Not only in Berlin but also around the world the Fall of the Berlin Wall is cause to celebrate. German embassies and consulates-general in many different countries are commemorating the events that took place 20 years ago. Here are just some examples:

• London: The night before 9 November a German-Welsh artist couple will erect a wall of ice 4 metres long and 7 metres high on London’s Belgrave Square.
• The Hague: Since 20 August a replica of the Berlin Wall with an original Trabant car breaking through has been on display in the Embassy’s front garden. The car is on loan from Dutch “Trabbi” fans.
• Los Angeles plans on 8 November to close one of its main thoroughfares for a special event organized by the German Consulate-General. Wall segments three and a half metres high erected on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills will bring traffic to a standstill.
• In Washington the German Embassy is displaying eight original Wall segments in NEWSEUM. Original Trabant cars on show at the US capital’s International Spy Museum recall the years of the Cold War.
• Already on 27 September the German Embassy in Prague held a reception for former GDR citizens, who 20 years ago had sought refuge there and who thanks to intensive diplomatic lobbying were finally allowed to leave for the West. In token of their appreciation, one of the former refugees attached to the fence outside the Embassy a banner with the inscription “Dekuji” (thank you).
• On the walls outside their premises the Embassies in Buenos Aires and Tokyo are exhibiting large-format photos, which have attracted considerable public attention. At Germany’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened a poster exhibition to commemorate the Fall of the Wall.
• Under the motto 20 Years of Freedom: Germany Says “Danke”, the Federal Foreign Office organized a resoundingly successful programme of events in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary (29 May to 27 June 2009). Under this programme artists, designers and school classes were invited to decorate a number of Wall segments, which will be part of the Dominoes Event taking place at the Reichstag in Berlin on 9 November. At its Berlin headquarters the Federal Foreign Office is also commemorating the Fall of the Wall. On Friday (6 November) an exhibition of photos by Hartmut Jahn entitled “The New Owners of the Berlin Wall” will be on show in the Atrium until 3 December.
  Entrance is free.