BERLIN - On Sunday, Berlin and its surrounding area are set to mark the 62nd anniversary of the Berlin Wall being built by paying tribute to all the victims of the former East German border regime, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
At several events along the former border that physically divided the city into East and West on August 13, 1961, representatives from German politics and society will remember the people who died or were killed while trying to escape East Germany's hard-line communist regime.
The anniversary will also commemorate how the decades-long division separated families and severely restricted freedom.
Alongside a planned memorial service in Berlin's Chapel of Reconciliation, the head of the city's finance office, Stefan Evers, will lay a wreath on behalf of the city government at the wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse, near to Berlin's well-known Mauerpark.
There will be a tribute to 18-year-old Peter Fechter, who was shot by East German border guards and bled to death by the wall in August 1962, one year after the wall was built. Crowds had gathered on the western side of the wall but they could not help Fechter because he had fallen on the East German side and guards there did not help him.
The commemoration will take place at Zimmerstrasse, by Checkpoint Charlie.
Meanwhile, in the nearby city of Teltow in Brandenburg, top politicians in the region will pay tribute to Peter Mädler and Karl-Heinz Kube, who were shot in 1963 and 1966 respectively during escape attempts. The wall was built mostly to halt the exodus of East Germans to the West, as the labour drain was slowing down its economy. East German leaders said the wall was protecting its citizens from capitalism.
The wall was roughly 155 kilometres long and separated entire communities for more than 28 years.
According to the Berlin Wall Foundation, at least 140 people were killed at the wall while trying to flee East Germany.
In a shock turnaround, the wall fell on November 9, 1989 and Germany was ultimately reunited. - BERNAMA-dpa