Rinkēvičs attended celebrations at the Brandenburg Gate, organised by the Governing Mayor of Berlin for visitors from Germany and foreign countries and also participated in a reception hosted by the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
“The fall of the Berlin Wall alongside “the Singing Revolution” in the Baltic States, “the Velvet Revolution” in Czechoslovakia and the Solidarity movement (Solidarność) in Poland marked the end of Communism and the Cold War era in Europe. It is one of the most remarkable 20th century events in the European continent and the history of the world. The fall of the Berlin Wall symbolised the path to building a free and united Europe,” Edgars Rinkēvičs noted.
The Berlin Wall came down on 9 November 1989, followed by the official reunification of West Germany and East Germany. From 1961 to 1989, the Berlin Wall separated West Berlin from the capital city of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin, to prevent defection of East Germans to West Germany.
Latvian President Egils Levits - who spent a lot of his early life in West Germany - provided his own German language comments on the historic anniversary. You can watch his specially-made video address below.
Zum 30Jahrestag des Mauerfalls wünsche ich uns allen, dass wir den Wert der Demokratie zu schätzen wissen und sie weiter stärken, auch gegen neue Herausforderungen, wie Populismus oder Bedrohung der Persönlichkeitsrechte im digitalen Zeitalter #mauerfall30https://t.co/0QFMOk3Vmr
— Egils Levits (@valstsgriba) November 9, 2019
