28 Years with and without the wall

The Berlin wall existed for 28 years, 2 month and 26 days ­­­– at least as long as it is gone by now. We take the so called “Zirkeltag” (05/02/2018) as occasion for the new film series of the Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka: 28 Years with and without the wall
13th of August 1961 armed border troops started to set up barricades in Berlin and to install barbed wire between the Soviet occupation zone and that of the western victorious powers. When leaders in East Germany recognised that the devices were not sufficient to stop their citizens to attempt to cross the border, construction crews started to substitute the barbed wire with a wall. Since then, the wall has been a symbol of the cold war which split the world in the east and the west. Only due to the peaceful revolution, the aforesaid Fall of the Wall in 1989 and the end of the GDR, the way for the reunion of Germany was paved. Nevertheless, the differences between the west and the east are still part of an ongoing debate, because the past events marked not only a political turning point, but also several big changes in the lives of thousand people.