Berlin Festival of Lights from 10-21.10.2012
Last year, I saw some photos from a friend of mine about the "Festival of Lights" in Berlin. It impressed me much that this year, I was excited to see for myself several main symbolic attractions of Berlin lighting up in colourful enjoyable scenes containing sometimes also text messages. I even had fear if I would miss this event. Fortunately, the event was lasting for about 10 days, which gave plenty of room for enjoyment. It was also enjoyable to witness long flows of tourists standing still and staring surprisingly joyfully at the spectacular light changings.
Der Berliner Dom shows a variety of different looks
Tag der deutschen Einheit, i.e. Day of German Unity - 03.10.2012
Before the Festival of Lights, Berlin was also lighted up nicely to celebrate the "Tag der deutschen Einheit", i.e. Day of German Unity, on 3rd of October. This public holiday commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990. On this ocasion, the "Reichstagsgebäude", i.e. Parliamental Building, was also decorated with some lightings. In addition, a film was shown to the public about the development history of the Reichstagsgebäude. The below are a photo of the Reichstaggebäude as well as some photos of the location nearby, where the film was projected:
The German reunification (German: Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic (GDR or DDR/East Germany) joined the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG/West Germany), and when Berlin reunited into a single city. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as "die Wende" (The Turning Point). In October and November 1989, thousands of Germans gathered on the streets in East German cities to demonstrate their will for a change in the soceity against the GDR system. They have spoken together "We sind das Volk!". The presure from massive demonstrations from the people eventually lead to the reunification of the East and West of Germany and opened up a more freedom society in the East Germany in comparison with the over-controlled soceity under the GDR.
More on the story called "Monday demonstration in East Germany" (source: wikipedia): especially in the city Leipzig, "wo alles begann" - where everything started, "demonstrations began on 4 September 1989 after the weekly Friedensgebet (prayer for peace) in the Nikolaikirche, and eventually filled the nearby downtown Karl Marx Square (today known again as Augustusplatz). Safe in the knowledge that the Lutheran Church supported their resistance, many dissatisfied East German citizens gathered in the court of the church, and non-violent demonstrations began in order to demand rights such as the freedom to travel to foreign countries and to elect a democratic government.
By 9 October 1989, just after the 40th anniversary celebrations of the GDR, what had begun as a few hundred gatherers at the Nikolaikirche had swelled to more than 70,000 (out of the city's population of 500,000), all united in peaceful opposition to the regime. The most famous chant became Wir sind das Volk!, reminding their leaders that a democratic republic has to be ruled by the people, not by an undemocratic party claiming to represent them.
The next week, in Leipzig on 16 October 1989, 120,000 showed up, with military units again being held on stand-by in the vicinity. The next week, the number more than doubled to 320,000. This pressure led to the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, marking the imminent fall of the socialist GDR regime.
The demonstrations eventually ended in March 1990, around the time of the first free multi-party elections on all-GDR level, for the Volkskammer parliament that paved the way to German reunification. Years later, Monday demonstrations were also held in the 2000s as a protest against the Iraq war, against social security changes (Hartz IV), and since the fall of 2009 against the Stuttgart 21 project (a railway and urban development project in Stuttgart, Germany as part of the Stuttgart–Augsburg new and upgraded railway project. Heated debate ensued on a broad range of issues, including the relative costs and benefits, geological and environmental concerns, as well as performance issues.)"
Tag der deutschen Einheit 03.10 & Festival of Lights 10-21.10.2012, Berlin
P/S: One of our favourites of the Berliner Dome in the Festival of Lights:
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