• Corporate
• Markets
• Info-Tech
• Marketing
• Money & Banking
• Agri-Biz & Commodities
• Industry & Economy
• Logistics
• Government
• Opinion
• Columns
• States
• Web Extras
• Index

• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy
• Books
• Gallery

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

• Rates

• Ports

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Subscription

• Business Line

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

LONDON: French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, has posted on social networking site Facebook a photo of himself chipping away at the famous site the night it came down.

The photo posted shows a younger Sarkozy taking what appears to be a small pickax to the graffiti-covered wall on November 9, 1989.

In a text accompanying the photo, he said he arrived in West Berlin on the morning of the 9th and then crossed Checkpoint Charlie to the East, where he chipped at the wall.

In 1989, Mr Sarkozy was 34 and a top official in France’s conservative RPR party, the British media reported.

In his post, the President also recalled families standing next to him, “telling us their feelings, their new ambitions and share their emotions after decades of separation.’’

“The night continued amid general enthusiasm. The reunion of the German people signalled the end of the Cold War and the start of a period of great liberty in Europe,’’ the posting read.

The Berlin Wall was erected on August 13, 1961, and for 28 years kept East Germans from fleeing to the West. Its fall on November 9, 1989, happened nearly as suddenly as its rise. And, after the Wall came down, East and West Germany reunified into a sing le German state on October 3, 1990. — PTI

Prev: Advanta Corp files for bankruptcy protection
Next: CBEC launches e-payment system, web site

Copyright copy; 2009, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line