OMEN
03-24-2009, 12:32 PM
Berliners plan to topple a two kilometer-long chain of giant 'dominoes' along the path of the wall that once separated communist east from the west, to mark the 20th anniversary of its fall.
"We want to knock over the wall once again," said Klaus Wowereit, mayor of Berlin. Assembly of more than 1,000 styrofoam slabs, each 2.5 metres high and one metre wide, is beginning this week.
At a ceremony on November 9, the day in 1989 on which crowds of east Germans swept through the wall and began tearing it down, the slabs will be pushed over.
The "dominoes" will be decorated by young people from Berlin and abroad in a myriad different styles.
"I was given the opportunity to paint a map on this domino, which is great fun," said Mathieu Chergait, an exchange student from France as he worked on the slab with two Korean students.
Another is decorated with a design portraying a multicolored brick wall being opened with a giant zipper to represent the ripping down of the barrier that divided the city for three decades.
One of the sponsors, the Goethe Institut, said it planned to use the idea to spread around the world the story about how Germany overcame its division peacefully.
"We want to take the dominoes to many countries, especially to those where there is still a division today, such as Korea, Yemen or Cyprus," said Hans-Georg Knopp, head of the Goethe Institut.
Reuters
"We want to knock over the wall once again," said Klaus Wowereit, mayor of Berlin. Assembly of more than 1,000 styrofoam slabs, each 2.5 metres high and one metre wide, is beginning this week.
At a ceremony on November 9, the day in 1989 on which crowds of east Germans swept through the wall and began tearing it down, the slabs will be pushed over.
The "dominoes" will be decorated by young people from Berlin and abroad in a myriad different styles.
"I was given the opportunity to paint a map on this domino, which is great fun," said Mathieu Chergait, an exchange student from France as he worked on the slab with two Korean students.
Another is decorated with a design portraying a multicolored brick wall being opened with a giant zipper to represent the ripping down of the barrier that divided the city for three decades.
One of the sponsors, the Goethe Institut, said it planned to use the idea to spread around the world the story about how Germany overcame its division peacefully.
"We want to take the dominoes to many countries, especially to those where there is still a division today, such as Korea, Yemen or Cyprus," said Hans-Georg Knopp, head of the Goethe Institut.
Reuters