III 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 332 

Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 

end of the division of Europe, and the beginning of the peaceful and 

democratic reunification of Germany. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 2, 2009 

Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. LUGAR, and Mr. CARDIN) submitted the 

following resolution; which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the division of Europe, and the 

beginning of the peaceful and democratic reunification 

of Germany. 

Whereas, between 1945 and 1961, more than 2,500,000 people, or 15 percent of the total population of the German 

Democratic Republic (referred to in this preamble as 

‘‘East Germany’’), left the country to pursue economic 

opportunity and enjoy the benefits of liberty and political 

freedom in the Federal Republic of Germany (referred to 

in this preamble as ‘‘West Germany’’) and other countries; 

Whereas, at midnight on August 13, 1961, East Germany 

sealed its border with West Berlin and began construcVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:13 Nov 04, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR332.ATS SR332

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tion of a 100-mile barrier that would later include bunkers, watchtowers, searchlights, minefields, barbed wire, 

concrete walls, and armed guards, to prevent the emigration of the people of East Germany to seek freedom and 

opportunity elsewhere; 

Whereas, during the 28 years the Berlin Wall existed, approximately 5,000 people successfully fled East Germany 

for West Germany and West Berlin, more than 75,000 

people were imprisoned for attempting to leave East Germany, and an estimated 1,200 people were killed trying 

to escape; 

Whereas Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan 

declared their vision of Berlin as a free city, in the heart 

of a free Germany; 

Whereas Chancellor Willi Brandt of West Germany and others demonstrated great foresight in their pursuit of 

‘‘Ostpolitik’’, a policy of engagement that lowered tensions and ultimately helped undermine the authoritarian 

rule of the wall-builders; 

Whereas more than 22,000,000 Americans served in the Cold 

War, supporting the efforts to bring military, economic, 

and diplomatic pressure to bear in the defense of Germany and the West, and ultimately helping more than 

400,000,000 people gain their freedom from the bondage 

of communism in the Soviet Bloc; 

Whereas the Solidarity Movement in Poland demonstrated 

that the will of a people united could not be silenced by 

winning a surprise landslide victory in elections to the 

Contract Sejm in June 1989; 

Whereas, on August 23, 1989, Hungary officially opened the 

border between Hungary and Austria, resulting in 13,000 


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refugees from East Germany fleeing into West Germany 

through Hungary; 

Whereas, on September 4, 1989, after prayers for peace in 

the Nikolai Church, crowds that would eventually number 

in the hundreds of thousands gathered in Leipzig, East 

Germany, to repeatedly and peacefully protest the authoritarian regime of East Germany and to demand basic 

freedoms; 

Whereas, in September 1989, thousands of people in East 

Germany took refuge in the embassy of West Germany 

in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in order to emigrate to West 

Germany and the West; 

Whereas, on October 18, 1989, faced with widespread civil 

unrest and a deteriorating political situation, East German leader Erich Honecker, who had predicted that the 

Wall ‘‘will stand in fifty or a hundred years,’’ resigned; 

Whereas, on November 4, 1989, more than 1,000,000 people 

gathered in Alexanderplatz in East Berlin and 40 other 

cities and towns in East Germany to demand free elections and basic civil rights, such as freedoms of opinion, 

movement, press, and assembly; 

Whereas, on November 9, 1989, East German politbureau 

member Gu ̈nter Schabowki announced that the government would allow ‘‘every citizen of the German Democratic Republic to leave the GDR through any of the border crossings,’’ and East German leader Egon Krenz 

promised ‘‘free, general, democratic and secret elections’’; 

Whereas thousands of people in East Berlin immediately 

flooded the border checkpoints at the Berlin Wall and demanded entry into West Berlin, causing the overwhelmed 


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border guards of East Germany to open the checkpoints 

to allow people to cross into West Berlin; 

Whereas, in the days following the fall of the Berlin Wall, 

hundreds of thousands of people from East Germany 

freely crossed the border into West Berlin and West Germany for the first time in more than 28 years; 

Whereas the Chancellor of West Germany Helmut Kohl and 

Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher managed the 

political situation and foreign diplomacy with great tact 

and in close cooperation with Western allies, leading to 

the peaceful reunification of Germany as a sovereign, 

democratic state on October 3, 1990; 

Whereas, on November 9, 2009, the people of Germany will 

celebrate on both sides of the Brandenburg Gate the 20th 

anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with the ‘‘Festival of Freedom’’; 

Whereas the fall of the Berlin Wall was one of the milestones 

of the 20th century, brought about by the actions of 

many ordinary and some extraordinary people; and 

Whereas the fall of the Berlin Wall embodied the end of the 

division of Europe, the opening of the Iron Curtain, and 

the triumph of democracy over communism: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes the 20th anniversary of the fall 

3 of the Berlin Wall; 

4 (2) celebrates 20 years of an undivided Europe, 

5 free from the oppression of authoritarianism, with 


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1 the people of the former communist countries and 

2 Western Europe; 

3 (3) honors the service and sacrifice of the peo4 ple of Germany, the United States, and other coun5 tries who served in the Cold War to bring freedom 

6 to Central and Eastern Europe; 

7 (4) expresses its appreciation to the people of 

8 Germany for their commitment to preserving the 

9 dignity and freedom of others in their leadership on 

10 international assistance, peacekeeping, and security 

11 efforts, including in Afghanistan, Bosnia and 

12 Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Lebanon, Sudan, and 

13 off the coast of the Horn of Africa; and 

14 (5) reaffirms the friendship between the Gov15 ernment and people of the United States and the 

16 Government and people of Germany. 

Æ 


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