IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 496 

Recognizing the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 2, 2009 

Mr. POE of Texas submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin 

Wall. 

Whereas, November 9, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of 

the fall of the Berlin Wall and the symbolic end of the 

Cold War; 

Whereas the Cold War was an enduring struggle between 

communism and democracy throughout the second half of 

the 20th century; 

Whereas the last United States President to speak at the 

Brandenburg Gate prior to the destruction of the Berlin 

Wall was President Ronald Reagan, who, in June 1987, 

stated, ‘‘General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, 

if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern 

Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! 


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•HRES 496 IH 

Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down 

this wall!’’; 

Whereas two years later, in September 1989, protests that 

the East Germans called the ‘‘Peaceful Revolution’’ broke 

out, with protestors at first chanting ‘‘We want out!’’, 

and then gradually changing that protest cry to ‘‘We’re 

staying here!’’, demonstrating their desire for democracy 

in their part of Germany; 

Whereas, on November 9, 1989, in response to protests that 

had grown to include over 1,000,000 people in Berlin’s 

Alexanderplatz, Gunter Schabowski, the communist East 

German Minister of Propaganda, announced that the border would be opened for ‘‘private trips abroad’’; 

Whereas thousands of people in East Berlin immediately 

flooded the checkpoints at the Berlin Wall and demanded 

entry into West Berlin causing the overwhelmed East 

German Border Guards to open the border checkpoints to 

allow people to cross into West Berlin; 

Whereas people in West Berlin enthusiastically greeted those 

coming across from East Berlin, dancing atop the Berlin 

Wall and hammering chunks out of it until a section 

opened through which more East Germans walked and 

shouted out ‘‘Freedom! Freedom! Just once, Freedom!’’; 

Whereas over 400,000,000 people were freed from the bondage of communism at the end of the Cold War in countries then known as the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Lithuania, 

Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, 

Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan; 


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•HRES 496 IH 

Whereas the victory of the United States in the Cold War will 

signify freedom from oppression for decades to come; 

Whereas Berlin, Germany, will celebrate the 20th anniversary 

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

Whereas the fall of the Berlin Wall was one of the most significant events of the 20th century and symbolized the 

triumph of democracy over communism: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

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

3 of the Berlin Wall; 

4 (2) celebrates 20 years of freedom from the 

5 bondage of communism with the people of the 

6 former communist countries; and 

7 (3) acknowledges the symbolic triumph of de8 mocracy over communism. 

Æ 


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