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Commemorating the Berlin Wall: Potsdam commemorates 64 years of division
On August 13, 2025, Potsdam will commemorate the building of the Wall with events, film screenings and boat trips along the former border.
Commemorating the Berlin Wall: Potsdam commemorates 64 years of division
August 13, 2025 marks the 64th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall, and Potsdam is commemorating this crucial date with a series of events. How Potsdam.de reports, the commemoration will open at 2 p.m. at the NIKE '89 sculpture on Glienicke Bridge with wreath-laying and greetings. Dr. Hagenwegewitz, the chairman of the city council, and state secretary David Kolesnyk will take part in the commemoration and speak.
At the same time, the 15th Potsdam Wall Tour will take place at 3 p.m., which will include a free boat trip through the Jungfernsee and along the former border. Experts and contemporary witnesses will be on board to discuss the border.
Diverse commemorative offerings
The first commemoration at the wall memorial at Babelsberg's Griebnitzsee begins at 1 p.m., before another memorial event takes place at the wall memorial in Groß Glienicke at 6 p.m. Alderman Torsten Wiegel will also be present here. Mayor Burkhard Exner will take part in the central memorial ceremony of the state of Brandenburg in Dallgow-Döberitz in the evening.
But the commemoration does not end on August 13th. The following day, August 14th, at 6 p.m., the Potsdam Museum will show the documentary “Mauerflug” from 1990. Admission is six euros, although entry is free for young people up to 18 years of age. The film is considered part of UNESCO's intangible world cultural heritage, and following the screening there will be a conversation with director Peter Gärtner and Hannes Wittenberg from the Potsdam Museum.
A look back into history
Construction of the Wall began on August 13, 1961, when the sector border with West Berlin was sealed off. What began as a barbed wire barrier soon turned into a two-meter-high wall that not only divided Berlin in half, but also made Potsdam a heavily guarded part of the border. The construction of the wall led to a cruel partition that lasted over 28 years and cost at least 140 people their lives.
The memories of this part of history are also in the Berlin Wall Memorial present in Berlin, which forms a central place of remembrance. The separation of neighbors and families is documented here, and the last remaining piece of the wall stands as a memorial to the events that took place back then.
The memorial events in Potsdam are an important sign of collective remembrance and coming to terms with this dark time in German history. They invite citizens to reflect and honor the past - an opportunity not to be missed.