IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 683 
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reunifica-
tion of both Germany and Europe, and the spread of democracy around 
the world. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 8, 2019 
Mr. KEATING (for himself, Mr. KINZINGER, and Mr. KIND) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin 
Wall, the reunification of both Germany and Europe, 
and the spread of democracy around the world. 
Whereas November 9, 2019, marks the 30th anniversary of 
the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the most visible sym-
bols of communism and the ‘‘Iron Curtain’’ that divided 
Europe, which led to the reunification of Germany; 
Whereas, beginning with the Russian Revolution of 1917, 
communist governments around the world denied freedom 
to and persecuted their citizens for most of the 20th cen-
tury, resulting in the deaths of up to 100,000,000 people; 
Whereas, in the aftermath of World War II, the Soviet Union 
established control over countries in Central and Eastern 
Europe and further increased its power through the foun-
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dation of the Warsaw Pact military alliance between the 
Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East 
Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania; 
Whereas the Soviet Union blockade of West Berlin in the 
summer of 1948 left West Berliners with only one 
month’s worth of provisions; 
Whereas, in what became known as the ‘‘Berlin Airlift’’, the 
United States and United Kingdom responded to the 
blockade by airlifting 2,325,809 tons of food and supplies 
during 277,569 total flights into West Berlin; 
Whereas the Soviet Union was forced to lift the blockade of 
West Berlin on May 12, 1949, in light of the success of 
the Berlin Airlift; 
Whereas the Berlin Wall, built in 1961, separated communist 
East Germany from democratic West Germany, dividing 
the German people and symbolically dividing the world 
into democratic and authoritarian spheres; 
Whereas, in West Berlin in 1963, President John F. Ken-
nedy spoke out against the Berlin Wall and communism, 
declaring that ‘‘[f]reedom has many difficulties and de-
mocracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a 
wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leav-
ing us’’; 
Whereas, during the 28 years of the Berlin Wall’s existence, 
more than 75,000 people were imprisoned for attempting 
to leave East Germany, and more than 1,000 people are 
estimated to have been killed trying to escape; 
Whereas Soviet forces brutally repressed demonstrations 
against repressive communist governments in Hungary in 
1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968, and Poland in 1980; 
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Whereas the United States Congress played a crucial role in 
the founding of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, 
independent and uncensored news outlets that broadcast 
behind the Iron Curtain and have been credited by 
former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and former Czech 
President Vaclav Havel with playing a significant role in 
the ending of the cold war; 
Whereas, in West Berlin in 1987, President Ronald Reagan, 
standing at the Brandenburg Gate, symbolically referred 
to both the physical wall and the division of the world 
and implored Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to ‘‘tear 
down this Wall!’’; 
Whereas President Reagan stated, ‘‘As long as this gate is 
closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to 
stand, it is not the German question alone that remains 
open, but the question of freedom for all mankind.’’; 
Whereas, on August 23, 1989, several million people across 
the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, 
which were illegally annexed in 1940 by the Soviet Union, 
demonstrated bravery and resilience by joining hands to 
form a 500-kilometer long human chain to peacefully de-
mand their independence; 
Whereas, at midnight on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall 
symbolically fell, and East Berliners were allowed to 
cross into the West; 
Whereas, that night, East Berliners took pickaxes to this 
hated symbol of oppression, and during the following 
three days more than 2,000,000 people visited West Ber-
lin from the East; 
Whereas, on November 13, 1989, the United States Senate 
welcomed ‘‘the opening of the Berlin Wall as symbolic of 
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the beginning of the process of reform taking place in the 
German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and 
throughout Eastern Europe’’; 
Whereas, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a wave of demo-
cratic governance swept the world; 
Whereas, by the summer of 1990, democratically elected gov-
ernments had been formed in all former Warsaw Pact 
countries; 
Whereas the reunification of Germany was officially declared 
on October 3, 1990; 
Whereas the process of German reunification faced signifi-
cant economic, structural, cultural, and political chal-
lenges both within Germany and in Europe and took 
dedicated political leaders and citizens, with the support 
of allied nations, over a decade to achieve; 
Whereas, on December 25, 1991, the Soviet flag was lowered 
from over the Kremlin for the final time, replaced by the 
Russian flag; 
Whereas Mr. Gorbachev later said, ‘‘The Soviet model was 
defeated not only on the economic and social levels; it 
was defeated on a cultural level. Our society, our people, 
the most educated, the most intellectual, rejected that 
model on the cultural level because it does not respect the 
man, oppresses him spiritually and politically.’’; 
Whereas, since its reunification, Germany has become the 
world’s fourth largest economy, has served as a leading 
voice in the European Union (EU), the Group of 7, and 
the United Nations, and has been consistently rated by 
Freedom House as one of the world’s freest countries; 
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Whereas the United States and Germany share a close and 
multidimensional relationship, including security coopera-
tion and an economic and trade partnership; 
Whereas the United States and Germany share values of 
freedom, democracy, and human rights and work to-
gether to support and uphold these three pillars globally; 
Whereas the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall 
coincides with the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic 
Treaty Organization (NATO) and the 15th anniversary 
of the European Union ‘‘Big Bang’’, when 10 mostly 
post-communist countries joined the EU’s community of 
democracies; 
Whereas many former Soviet and communist countries are 
prospering as a result of their democratic and economic 
reforms, reflected in their memberships in the EU and 
NATO; and 
Whereas the fall of the Berlin Wall signified the end of the 
division of Europe and, ultimately, the triumph of democ-
racy over communism: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes the 30th anniversary of the fall 
of the Berlin Wall as the start of German reunifica-
tion and democratic change in Eastern Europe and 
much of the rest of the world; 
(2) values the significant efforts made by Ger-
man and European citizens to reunify and reinvigo-
rate a united Germany; 
(3) recognizes Germany for its steadfast com-
mitment to the alliance and friendship with the 
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United States, its leadership within the European 
Union, its commitment to democracy, rule of law, 
and market-based economics, and its efforts to sup-
port these values around the world; 
(4) congratulates the former communist coun-
tries of Europe for their substantial progress over 
the past 30 years toward strengthening their democ-
racies, protecting human rights, combating the cor-
ruption endemic to communist regimes, transitioning 
to market-based economies, and resolving long-
standing disputes; and 
(5) reaffirms the United States commitment to 
supporting democratic reform, and urges these coun-
tries to continue this progress so that their democ-
racies and economies can thrive and their people can 
prosper. 
Æ 
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