Leading article: They tore down that wall
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.It is 50 years ago today that Berliners awoke to find their city divided by a wall, which became higher, more forbidding and more murderous by the year.
Almost three decades on, with the system that conceived and built it terminally discredited, the concrete blocks and barbed wire were spontaneously torn to pieces by the citizens themselves in one of the most joyous nights of celebration and freedom Europe has known since the end of the Second World War.
The city has knitted itself together with impressive speed, but it still bears some of the physical traces, and the psychological dislocation will persist for as long as there are people alive to remember. That Berlin has become the flourishing creative and international metropolis it is today is a tribute to German industry and drive. But still walls divide, whether in Belfast, Nicosia or Jerusalem, perverting what a city should be. The reality of the Berlin Wall has gone; as the ultimate symbol of division – of a city, a country, a continent and a world – it will, and it should, live on.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments