Transcripts For CNNW CNNI Simulcast 20141109 : vimarsana.com

Transcripts For CNNW CNNI Simulcast 20141109

Matthew todd miller touched down in Washington State early this morning. They were released after u. S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper flew to north korea to discuss the mens situation. Kenneth bae spoke shortly after arriving in the United States. Listen. I just want to say thank you all for supporting me and standing by me during this time. And its been just amazing blessing to see so many people being involved, getting me released for last two years and not to mention the thousands of people who prayed for me as well. Reporter kenneth bae there. Matthew todd miller, the other american detained in north korea had been in north korea since april. His family was also at that News Conference but not make a statement. Back to todays events in berlin, the german chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived at the berlin wall memorial. Lets take a look at some of the events unfolding in the german capital. Ceremonies are getting under way. Its a very special way. Youre seeing on your screens some of the speeches taking place at that memorial. There will be roses laid along berlins hinterland wall and Solemn Services at the chapel. All this mark a quarter century of the fall of the wall. Events will continue at the next hour for the vic dims of the berlin wall. So many lost their lives in that very area youre seeing on your television or on your laptop right now which is the area where east germans tried to cross over several decades in west berlin, many lost their lives. Thats the mayor of berlin in the center. To his left the Angela Merkel, the german chancellor. Other dignitaries and vips as well, all holding yellow roses in honor of those victims. Next hour chancellor merkel will officially open the countrys new permanent exhibition in the Documentation Center of the berlin wall memorial. So much of the history of the berlin is intertwined with the history of the United States as well. Behind me is the German Parliament and Brandenburg Gate. Ronald reagan calling on mr. Gorbachev to tear down the wall. Lets bring in Fred Pleitgen live at the east side gallery and jim clancy is live at Brandenburg Gate. There you all are. Jim clancy, lets start with you. Whats going on where you are . Reporter two things missing the day, related definitely, the clouds and the beautiful sunshine that we were promised by the weather man. Very chilly here today. As i look over the clouds, several hundred people have been gathered here. The bands have been doing some sound tests. People are waiting. I imagine these crowds will swell. Perhaps the weather, the skies will clear up a little bit and well see more people out here. I already know some people have told me theyre planning on watching it all from home. Yes, germans know the importance of all of this. We may have seen a lot of people coming internationally to visit the city filling in the gaps today. Back to you. Lets go to Fred Pleitgen at the east side gallery. Interestingly, fred, you are where the longest stretch of the wall Still Standing in berlin is located. Tell us more about your location and the significance of it in todays anniversary events. Absolutely, hala, the east side gallery is the longest part of the wall Still Standing, 2. 2 kilometers long, 1. 6 miles. Its a very interesting one with the installation, the border of lights where they recreated the path that the berlin wall used to go down. Because you have the wall Still Standing here, you can see the lights in front of the wall that they actually are supposed to represent. It makes for a lot of historic significance. We have a lot of tourists here and our cnn group. Well also go to the next stage. Today were asking people who are going to come by here to sign the car. Youre supposed to sign your name and the city that youre from. We hope in the end, at the end of the day we are going to have a Truly International cnn trevan. Well do Fred Pleitgen, cnn, my hometown, cologne. In the end we hope to have folks from cities all over the world sign our car, come over here to the east side gallery. We already apparently have someone over here who is going to sign the car right now. Were getting that under way. Well be here all day, a place of a lot of significance. Try this pen. There you go. Well also get our routine down better as we go along. It will look great at the end, hala. All right. Ill look forward to it. Im also curious to learn what will end up happening with this car that has been the true star of our coverage. For all our viewers who havent had 65 fred squeeze into that car, do stay tuned. Franks, fred and all the people who are going to sign the trevant. Cnn was still a relatively Young Network in 1989 as events unfolded right here in berlin. Viewers around the world tuned in just as you are now, to watch history in the making. Here is a look back at some of what they saw and heard. [ cheers and applause ] reporter it was the largest demonstration in east german history. The main square was carpeted with a half million people. The city virtually came to a standstill. Our top story, the iron curtain between east germany and west berlin has come tumbling down. East germany sal lauing its citizens to go anywhere they wish. East jer germanys leaders have taken a sledgehammer to the wall. Theres no longer any point of it being there. A prospect that no one could have predicted a year ago or a month ago. This has been a city physically divided for 28 years, now come together east and west in a spontaneous outburst of emotion. Reporter this could be the first move to dismant telling berlin wall that has stood as the most painful symbol of a divided germany since it was built in 1961. Reporter one after another, drivers and passengers alike say they plan to use their new freedom to spend a weekend in west germany to take a look at how the other half live. Reporter every one coming here receives about 50. Many west german businesses are staying open round the clock to pick up goods to take home. Reporter hundreds of thousands of east germans storm the streets of west berlin. It was like a sea of people. This morning a new hole was made in the berlin wall. Yesterday the bridge opened up. To many of us these are just place names. But what signal do these places send to the german people. Reporter it was the times square of berlin before the war. I was on the bridge yesterday. Ive never seen more grown many with tears in their eyes. The vast majority of east berliners dont want to leave. The question is whether its wetted the appetites of people here not for just a little more change but a lot. East german leaders hope by dismantling those things that have become symbols of their past, the doctors, engineers and scientists needed to rebuild the countrys future. Reporter well, you may have recognized our own jim clancy there in our original coverage from 1989 along with our team of reporters there. Lets get back to Fred Pleitgen. In the end, it is about the human beings who made it happen and who were affected by what was going on around them. One womans journey to flee east berlin as well, fred, is what you have for us and how that changed her life and how she took every risk in order to make that happen. Reporter how it changed her life, she took a lot of risks and how thats symbolic for many people who didnt want to live behind the iron curtain, behind the berlin wall. Noting in our coverage all this week that berlin wall was really fortified more and more as time passed on. It started with barbed wire and then turned into the death strip, machine gun towers and tanker trucks to stop everyone from fleeing. We met one woman so fed up living in ha place where she couldnt be free, she tried to flee twice. Her will was never broken. When berlin was divided on august 13, 1961, renata was 23 years old and in the final stages of her medical studies. She and her parents immediately knew they couldnt live in the communist east and decided to flee. We were unhappy in east germany, she said. We were christians and liberals. That was just impossible in communism. The dictatorship of the patrol tart was something i couldnt deal with. Their way out was supposed to be a tunnel, similar to this, dug from a basement from a house in the west to a house in the east. When they came to that location, there was a nasty surprise. When we got to the house where the tunnel was supposed to be, one of the helpers came out, he was totally pale and says the tunnel has been discovered. You cannot use it. She was sent to jail for 2 1 2 years under harsh conditions. She kept thinking of new, creative ways to try to flee the communist state. A desire for freedom that put many of them behind bars. This is an exact replica of what the berlin wall and the death strip used to look like. Most estimates say 138 people died trying to get from east to west berlin, but that didnt deter others. There were people who tried to build tunnels, some who tried to climb across and some built their own aircraft to make it to freedom. After getting out of jail, she immediately tried to flee again with a false passport by a bulgarian. She was captured again. But she made a defiant vow, she would send her wedding picture when she got married in the west. Thats exactly what she did. After being released in 1969 as part of a west German Government program that purchased the freedom of jailed east germans. Today, she says, the communist repression must never be forgotten. It was worse than you kim imagine, she says. This was not a country of law and justice. It was never like that. 25 years after the fall of the wall, her testimony is more important than ever. Aa whole generation has now grown up not knowing what German Division was like. Well get back to fred in a moment. Lets take you live to the berlin wall memorial. The german chancellor Angela Merkel along with other dignitaries including the mayor of berlin has laid roses in honor of all those who lost their lives trying to cross from east to west. Youre seeing the event there. Those balloons, by the way, there are 8,000 of them. Theyre marking the path of where the wall once stood. Theyre lit up when the sun goes down. Later today well see them released into the night sky. Theres going to be a service to mark the anniversary itself of the fall of the wall at the chapel of reconciliation. And then there will be a lighting of candles at the National Memorial for the victims of the berlin wall. Angela merkel is the german chancellor. Shes talking to ordinary people there, berliners tourists alike. Angela merkel grew up in east germany. Behind her is the mayor of berlin. We spoke to him a couple days ago. He told us something interesting. He said we want the world to watch these ceremonies and these events because when the wall came down, it was a signal to the world that freedom is possible. And there are many other walls in the world, he said, and people who do not live free. We want them to be able to watch these ceremonies and events and be inspired by them. Angela merkel will be walking along the border wall. Fred pleitgen joins us from the east side gallery. Tell us a little bit about Angela Merkel. She has an interesting story and one that is interesting to remind ourselves of as we celebrate the fall of the wall today, fred. Angela merkel is interesting in two respects. Shes the first female chancellor of germany. On a day like this, the more important fact is that shes also the first east german chancellor of the unified country. She grew up in the north of germany. Her father was a pastor that was quite uncommon in east germany. They had communist and didnt really have much time for religion. Angela merkel was not someone who fought the system very much. She was never really comfortable with the system. She was in a lot of east german youth organizations and had a career in east germany, in the christian democratic party. Her political career in unified germany took off very quickly after unification. She is one of the east german politician whose put her stamp on west german politics early on. She was in the cabinet of helmut ko kohl. After he lost the election in 1998 she became the head of the Christian Democratic Union and ultimately the chancellor of germany. She is someone who really was a person who bridged the gap between east and west journey. She became a unified german politician. It didnt matter whether she was from the east and the west. She still, however, does take her east german heritage very seriously. She talks about it a lot and certainly makes it very important in her political career as well and does a lot for the east german part of the country. She has a very interesting biography to remind or selves of on this day. She likes to take other heads of state to her hometown in east germany. There was one, i think it was with george w. Bush a couple years ago where they ate roast pork in her hometown. She certainly does like to celebrate the heritage and where shes from, and it is something where i can say she truly is the first unified common german chancellor since unification, hala. Fred, whats interesting, i dont know how many of our viewers have been to this berlin wall memorial, but it is really poignant. You see right there this area that was a no mans land between east and west berlin because there wasnt one wall, there were two walls. And if you wanted to flee and try to make it across that border, often times it ended very badly. So you get to see and stand on what is hollowed ground for berliners in general. It is an experience. It is something i would recommend to people coming to berlin to go there, stand there and take it all in. Its an experience and its also something that has a lot of significance for people in berlin and in germany. The memorial is where there was a lot of significance in the early days of the berlin wall. What you had there, it was one of the place wheres in many place it is border went through some of the houses. What they did in the beginning, a lot of people jumped out of therapy windows to try to get to safety. The east German Authorities started putting bricks into the windows and not allowing people to flee. There were devastating scenes that took place in the early stages of the berlin wall where people jumped over the barbed wire. It was where people came and really saw up close what was taking place. What happened in that area as well. Because you had these residential areas so close to each other and the wall, thats where a lot of the tunnels were dug to try to get underneath the wall, like the one, for instance the one that was right where that memorial is. A very significant place. Another big significant event took place there as well which really was symbolic for the ruthlessness of the German Division that was going on and that tlafs church that was right on the death strip there in the ber gnaw stros is a, in 1958 that church was by order by the east German Government blown up. It was a big scene where west german media was also there to film that search being blown up and show how horrible this division of germany was. Anybody who is a berliner and anybody who is german really knows the name of that street, knows the significance. Today youre absolutely right. It really is an amazing monument they built up there where they recreated the wall, recreated the death strip where you can see how big it was, how heavily fortified it was and how impossible it must have seemed for people to get across that area. Very significant place for germans, hala. Fred pleitgen, thanks very much. Where im sitting right now, by the way, was no mans land. The wall would have been right under us. Were a few floors up in berlin. This is where were seeing the line of lanterns and balloons as well that over the last several days that have been set up, have been lit during the nighttime hours and eventually in a few hours time, they will be released into the sky symbolizing the end of the wall, the fall of the berlin wall. There we continue to watch Angela Merkel, the german chancellor greet wellwishers, people who have come to that memorial to remember what it was like 25 years ago today exactly. That is when the wall came down, when people started streaming toward the border between east and west berlin and where they finally met, chipping away at the wall sometimes with their bare hands. My next guest here with me knows a thing or two about the wall. He has several of the original pieces in storage. Hans Martin Fleischer is an artist and collector. He joins me with more of whats going on today. Good morning. Youre an enthusiast, a collector and artist. You actually reproduced portions of the wall for educational purposes. Its a really long story. I was the eyewitness of the opening of the berlin wall. I was studying in the west. You were there in 1989, exactly 25 years ago. Exactly 25 a years ago. Some days later, two days later the wall also got physically removed only 300 meters from here. You see that beautiful historic scene. The first cut was made here. The first piece had been taken out here. Its a very interesting historical graffiti. The first cut was made near the swastika. In a way these four pieces symbolize the beginning and the end of the european division. Whats interesting is there isnt much left of the wall in berlin. There are more pieces exposed in the United States than in germany. Thats true. What happened . Was that just because of how badly germans wanted to rid themselves of this symbol of division . I would think its Something Like that th. In order to see some of the wall in berlin, you have to make quite an effort. Thats true. That came 15 years later that people had the feeling that we should preserve something and explain the history. And people were able to buy sometimes chunks of the wall. Then it became quite a business and then you werent sure if it wa

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