#25 - JRL 2009-198 - JRL Home
NTV to Show Film on Berlin Wall Collapse
MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - The NTV television channel will show a documentary film on the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall on November 8, which includes interviews with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and former West Germany President Richard von Weizsaecker.
"In the early hours of November 10, 1989, the GDR (East German) authorities had to open a checkpoint in the Berlin Wall under the people's pressure. This was the beginning of Germany's unification and the end of the most odious installation that emerged in the center of Europe following the war. NTV will show Vladimir Kondratyev's film The Wall dedicated to the anniversary of these events," NTV said in a press release on Tuesday.
Putin shared his memories of those events, "Germany and the German people were hostages in a struggle between the two superpowers and occupation forces both in the West and the East for a very long time. I would like to emphasize this - both in the West and the East. I am saying this with some knowledge of this matter, because I talked with our colleagues from the former allied states and know the attitudes of both our military and our allies. In a certain sense, Germany became a kind of sacrifice card in the struggle between these superpowers. But the division of a nation has no prospects, and it was clear from the very beginning that this should not have been done."
Commenting on the changes that have occurred in the former East Germany after the wall's collapse and about current partnership between Russia and Germany, Putin says, "The relationship between Russia and Germany has assumed a new quality. A feeling of confidence and gratitude has appeared. This is one of the main stones in the foundation of our relationship on which the building of our interaction is resting today."
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