Monday marked a milestone in the history of the Berlin Wall - it has now been down as long as it was up: 10,316 days. The wall, one of the most powerful symbols of the Cold War, stood for 28 years dividing East and West Germany till it was torn down on November 9, 1989, as the Soviet Union collapsed. Pictures show a musician and visitors at the East Side Gallery. The barrier may be down, but problems between East and West persist.
BERLIN, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 05: A musician plays with an instrument in front of the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery on February 5, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. Today has been 10,316 days since the Berlin Wall officially fell, the same number of days that it stood between 1961 and 1989. The Berlin Wall, built by the communist authorities of East Germany, divided capitalist West Berlin from communist East Berlin and came to symbolize the Cold War between the western Allies, led by the United States, and the Eastern Bloc, led by the Soviet Union. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)
In the run-up to elections last September, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, had to endure taunts while campaigning. Enraged by her decision to allow hundreds of refugees into the country, voters sent her conservatives to their worst results since 1949 and vaulted a far-right party into the German parliament. On Thursday, as Ms. Merkel’s coalition signed a deal with the Social Democrats to survive, experts were sceptical of the alliance, born of desperation, lasting long.
