Tens of thousands gather to celebrate fall of Berlin Wall 35 years ago
Posters line 4km stretch of former wall in Germany’s capital, while musicians perform and visitors sing along
October 2024
Former Stasi officer jailed for 10 years over 1974 Berlin border shooting
Martin Naumann, 80, shot Czesław Kukuczka in the back at close range as he tried to cross into West Berlin
September 2024
To Poles, Germany’s border clampdown feels like the gates of Europe slamming shut again
Karolina Wigura and Jarosław Kuisz
Berlin feels like an island in a swamp of neofascism – but the flood waters are rising
Fatma Aydemir
June 2024
Hisham Matar wins Orwell prize for political fiction
The Pulitzer winner’s third novel My Friends is based on an event from 1984, when officials opened fire on protesters at the Libyan embassy in London
May 2024
A new cold war? World war three? How do we navigate this age of confusion?
Timothy Garton Ash
In history, as in romance, beginnings matter – so what we do now will be crucial in shaping the future, says historian Timothy Garton Ash
March 2024
What’s ‘wrong’ with east Germany? Look to its long neglect by the wealthy west
Katja Hoyer
Daniela Klette: dog walker, dancer – and Germany’s most-wanted woman
January 2024
Book of the day
The Picnic by Matthew Longo review – the party that pulled down the iron curtain
Observer book of the week
The Picnic: An Escape to Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain by Matthew Longo review – a break for the border
December 2023
From the Guardian archive
The Berlin Wall is opened for Christmas – archive, 1963
In December 1963, an agreement between East and West Germany allowed West Berliners to obtain one-day passes to visit relatives in East Berlin
November 2023
Tensions high as Germany marks 85th anniversary of Nazi pogrom
Kristallnacht marked with speeches and ceremonies, and chancellor decries spate of antisemitic incidents
October 2023
Poland’s election result proves that every vote matters
Letter: Steve Crawshaw, who reported on the country’s historic 1989 elections, says hope and belief created this result
June 2023
The American Sector review – US road trip to hunt down remnants of the Berlin Wall
Intelligence service career informs former MI5 and MI6 man’s novel
May 2023
Dana Němcová obituary
Czech dissident and politician who fought for human rights in the Soviet crackdown following the Prague Spring
January 2023
East German feminist author gets English debut, 50 years after death
Translation of Brigitte Reimann’s 1963 work, considered a classic of GDR literature, is out in February
June 2022
Wings of Desire review – Wim Wenders’ elegiac hymn to a broken cold-war Berlin
Bruce Kent obituary
March 2022
Zelenskiy urges Germany to 'tear down wall' Russia is creating – video
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has invoked the fall of the Berlin Wall in an attempt to persuade German MPs to do everything possible to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
