Germany marks anniversary of fall of the Berlin Wall

 
BERLIN — The Berlin Wall actually brings back fond memories for Christian Heinz, who spent his childhood happily playing soccer with neighborhood boys using the 12-foot-high concrete barrier as a goal post.
"It wasn't something to be afraid of," said Heinz, 53. "If you were lost, you could just go to the wall, take a left, and you'd be at the next bus or underground station. The separation of Germany wasn't my problem."
Rahman Satti, 49, lived a mile away in East Berlin, where the wall cast an oppressive shadow over daily life.
"It was a feeling of pessimism," Satti remembered. "You felt sorry for yourself that you couldn't climb over the wall, touch the wall or go over to the other side. When you left the house, there was a policeman there guarding the wall."
Berliners such as Satti and Heinz reflected on their different experiences as their unified city on Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The city released about 8,000 illuminated balloons that had been placed along a 9-mile section where the 90-mile wall had encircled the western half of the city from 1961 to 1989.
As the balloons rose, an orchestra played Beethoven's Ode to Joyto note the euphoria that night when Germans broke the wall with hammers and chisels, a turning point in the country's postwar history. Spectators clapped and cheered as the balloons took flight and popped champagne — like 25 years ago.
Hours earlier German Chancellor Angela Merkel remembered the 138 people who died along the Berlin Wall and the countless others who suffered during its 28-year existence.