Germans, Americans honoured for roles in bringing down Berlin Wall

Nov 8, 2009, 21:40 GMT

Berlin - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Sunday on leaders to bring down the walls of the 21st century, as she accepted an award for the role of the American people in the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago.

'There is no wall we cannot topple, and there is no truth we cannot be afraid of,' Clinton said, listing terrorism, climate change and nuclear proliferation as today's key challenges.

Speaking at a dinner hosted by the Atlantic Council, a US-based think-tank, she recalled the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989: 'The landscape of the continent was transformed.'

Clinton stressed that there was nothing inevitable about 'that moment when history pierced concrete and concertina wire.'

On the eve of celebrations marking 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Atlantic Council recognized the roles of key participants in the events of 1989, in the presence of dignitaries including former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Clinton accepted the foundation's inaugural Freedom's Challenge prize on behalf of the American people, while German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle received the recognition in the name of the German people.

'The Wall did not fall - the Wall was broken through by people pushing from East to West,' Westerwelle said, remembering the courage of East Germans who took to the streets in protest without knowing if the authorities would shoot at them.

Other recipients included the Polish, Czech and Slovak peoples, as well as the city of Berlin.

International leaders are gathering in Berlin to participate in Monday's festivities, marking 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall augured the end of communism in Eastern Europe.