TOMORROW in Berlin the wall will fall as thousands gather before the Brandenburg Gate to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the night East and West Germany took their first step towards unification.
It will be an entirely different wall that topples.
One thousand plastic-foam dominoes form the centrepiece of the Festival of Freedom celebrations and already line the former route of the Berlin Wall. As the first of the 8ft-high symbols toppl
es, it will trigger a sequence of stage-managed events contrasting with the spontaneous actions all those years ago.
And while the choirs and orchestras, speech-makers and domino-topplers claim their moment in history, it is an opportunity to reflect on how much has changed since 1989 and how much remains the same.
On Thursday, MTV found its showcase award celebrations mired in criticism. The music channel's "crime" was to erect a barrier of its own around the awards ceremony, a two-metre-high spike chain fence constructed to separate the haves – Beyoncé, U2, the entourage of guests, VIPs and the lucky 10,000 ticket holders – from the have-nots, who were left standing in the rain trying to snatch a brief memory on their mobile phone cameras.
The voice of the new generation in the West may promote hope for the future. Asked what the event means to her, teenage French student Julie Pirovanix said: "I see the fall of the Berlin Wall as a revolution, the end of a war, the end of separation. It divides two eras – before, it was oppression, people did not have the means to express themselves; afterwards, there was choice, freedom of expression."
Her sentiments may seem refreshingly naive, but her awareness contrasts with a recent poll of Russian youngsters. Six per cent said they thought western powers built the wall, 10 per cent thought Berlin residents built it themselves, and 84 per cent said they did not know who built it.
And fittingly, one of the dominoes toppling tomorrow will be one dedicated to Russia's most famous political prisoner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former head of Yukos Oil.
In 2005, after a trial heavily criticised across the world, Khodorkovsky was sentenced to an eight-year imprisonment in a Siberian labour camp for fraud. Rather than enjoying his release after serving half the sentence, which is the accepted norm in such cases, Khodorkovsky is currently standing before a Moscow court again, defending himself against new charges widely regarded as absurd.
The domino was sponsored by the Committee to Free Mikhail B Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, a not-for-profit campaign group which includes members from across the world.
"It is the legacy of the peaceful revolution in Germany in 1989, but also our duty, to name and denounce all violations of human rights and of freedom," said Jeremy Putley, chairman of the committee.
During the Festival of Freedom, the Khodorkovsky domino will be fittingly located at the Brandenburg Gate, which Chancellor Angela Merkel will pass with her guests of honour, including Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
Tom Heneghan, a journalist and author of Unchained Eagle: Germany After The Wall, was in Germany in 1989 and directed coverage of the Wall's fall from East Berlin.
He recalls: "As I stumbled back to my hotel in the grey morning that followed, the old saying 'journalism is the first draft of history' echoed in my head. Reporting major events under deadline pressure, journalists rarely have all the facts. We know we have to go with what we have."
Heneghan describes as "humbling" the subsequent discovery of details that would have stopped the presses if known at the time. They include the actions of the then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Far from being moved to join the dancing in the street, she was actively lobbying against a unified Germany, fearing the threat it might pose to the international power balance.
Then there was East German politburo member Gunter Schabowski, who inadvertently sparked a rush to the Wall by announcing East Germans could travel to the West immediately. But it transpires this was no diplomatically negotiated statement; simply an off the cuff statement that sparked the mass demonstration.
The Wall fell without bloodshed and the military and Stasi never intervened.
But for thousands of former employees of Communist East Germany, the anniversary is no cause for celebration.
"What happened that day has been a burden to people like us," said Hans Bauer, chairman of the Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support, which helps former East German state employees including Ministry for State Security, or Stasi.
Experts say few of the Stasi's 91,000 ex-employees, or its 170,000 unofficial informers, have come to terms with their role in one of the world's most repressive organisations.
Instead of showing contrition, they have grown bolder in recent years. Many unofficial informers have taken legal action to stop them being named, and former officers are not afraid to confront victims and accuse them of distorting history.
History suggests that social evolution is a progressive movement. Berlin 20 years on is a reminder that while history is not entirely cyclical, neither is it linear. The truth and reality fall somewhere in between.
