity. Let us also be brave and worthy of their expectations."

13:55 "East Germans brought about the end of the former East Germany. They courageously stood up for democracy and then essentially had to restart their lives in a reunited Germany, and their accomplishments have still not received the recognition they deserve," says DW Editor-in-Chief Ines Pohl in her opinion piece on the fall of the Berlin Wall. "Now this willful ignorance is coming back to haunt us."

Watch video 00:46 Merkel urges Europe to defend its values

13:24 Speaking to DW from Berlin, Istanbul mayor and opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu warned against political polarization.

"Walls do not always have to be physical," he said. "They are not necessarily made out of concrete and iron bars. Sometimes, two people can stand side by side but an insurmountable wall exists between them."

13:14 Locals are now lighting candles at the Berlin Wall memorial in Bernauer Strasse, after German leaders and foreign guests attended a ceremony at the site.

12:56 A convoy of Trabants, iconic East German cars, rumbled through Berlin on Saturday in honor of the wall's destruction 30 years ago. When the GDR officials opened the gates, East Berliners rushed through the gates on foot and in their Trabis and Wartburgs.

12:45 The events marking the fall of the Wall and reunification go beyond the once-divided city of Berlin. In Leipzig, authorities staged an exhibition dubbed "Point of No Return" to show how East German artists saw the great transformation unleashed by the events of 1989.

12:01 Thousands of people rushed to the West when the GDR authorities first opened the gates 30 years ago, and many more followed in the decades afterwards to find work in the richer German states. Today, the former East Germany is facing a shrinking population. DW's Carl Nasman reports from the town of Eisenhüttenstadt.

11:45 Italian President Sergio Mattarella described the fall of the Berlin Wall as the "dawn of freedom and the start of a new road of history for Germany, the entire continent and the entire world."

"A Europe without walls of division and without hatred is a great opportunity for the citizens to be masters of their own destiny," Mattarella said.

10:48 The fall of the Wall showed there was no excuse not to fight for freedom, Chancellor Merkel said.

"We want to ensure that no wall will separate people ever again," Merkel said in a speech. "The Berlin Wall is history. Which teaches us this: No wall that segregates people and limits freedom is so high or so wide that it can't be broken through."

Read more: Ronald Reagan statue unveiled in Berlin near site of Cold War speech

10:45 Merkel said that just months before the fall of the Wall "nobody would believe it was even possible."

"I remember those who were killed at this wall because they were seeking liberty," she said from Berlin's historic Chapel of Reconciliation.

10:37 Young people from various European countries speak of the future of Europe at Berlin's Chapel of Reconciliation, with German leaders in attendance.

10:25 German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, is meeting and greeting the public while taking part at a Berlin memorial event.

10:17 German President Steinmeier praised Eastern European countries for their struggle against the Iron Curtain.

"Without the courage and the desire for freedom of the Poles, the Hungarians, the Czechs, and the Slovaks, the peaceful revolution and the German unification would not be possible," Steinmeier said in a brief address.

Watch video 06:01 Share Witnessing the Fall of the Wall: Katrin Hattenhauer Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3Si7b Witnessing the Fall of the Wall: Katrin Hattenhauer

10:15 President Steinmeier, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bundestag Speaker Wolfgang Schäuble and many others laid roses at the Berlin Wall memorial to commemorate victims of GDR terror. At least 136 people were killed trying to cross over to the West.

10:06 The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said the fall of the Berlin Wall brought back hope to Germans, but also to all people suffering behind the Iron Curtain.

"It signified the collapse of the Evil Empire in the most direct and decisive way — it was the beginning of the end of communist tyranny in Europe," they said in a joint statement.

Watch video 03:13 Share The Berlin Wall Memorial Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3Sgj8 The Berlin Wall Memorial

09:40 German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it might take more than 50 years to complete the unification process between the former East and West Germany.

"In some issues, where it was believed that everything will be the same in the East and the West, today we see that that it will likely take half a century or longer," she told German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.

09:15 The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was an earth-shattering event for Germany and Europe. Read how our reporters Hardy Graupner and Uwe Hessler, who lived in East Berlin at the time, remember covering the day and facing a new world.

08:57 On his website, President Steinmeier invited Germans to share their personal stories of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

08:30 German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed the leaders of the Visegrad countries (Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary) in Berlin on Saturday, kicking off the day of celebrations across Germany.

Read more: How the press in Eastern Europe reacted to the fall of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall: A city torn in two Barbed wire divides Berlin East German authorities began patrolling the inner-German border in 1952. Until then it had been relatively easy to pass between the two. They sealed off West Berlin in 1961. Here, soldiers keep people from crossing as the Berlin Wall is built.

The Berlin Wall: A city torn in two The day the wall went up In 1961, communist East Germany was having trouble keeping its young, educated population from emigrating to the West. The Berlin Wall was erected almost to completion in a single night, without warning, on August 13.

The Berlin Wall: A city torn in two Escape atempt This famous photo from September 1961 shows a woman trying to escape East Berlin through an apartment block where one side of the building faced the West. Some men try to pull her back inside while others wait underneath, hoping to aid in her escape.

The Berlin Wall: A city torn in two Fall of the Wall Amidst mounting internal and international pressure, a mistaken announcement by an East German official on November 9, 1989 led to the wall being opened. Germans on both sides of the border celebrated for days. New openings were made in the wall, like here at Potsdamer Platz two days later.

The Berlin Wall: A city torn in two East Side Gallery Today, some parts of the Berlin Wall still stand as a memorial to hard-won freedoms. The famous East Side Gallery allows different artists from around the world to add murals to the part of the wall that remains on Mühlenstrasse in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.

The Berlin Wall: A city torn in two Berlin remembers Politicians for the state government of Berlin lay flowers along the site of the Berlin Wall on Bernauer Strasse, 56 years to the day after it was constructed. At least 140 people were shot dead by East German border guards at the wall from 1961 to 1989. Author: Elizabeth Schumacher



dj, jsi/aw (dpa, AFP, KNA, Reuters)

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