‘Special classes’ have been created to help children who have fled war and poverty to catch up with their new peers
Refugee mothers and children look through games and books in another initiative by the German education ministry, the reading start for refugee children. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
This weekend, Germany will observe the 25th anniversary of the
fall of the Berlin Wall. The German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
began erecting the barrier in 1961, building on existing checkpoints,
and fortified it over nearly 30 years: The initial waist-high wooden
gates gave way to massive concrete structures with buffer zones known as
"death strips." The Berlin Wall was intended to halt the steady stream
of defections from the Eastern Bloc; during its existence, only about
5,000 people managed to cross over, escaping into West Berlin. More than
100 are believed to have been killed in the attempt, most shot by East
German border guards. In 1989, waves of protest in East Berlin and a
flood of defections through neighboring Hungary and Czechoslovakia led
the government to finally allow free passage across the border. West
German citizens swarmed the wall, pulling parts of it down with hammers
and machinery, an act that set the stage for Germany's reunification. [36 photos]
West Berlin citizens hold a vigil atop the Berlin Wall in front of the
Brandenburg Gate on November 10, 1989, the day after the East German
government opened the border between East and West Berlin. (Reuters/David Brauchli)
Published:
17:57 GMT, 24 April 2014
| Updated:
09:00 GMT, 25 April 2014
With conflict in
European soil in east Ukraine, Russia allegedly massing her forces at
the border, it may seem odd that many of the continent's nations are
actually dismantling their armed forces.
