In many parts of the world, freedom is something taken for granted - the freedom to choose a religious or secular way of life, the freedom to be in relationships with the person you love, the freedom to dress, to travel from one place to another ... and the list goes on. Unfortunately, there are many places in the world where these freedoms are not available to most people, who are forced to live empty, frustrating and inadequate lives because the authorities do not allow them to choose.
If you do not know the fear of expressing your opinion, you are considered lucky people who live in a place where freedom is a basic human right. Like every good thing, the existence of freedom must be celebrated and for this to mark the World Day of Freedom.
The reason for choosing this day as World Freedom Day is to mark the event of the fall of the Berlin Wall on that date in 1989.
The Berlin Wall was a fortified wall that surrounded the western Berlin enclave between 1961-1989. The wall divided Berlin into two parts: East Berlin controlled by East Germany and Western Berlin under the control of West Germany, and the separation between West Berlin and East Germany.
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| The Berlin Wall in 1963, a view from the western side of East Berlin (Source: Roger Wollstadt - Flickr) |
On August 13, 1961, the East Germans began building the wall, which almost completely severed the connection between East and West and dramatically affected the lives of Berliners on both sides. The wall was considered one of the main symbols of the Cold War for more than twenty-eight years. Its opponents sometimes called the wall "the wall of shame" (Schandmauer).
The wall became overnight a barrier that prevented East Berliners from exercising freedom of movement in their city, and those who tried to cross it found themselves at high risk of dying from the bullets of East German border guards. Over the years, the wall was fortified and reinforced by other means, to the extent that it became an almost insurmountable barrier, and as a result, escape attempts were rare in recent years.
The fall of the wall on November 9, 1989 was a formative event, symbolizing more than anything else the fall of the Communist regimes in those years and the end of the Cold War. Following its overthrow, Germany was reunified in 1990, and reunited Berlin became the capital of Germany. 
November 9 is also Chaos Never Dies Day