[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 20]
[Senate]
[Page 27581]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today marks a very important day in the 
cause of freedom. On this day 20 years ago, the Berlin Wall, which for 
decades had divided the free people of West Berlin from the captive 
Germans in the Soviet-controlled East Berlin, finally came down.
  In anticipation of this anniversary, we had the rare honor last 
Tuesday of hearing German Chancellor Angela Merkel address a joint 
meeting of Congress. She was the first German Chancellor to do so in 
more than 50 years. Chancellor Merkel spoke about the experience of 
growing up with millions of others behind the Iron Curtain. She spoke 
of how it was impossible for herself and anyone else she knew to travel 
to America. Yet even as a child she knew that tyranny was wrong and 
that the answer to tyranny could be found across the ocean in America.
  Now decades later, Chancellor Merkel's country has gained that 
freedom, and a little girl who grew up under a repressive regime is the 
freely elected leader of a united Germany. Here is what Chancellor 
Merkel had to say about what made that extraordinary journey possible. 
She said just last week:

       Twenty years have passed since we were given this 
     incredible gift of freedom. But there is still nothing that 
     inspires me more, nothing that spurs me on more, nothing that 
     fills me more with positive feelings than the power of 
     freedom.

  Chancellor Merkel also spoke very graciously of her gratitude, of 
Germany's gratitude to America. ``I know, we Germans know,'' she said, 
``how much we owe to you, our American friends.'' She recalls President 
Kennedy's trip to Berlin shortly after the construction of the Berlin 
Wall when he declared his solidarity with the people of Germany with 
his famous words: ``Ich Bin ein Berliner.'' And she recalled President 
Reagan's 1987 trip to Berlin when he made a clear and direct appeal to 
the Soviet Premier for openness with the equally famous words ``Tear 
down this wall.''
  Freedom has its own imperatives. It demanded that the Berlin Wall 
come down, and 20 years ago it did. It was a remarkable time. After 
decades of oppression, which the United States met with a sustained 
strategy of containment, the world witnessed the relatively peaceful 
liberation of a continent. But for most of us, the most remarkable 
moment from those days was the moment we saw one of the most potent 
symbols of the Communist era, the Berlin Wall, come down, piece by 
piece. We celebrate this great anniversary with all the free peoples of 
the world, mindful of those who still yearn for the same freedom 
Chancellor Merkel dreamed of as a young girl. May they all know the 
freedom that is the birthright of every man and every woman.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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