Berlin Wall anniversary quotes

A selection of comments from ceremonies, remembrances of the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

___

German Chancellor Angela Merkel:

"Sometimes people forget today how many could not leave (the country) for years, how many sat in prisons ... before the joy of freedom came, many people suffered."

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at a news conference:

"My clairvoyant skills and those of (then-Chancellor Helmut) Kohl were up to nothing then. We did not think the wall would fall so fast."

President Barack Obama, in a video message to the anniversary event:

"Nov. 9, 1989 will always be remembered and cherished in the United States. Like so many Americans, I'll never forget the images of people tearing down the wall. There could be no clearer rebuke of tyranny, there could be no stronger affirmation of freedom"

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

"Now, we have to turn our attention to the challenges of the 21st century. A wall, a physical wall, may have come down but there are other walls that exist that we have to overcome and we will be working together to accomplish that."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, addressing the people of Berlin:

"The whole world is proud of you. You tore down the wall and you changed the world; you tore down the wall that for a third of a century had imprisoned half a city, half a country, half a continent and half the world; and because of your courage two Berlins are one, two Germanies are one, and now two Europes are one."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy:

"The fall of the Berlin Wall was a liberation. The fall of the Berlin Wall rings today as an appeal to fight oppression"

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev:

"Naturally, we can't forget that the fall of the wall was prepared by what happened in the Soviet Union. These changes brought advantages to all of Europe ...The Iron Curtain was overcome and the barriers were overcome."

German President Horst Koehler:

"The wall was an edifice of fear. On Nov. 9, 20 years ago, it became a place of joy. For 28 years, East Germans could not even approach it. On Nov. 9, 1989, people danced on it — and the world looked different afterward"

Joachim Gauck, former East German pastor who later oversaw the files of the former secret police, the Stasi:

"We praise the strength, the patience and the longing of the people who did not stop thinking of freedom and democracy in these dark times"

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of Germany's Bishop's Conference:

"The remembrance of Nov. 9, 1989, not to mention the remembrance of the horrific proceedings of the (Kristallnacht) pogrom on Nov. 9, 1938, unmistakably teaches us: Walls — whether real or in the heads and hearts of people — walls do not solve any problems."