Philipp Lengsfeld was 16-years-old when his fellow students put him on trial.

On that early autumn day in 1988, pupils stood up to denounce Lengsfeld and seven other troublemakers as "traitors" and "pacifists."

Then the class voted to expel Lengsfeld from the official youth movement, membership of which was compulsory for anyone with ambition in communist East Germany.

Before the mass protests that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, a group of teenagers dared to challenge the system and paid a hefty price.

Yet they made their mark on history - inspiring many others, including of their parents' generation, to follow their example in questioning authority.

In the Kafka-esque world of East Germany, the students were punished for doing precisely what they were told to do: post their views on the bulletin board of a new "Speakers' Corner", set up near the entrance of the elite Carl-von-Ossietzky high school in east Berlin.

"I think our Speakers' Corner was unique in the GDR (German Democratic Republic, or East Germany). We were told that we could freely express our opinions - like anyone could do at the original place in London," said Lengsfeld.

The current director of the Ossietzky school, Bernd Schonenberger, has spent a lot of time talking to colleagues who taught at the school in 1989.

He recalled that the political school climate was open and progressive in 1988 but not society as a whole.

"Here at this school things were possible to do, things which needed to stay secret. They were the precursors of the revolution in 1989," he told The Associated Press.

"The Speakers' Corner here was officially approved. What the pupils didn't understand at the time was that it had to be secret and couldn't be official. As soon as it went public it was a problem" he added.

The eight students used the bulletin board to praise labour strikes in neighbouring Poland, to call attention to a growing neo-Nazi movement, and to air an ironic poem about an East German soldier's love for his Kalashnikov rifle.

Lengsfeld, and seven others seen as ringleaders, refused to back down their protest, even after authorities gave them a chance to repent.

The mock trials - watched by adults standing silently at the back of the classrooms - had been carefully orchestrated to give the official punishment an air of democratic legitimacy.

Alexander Krohn, one of the few who refused to denounce his fellow pupils, described the proceedings as a "kangaroo court."

Krohn, who was suspended for refusing to take part in denunciations, said it was a matter of honour for him to support his classmates, some of whom also belonged to a loose group of punk music fans.

"We didn't want to say the opposite of what we thought, which for the majority of the other students was normal," he said.

A few days later, the eight students were summoned to an assembly and, one by one, expelled.

"Simply put, it was the end of the world for us - from one day to another. In the morning you are a normal pupil, maybe a bit different from the average pupils but someone who lives a normal life of a high school student," said Lengsfeld.

"And all of a sudden you are confronted with the fact that you have no future in your own country anymore" he added.

But it was also a hard decision for the teachers at the time. Schonenberger, who has run the school since 1991, remembers what his former colleagues told him about the incident.

"The teachers walked unprepared into the conference. They had no chance to talk to each other before they had to vote," he said.

"A lot of things crossed their minds. If I say 'no,' what would the consequences be? Only a few people are courageous enough to vote 'no'. That's how innocent people are turned into perpetrators against their will," he added.

After their expulsion, the eight were treated like outcasts. Four faced a life-long ban from all schools in East Germany.

Their case was initially taken up by East Germany's tiny opposition movement, estimated at the time to number just a few hundred people.

Then it hit West German news broadcasts, bouncing back across the Iron Curtain as many ordinary East Germans tuned in to forbidden western channels.

Anger about the case also fuelled widespread dissatisfaction with the education system and the person who ran it, Margot Honecker, the wife of East German leader Erich Honecker.

She was one of the most hated people in the country for making political propaganda a core part of the curriculum at the expense of more useful lessons.

Historical documents show that Honecker - nicknamed "the purple dragon" and now living out her days in Chile - personally intervened to push for the crackdown on the Ossietzky students, even though many had been promising pupils and none had called outright for the fall of the Wall.

Unaware the Berlin Wall would crumble just a year later, Lengsfeld obtained permission to leave the country and go to England, where his mother lived in exile.

Lengsfeld told The Associated Press that the experience prompted him to go into politics.

The 42-year-old is now a national lawmaker. His office is situated on the same spot where Margot Honecker's Ministry of Education once stood.

"The minister's office was "Unter den Linden 71". Here was her main office where she signed our verdict. Today it belongs to the German Bundestag and my office is in the building. You can say we have come full circle" said Lengsfeld.

AP TELEVISION

Berlin - 4 November, 2014

1. Philipp Lengsfeld, who was expelled from Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium - a Berlin secondary school - walking along street

2. Pan from cafe on street to close of Lengsfeld

3. Exterior of Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium, a secondary school in Berlin

4. Close of sign reading (German) "Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium"

5. Pupils walking towards school entrance

6. Tilt up on column used as Speakers' Corner

7. Tilt up on photograph of Speakers' Corner in 1989

8. Close of photograph showing message posted on column in 1989 reading (German) "Speakers' Corner should be a place to speak freely again"

9. SOUNDBITE (German) Philipp Lengsfeld, former pupil of Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium, who was expelled from the school:

"I think our Speakers' Corner was unique in the GDR (German Democratic Republic, or East Germany). We were told that we could freely express our opinions - like anyone could do at the original place in London."

10. Tilt down from ceiling to Bernd Schonenberger, Director of Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium, holding booklet open at photograph of Speakers' Corner

11. SOUNDBITE (German) Bernd Schonenberger, Director of Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium:

"Here, at this school, it was possible to do things; things which needed to stay secret. They were the precursors of the revolution in 1989. The Speakers' Corner here was officially approved. What the pupils didn't understand at the time was that it had to stay secret and couldn't be official. As soon as it went public it was a problem."

12. Alexander Krohn, former pupil of Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium, walking down street (walking towards camera)

13. Krohn standing in front of TV tower in Berlin

14. Photograph of Krohn as a teenager

15. SOUNDBITE (German) Alexander Krohn, former pupil of Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium, who was temporarily suspended from the school:

"We didn't want to say the opposite of what we thought, which for the majority of the other students was normal."

16. Schonenberger opening door into school assembly hall, pan of tables and chairs

17. Low shot of tables and chairs, Schonenberger standing in doorway to assembly hall

18. Copy of relegation paper issued by Margot Honecker, GDR Minister of Education

19. SOUNDBITE (German) Philipp Lengsfeld, former pupil of Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium, who was expelled from the school:

"Simply put, it was the end of the world for us - from one day to another. In the morning you are a normal pupil, maybe a bit different from the average pupils but someone who lives a normal life of a high school student. And all of a sudden you are confronted with the fact that you have no future in your own country anymore."

20. Print of paper issued by Honecker

21. Schoenenberger explaining what happened at the school assembly hall in 1988

22. SOUNDBITE (German) Bernd Schonenberger, Director of Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium:

"The teachers walked unprepared into the conference. They had no chance to talk to each other before they had to vote. A lot of things crossed their minds. If I say 'no,' what would the consequences be? Only a few people are courageous enough to vote 'no'. That's how innocent people are turned into perpetrators against their will."

23. Tilt up on Lengsfeld walking towards Brandenburg Gate

24. Zoom into picture of Honecker

25. SOUNDBITE (German) Philipp Lengsfeld, former pupil of Carl von Ossietzky Gymnasium, who was expelled from the school:

"The minister's office was "Unter den Linden 71". Here was her main office where she signed our verdict. Today it belongs to the German Bundestag and my office is in this building. You can say we have come full circle."

26. Tilt down from Berlin TV tower to mural on wall

27. Wide of Berlin street scene

One day ahead of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the "Falling Walls Conference", an international historical science conference held in Berlin as a part of the anniversary celebrations.

Merkel stressed that "in the long run, the human urge for freedom cannot be oppressed."

"The human desire to determine one's own fate ended the inhuman division of Europe and the Cold War," she said, reflecting on the historical importance of the November 9th 1989 anniversary.

"Freedom opens up new world. He who can think and research freely is awarded with new perspectives, new ways of thinking and the freedom to break new ground," she told the audience.

Merkel, 60, grew up in East Germany.

Official celebrations to mark the fall of the wall will conclude in Berlin on Sunday.

A 15-kilometre (nine-mile) chain of lighted balloons along the former border will be released into the air early Sunday evening - around the time on November 9, 1989 when a garbled announcement by a senior communist official set off the chain of events that brought down the Cold War's most potent symbol.

AGENCY POOL

Berlin - 8 November 2014

1. Zoom out of German Chancellor Angela Merkel greeting science conference hosts

2. Merkel and her husband Joachim Sauer (on her left) speaking to conference host

3. Tracking shot of Merkel walking up to podium as audience applauds

4. SOUNDBITE (German) Angela Merkel, German Chancellor:

"Tomorrow, we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall. This day clearly shows us that in the long run, the human urge for freedom cannot be oppressed."

5. Audience listening

6. SOUNDBITE (German) Angela Merkel, German Chancellor:

"Unlike in 1953 (the East German uprising which was violently struck down), 1956 in Hungary, 1968 in Czechoslovakia or 1981 in Poland with Solidarnosc (Polish trade union) , the longing for freedom and self-determination could not be crushed. Neither in East Germany nor elsewhere. The human desire to determine one's own fate ended the inhumane division of Europe and the Cold War."

7. Merkel speaking

8. SOUNDBITE (German) Angela Merkel, German Chancellor:

"Freedom is a necessary premise and an engine, so to speak. Freedom opens up new world. He who can think and research freely is awarded with new perspectives, new ways of thinking and the freedom to break new ground."

9. Merkel receiving award, holding piece of the Berlin Wall

German train drivers have begun a four-day strike in a bitter dispute with the country's national railway operator, causing chaos for commuters and raising concerns about shortages.

Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said on Thursday it was seeking a court order to stop the walkout by the GDL union, which plans to strike until Monday morning.

Meanwhile, the DPA news agency said there were warnings of more cars on the roads and fuel delivery delays, which could lead to shortages at service stations.

Industrial production delays were also anticipated, as companies awaited deliveries of components.

GDL wants a five per cent pay increase and shorter working hours, but the main sticking point is its demand to negotiate not just for train drivers but for other staff.

Georg Kempinskie wanted to travel home to Halle on Thursday and it's the second time that his journey has been affected by the rail strike.

He said he was concerned the strike would hinder people from joining festivities on Sunday, when Germany marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

"I think it is really rude that the rail strike continues until Sunday when the 25th anniversary takes place. It is a special day and it is not the right time for the union to show off. There are a lot of opportunities to express their problems but it shouldn't be at such an important day," he said.

Another traveller doubted whether the strike would be a positive thing for railway employees.

"The goals the union is pursuing right now are absurd. It is a silly strike and it will not be in favour of the employees of Deutsche Bahn, for the train conductors and the rail company in general," she said.

At Berlin's main train station, a few trains were running, but most remained in the station where platforms were deserted.

AP TELEVISION

Berlin - 6 Nov 2014

1. Berlin main train station

2. Empty platforms

3. Board reading: "Please don't enter"

4. Empty platforms

5. Women making phone call

6. Man waiting in front of rail union members

7. Rail employer talking to travellers

8. Empty train station pan to train in station

9. Man standing in front of station board

10. SOUNDBITE (German) Georg Kempinskie, Traveller from Halle:

"I think it is really rude that the rail strike continues until Sunday when the 25th anniversary (of the Berlin Wall falling) takes place. It is a special day and it is not the right time for the union to show off. There are a lot of opportunities to express their problems but it shouldn't be at such an important day."

11. Georg Kempinskie walking away

12. Train standing still

13. Empty platform

14. Empty screen

15. Union members gathering

16. People at train station

17. SOUNDBITE (German) Vox pop, Traveller (no name given):

"The goals the union is pursuing right now are absurd. It is a silly strike and it will not be in favour of the employees of Deutsche Bahn, for the train conductors and the rail company in general."

18. Union members talking to travellers

19. Station board

SHOTLIST

1. Wide exterior of Jewish Community Centre

2. Security barriers outside centre

3. Pan from construction workers to wall

4. Various of workers building wall

5. Close-up of drill machine

6. Wide pan of wall

7. Close-up of part of wall

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, executive director of Jewish Centre:

"Exact replica of the Western wall in Jerusalem. It's not supposed to be a substitute. The Western wall is the Western wall, people go there to pray. When people see this they remind themselves and they get inspired. This wall, this stone is actually from Jerusalem and Hebron, it's the original stone. No two stones in the Western Wall are alike."

9. Cutaway of workers building wall

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, executive director of Jewish Centre:

"We believe that in the centre of Germany which was once the essence of evil and darkness, we will bring light, we have to set a positive example that here we will once again rebuild, re-establish and renew Jewish life and spirit."

11. Low shot of wall

12. Wide interior of synagogue

13. Close-up of Talmud (Jewish book)

14. Wide interior of synagogue, pan up to ceiling with window

STORYLINE:

An accurate replica of Jerusalem's Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, is under construction in the German capital as part of a new 6 (m) million US dollar Jewish Community Centre.

The 100-square-metre replica will be part of Szloma Albam House, which is set to open on 2 September.

The project began when a team from the Chabad-Lubavitch organisation travelled to Jerusalem to photograph a section of the Western Wall, famous for the tradition of inserting tiny prayers on paper into its many cracks.

Almost 19 tons of "Jerusalem Gold" sandstone quarried in the region arrived in Berlin on 11 July and have since been chiselled and installed to match the photographs.

The complete replica, located in the centre's entrance, will also include identical plants sprouting from the cracks.

The Western Wall replica is not meant to be used for worship, but as a symbol and reminder of the centre's mission.

"The Western wall is the Western wall, people go there to pray. When people see this they remind themselves and they get inspired," the centre's executive director, Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, told AP Television on Wednesday.

He said the centre was a symbolic part of making Berlin a central hub of Jewish life again.

"We believe that in the centre of Germany which was once the essence of evil and darkness, we will bring light, we have to set a positive example that here we will once again rebuild, re-establish and renew Jewish life and spirit," Teichtal said.

The Szloma Albam House, located on Muenstersche Strasse in Berlin's Charlottenburg neighbourhood, has been under construction for three years.

Though opening officially on 2 September, its synagogue is already open for worship and classes are being held amid construction noise.

More than 30 rabbis from around the world and high-ranking German officials will attend the opening.

Teichtal, a native of Brooklyn, New York, whose grandfather's family was killed in the Holocaust, stressed that the centre was meant for everyone, including non-Jews.

Along with a synagogue, Szloma Albam House will have a kosher restaurant, a tourist welcome centre, a library and media centre, conference

centre, seminary, youth lounge, shop, and a top-of-the-line mikvah, or ritual bath.

Ninety percent of the centre's funding was raised within Berlin's Jewish community.

The Jewish community in Germany is the fastest growing in the world, according to the World Jewish Congress, fed by immigrants from the former

Soviet Union.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany says the Jewish community has some 110-thousand registered members.

Some 560-thousand Jews lived in Germany before the Holocaust.

Berlin, with 12-thousand Jews and eight synagogues, has the largest Jewish community in Germany.

One of the Szloma Albam House's primary functions, Teichtal says, is to help these Jewish immigrants integrate into German society.

All services and classes will be taught in German.

**date is approximate**

The Berlin Wall is reinforced against refugee escape attempts

1. cu street sign: Zimmerstrasse / Markgrafenstrasse

2. pan across lorries and cranes behind wall and barbed wire

3. variois shots, concrete pillars hoisted from trucks to ground

4. pillars lowered to groud, pan across piles of concrete pillars

5. ms men peering over the wall, watching

6. pillars lowered

7. west Berlin guard looks over

8. ls mechnical shovel clearing debris

9. ms shovel moving debris

10. east Berlin guards

11. ls crane working

12. scoop dropping rocks into back of lorry

Film: Pos - Sound: Mute - B&W - NYFilm: a0003987 - LN Number: LN34070 - Available in HD

Prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong has called for countries around the world to support the protesters' push for democracy in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

During a news conference in Berlin, where he is trying to drum up European support for the protests, Wong said "actions speak louder than words" and "it is a must" for world leaders to stand with Hong Kong.

Wong said that demonstrations on Sunday outside the US consulate were about more than liberating Hong Kong.

"It's urging (the) US to pass and execute the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Acts," he said.

Wong acknowledged how difficult it may be to achieve their goals, but noted that three decades ago no one predicted the Berlin Wall would fall.

Berlin - 11 September 2019

1. Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong talking to journalists

2. Wong entering news conference, pull to wide

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Joshua Wong, pro-democracy activist:

"The goal and the demands of the protest on last Sunday is not, formally speaking, liberate Hong Kong. It's urging (the) US to pass and execute the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Acts."

4. Journalists

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Joshua Wong, pro-democracy activist:

"We just hope countries around the world could (inaudible) instead of issuing statements, they could have concrete action to support Hong Kong people. Passing Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act is really a good move. So what we hope is for world leaders and countries around the world – actions speak louder than words and is a must for them to stand with Hong Kong especially we are under the crackdown of human rights."

6. Journalists

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Glacier Kwong, pro-democracy activist:

"Because there is a very serious copyright situation throughout the world that people download movies or music from online, that is illegal, right? So, people are now turning promotion materials and renaming the file as something like a movie that you can download from online. So, when the Chinese people click on the download link, they're actually not downloading the movie that they intended to download but they are now looking at the designs, graphics that we made to promote what is happening in Hong Kong."

8. Photographer

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Joshua Wong, pro-democracy activist:

++SHOT STARTS WITH PAN TO JOSHUA WONG++

"I'd like to add this, first it is Hong Kong and next is mainland China. Under the rule of Beijing hardline suppression, Hong Kong must and should be the first place finally can enjoy freedom and democracy. The most difficult challenge for us to seeking people's in mainland China support, is the information censorship and the great firewall. But with our propaganda and our promotion campaign with simplified Chinese and Mandarin we hope to seek for more and more people who live in mainland China could recognise the importance of universal value and freedom."

10. Journalists

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Joshua Wong, pro-democracy activist:

"Three decades ago we are aware of how the Berlin Wall fall and I hope in the future the Great Firewall in China will fall and let people know what is meant by truth and universal value."

12. Various of journalists

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Joshua Wong, pro-democracy activist:

"So I hope one day not only Hong Kong but also mainland China people can enjoy human rights and freedom and no one need to emigrate to other country and worrying that one country two system in a worse scenario will return to one country one system."

14. Wide of Hong Kong activists sitting at table

15. Wide of news conference ending

The Vatican is issuing a special coin to mark next Monday's 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall.

A little portion of the wall is held inside the Vatican gardens, a few steps from the house of German Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and 500 metres (yards) from the House Santa Marta, residence of Pope Francis.

On 9 November 1989, the division that had cut through the city for almost 30 years crumbled under the blows of thousands of Berliners after a decision to finally open the checkpoints.

Once the wall was dismantled, many portions of it were sold and one of them, originally located in the Kreuzberg neighbourhood, ended up in the Vatican gardens, as a gift to Pope John Paul II.

"This fragment of the Berlin Wall became part of the Vatican museums in 1990, only one year after the fall of the wall. It arrived here thanks to the donation of an Italian businessman, who bought it at an auction in Monte Carlo", explained Micol Forti, director of the contemporary art collection of the Vatican Museums.

Nowadays this portion of the wall can be considered as a piece of contemporary art, thanks to the painting that an Iranian artist realised on it as a way to figuratively break down the physical barrier that cut the city into two.

It was this distinctive trait of the painting that captured the attention of an Italian businessman who proceeded to donate it to the pope.

To mark the special recurrence, the Vatican also issued 94,000 memorial two euros coin on 14 October.

The photo chosen for the envelope shows an elderly lady, who tries to give her contribution to the demolition of the wall, peg in hand.

While engraved on the coin there is the Brandenburg Gate, surrounded by scattered bricks.

"We chose the Brandenburg Gate as a symbol of the new path that Berlin, Germany, Europe and hopefully the world took 25 years ago," Olivieri said.

AP TELEVISION

Vatican City - 7 November 2014

1. Pan left from the back of Saint Peter's Basilica to Vatican gardens

2. Fragment of the Berlin Wall in the Vatican gardens

3. Close pan from metal hook to painting

4. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Micol Forti, Director of the Contemporary Art Collection of the Vatican Museums:

"This fragment of the Berlin wall became part of the Vatican Museums in 1990, only one year after the fall of the wall. It arrives here thanks to the donation of an Italian businessman, who bought it at an auction in Monte Carlo"

5. Painting of Saint Michael church on wall

6. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Micol Forti, Director of the Contemporary Art Collection of the Vatican Museums:

"The trompe l'oeil painted by the Iranian artist on this portion of the wall represented the lower facade of Saint Michael's church, that wasn't visible from the Western side of the city, if not for the dome that showed above the upper part of the wall."

7. Close of painting of Saint Michael's church

8. Pan left from fragment of the wall to memorial plaque

9. Close of memorial plaque with quote by pope John Paul II, reading: (Italian) "Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems" and below: "Fragment of the Berlin Wall, demolished on November 9th 1989. It reproduces the facade of a church in the eastern side of the city. Donation by Marco Piccinini"

Vatican City - 6 November 2014

10. Back of Saint Peter's Basilica seen from the Vatican gardens

11. Mauro Olivieri, head of Vatican's Philatelic and numismatic office, walking to his desk

12. Olivieri's desk, with memorial coin and 2014 Vatican philatelic envelope

13. Close of Olivieri's hand opening philatelic letter

14. Close of two euros memorial coin

15. SOUNDBITE (Italian), Mauro Olivieri, Head of Vatican's Philatelic and numismatic office:

"Inside the envelope there will be another envelope with a stamp and the cancellation issue, the two euros coin and on this other side we will put the newly issued sheet of stamps, in this case it will be new and not punched, issued on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. A sheet that, with a rainbow inside and a list of names that represents a wall, carries the names of the 138 victims (people who died trying to cross over the wall, number according to Olivieri)."

16. Olivieri's hand holding hand lens over the numismatic cover

17. Close of stamp seen through hand lens

18. Close of stamp

19. Wide of Saint Peter's Square

Germany will mark a quarter-century as a reunited nation on Saturday, but the country is now facing a new challenge with a refugee influx that will demand deep reserves of resourcefulness and patience.

On 3 October, 1990, West and East Germany officially united.

It was in Hungary where events that led to the fall of East Germany's communist regime started unfolding.

In May 1989 Hungary began dismantling its 240-kilometre-long (150 miles) border fence with Austria.

Thousands of East Germans who were in the country as "tourists" were able to cross the border into Austria - from communist East to capitalist West.

This series of actions made the infamous Berlin Wall non-effective and paved the way for the unification of the two German states.

Speaking in Budapest, Istvan Horvath, a former Hungarian ambassador to West Germany recalls a secret meeting between West German and Hungarian politicians held on 25 August, 1989, in Gymnich Castle.

"We said, 'Mr. Chancellor, if we open the borders and the Hungarian government isn't forced politically and militarily to close the borders again, then the only question is when and how will East Germany bleed out through Hungary?'," Horvath recalls.

"By opening the borders, we were actually tearing down the Berlin Wall. And history proved us right."

Imre Kozma is head of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta.

He remembers opening the yard of his church to thousands of East German refugees camping out in Budapest hoping eventually to travel to West Germany via Austria.

From mid-August, 1989, Father Kozma says he hosted some 48,000 East German refugees over a three month period.

Back then Hungary was being praised for opening its borders, as Father Kozma recalls in comments made by West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1990.

"When the Wall went down, Mr. Chancellor and other key German politicians said: 'the first brick from this wall was removed by the Hungarians'. We were very proud of this praise and politically this again created Europe's political unity, since the Berlin Wall put into question the unity of Europe," he says.

This summer has seen a different turn of events.

Hungary has faced criticism in Europe for its handling of thousands of asylum seekers trying to cross its borders.

However, Father Kozma finds it hard to draw a parallel between the plight of people fleeing East Germany back then and today's migrant crisis.

"It is as if unified Europe, politically unified Europe, is unable to provide such clear answers to today's questions in the way we were able to do. Of course, we were in a simpler situation. Naturally, since all of these refugees arriving in Europe are not refugees. They are immigrants."

This time it is Germany who has sought to take the lead, so far with little success, in persuading Europe to embrace the task of taking in refugees from Syria and elsewhere and share the burden.

The flow of people to Germany, a favoured destination, gathered pace last month when Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to allow in migrants who had piled up in Hungary.

Merkel is sticking to a confident message that Germany can cope as authorities struggle to keep tabs on the newcomers and house them.

Officials expect at least 800,000 to arrive this year, though not all will be allowed to stay.

The job of integrating them into society and the workforce lies ahead, and Merkel says the experience of reunification could help.

AP TELEVISION

Budapest, Hungary - 1 October 2015

1. Various set-ups of Istvan Horvath, former Hungarian ambassador to West Germany between 1984 and 1991

2. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Istvan Horvath, former Hungarian ambassador to West Germany:

"On May 2, 1989, the dismantling of the Iron Curtain started and in a very short period of time the Iron Curtain was dismantled along the Austrian-Hungarian border. Probably as a consequence of this news, the East Germans begin streaming out of East Germany and across Hungary's green border, they trying to reach Austria and through Austria, Germany."

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Austrian side of Austria/Hungary border (exact location unknown) - 19 August 1989

3. East Germans on Austrian side of border fence

4. Guard tower with Hungarian flag

5. Various of gate being pushed open, East Germans walking through

AP TELEVISION

Budapest, Hungary - 1 October 2015

6. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Istvan Horvath, former Hungarian ambassador to West Germany:

"We had to get (Chancellor) Kohl and his people to understand what kind of dead end the Hungarian political leadership was in regarding his decision and what kind of risks it was taking on with 100,000 Soviet soldiers stationed in Hungary. About Gorbachev, then it wasn't known when Gorbachev's political career would end, how long he would be around."

5. Wide of Horvath reading

6. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Istvan Horvath, former Hungarian ambassador to West Germany:

"We said, 'Mr. Chancellor, if we open the borders and the Hungarian government isn't forced politically and militarily to close the borders again, then the only question is when and how will East Germany bleed out through Hungary?' Because then the German population could abandon East Germany through Hungary and then the question was: how long would the Berlin Wall stand? Because by opening the borders, we were actually tearing down the Berlin Wall. And history proved us right."

7. Pan from Father Imre Kozma, head of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and his colleague to a decorated Trabant car, which was used by East German refugees in 1989

8. Close of the Trabant

9. Wide of two pieces of the former Berlin wall on display in the garden of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, which hosted East German refugees before going West

10. Close of a sign on the exhibited pieces of the Berlin wall

11. Mid of the pieces of the Berlin wall

12. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Imre Kozma, head of Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta:

"When the Wall went down, Mr. Chancellor and other key German politicians said: 'the first brick from this wall was removed by the Hungarians'. We were very proud of this praise and politically this again created Europe's political unity, since the Berlin Wall put into question the unity of Europe. Europe was created and this is why 1989 is the year of miracles in the eyes of politicians, because Europe truly was created once again. This Europe is not Europe without the unity of Germany."

13. Tilt up exhibited pieces of the Berlin wall

14. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Imre Kozma, head of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta:

"It is as if unified Europe, politically unified Europe, is unable to provide such clear answers to today's questions in the way we were able to do. Of course, we were in a simpler situation. Naturally, since all of these refugees arriving in Europe are not refugees. They are immigrants."

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Roszke, Hungary - 26 August 2015

15. Close of refugees and migrants crossing into Hungary under its border security fence

16. Wide of police

17. Man crawling under fence

18. Migrants running away as police vehicle approaches

19. Migrants running across field

AP TELEVISION

Budapest, Hungary - 1 October 2015

16. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Imre Kozma, head of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta:

"Now civilisations are meeting, perhaps crashing. Cultures are meeting and clashing. And for sure, there practically can be no talk about the enculturation of these people, the assimilation of these people because Europe is weak, economically weak, politically divided. In consequence, such a weak community, even if these people were able to be assimilated, such a weak community is incapable of doing it."

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Roszke, Hungary - 26 August 2015

17. Various of newly arrived refugees and migrants to Hungary

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Roszke, Hungary - 30 August 2015

18. Wide of silhouetted refugees and migrants walking on railway track in front of setting sun

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot of demonstration filling main Jakarta street carrying

large banner saying, "Save Al-Aqsha Mosque"

2. Mid shot banner

3. Various shots demonstration

4. Mid shot police standing in front of US embassy

5. US flag

6. Various police guard

7. Various protesters chanting

8. Close-up Palestinian flag

9. Wide shot of protesters chanting: "America, terrorist"

10. Close up protester

11. Wide shot platform, speech being made

12. Man dressed in Middle Eastern-style clothes holding toy gun

and chanting: "Allahu Akbar"

18. Mid shot protesters chanting: "Allahu Akbar"

19. Wide shot of protesters

20. SOUNDBITE (English) Tifatul Sembiring, Head of the Islamic Justice and Prosperity Party:

"Now we want to know are you (USA) part of Israel or is Israel part of you? Then you are not the peacekeeper, but you are the troublemaker. Again, who is the real terrorist? You said that you are against terrorism, but you actually support the terrorist in Palestine. It means that you and Israel are the real terrorist. We demand freedom of Palestine, we demand freedom of Al-Aqsha mosque, we demand that Israel's new 'Berlin Wall' should be demolished!"

21. Mid shot of protesters leaving US embassy.

STORYLINE :

Tens of thousands of Indonesians staged an anti-US and Israel rally in Jakarta on Sunday, and several other cities, in protest against perceived Israeli aggression against the Palestinians.

The particular focus of their anger was the threat from some Jewish extremists to the Al Aqsa mosque complex, which also includes the golden Dome of the Rock mosque, in Jerusalem.

It is one of the holiest shrines in Islam but is sited on an area that Jews believe to have been occupied by the Second Temple - historically the religious centre of Judaism.

Carrying banners that read "Save Al Aqsha" and chanting "Israel is the terrorist," about 80,000 people - mostly conservative Muslims - marched peacefully past the U.N. complex next to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.

Other big marches were held in Semarang and Lampung.

About 8,000 to 10,000 people joined an anti-war protest last year, while other rallies have been smaller.

Sunday's protest was sponsored by the rapidly growing Islamic Justice and Prosperity Party, which seeks to establish Islamic Sharia law.

Its leader condemned the United States for its support of Israeli "terrorism."

Tifatul Sembiring said: "We demand freedom of Palestine, we demand freedom of Al-Aqsha mosque, we demand that Israel's new 'Berlin Wall' should be demolished!"

The organisers said Indonesian Muslims feared Israeli action toward the Jerusalem mosque and believed there was a plot to burn it down.

Indonesia's secular government has taken a strong stance against terrorism. But in recent years, there has been a rise in the popularity of radical, anti-Western Islamic groups.

SHOTLIST:

Vatican City - 3 April 2005

1. Wide shot St Peter's Square, crowd in square for mass

2. Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony walking through St Peter's Square

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Cardinal Roger Michael Mahony, Cardinal of Los Angeles

"Our Holy Father looked very, very much at peace. He looked very much like he does in his good times. It was very satisfying I think for all of us to see him looking so serene."

4. Various shots of Swiss guards on street

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Cardinal Simon Pimenta, Cardinal of Bombay

"He was one of the great pope's we've had. He did so much for the church in this transitional time, from the old regime to the new regime, so he will go down in history as one of the great popes we've had."

6. Various of bulletin outlining causes of death

Vatican City - 3 April 2005

7. Nun praying

8. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of Pontifico Council for promoting Christian unity, Cardinal for Rottenburg:

"We are now praying to god to reward him for everything he has done, for Germans as well, because he was one of the causes (factor) which made the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fall and he also helped Germany's reunification. (Q: Will it be hard to replace the pope?) Yes... we'll see."

9. Thousands of people queuing outside Basilica to attend mass

10. Franciscan monks

11. Letter and pictures posted on message board by young girl reading: (in Italian) "Goodbye pope, for me you are like a father, from Martina."

Rome, Italy - 2 April 2005

12. Set-up of Cardinal Edmund Szoka

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Cardinal Edmund Szoka, Governor of Vatican City:

"You know the Romans have a saying that a cardinal who goes into the conclave as pope comes out as a cardinal, which means you can't predict. The newspapers say these are the big candidates the contenders and so forth, but you cannot predict that. They weren't predicting this pope to be selected."

14. St Peter's Basilica as seen through window in Szoka's office

Brussels, Belgium - 3 April 2005

15. Various exteriors of Brussels Cathedral

16. Set up of news conference with Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels

17. Danneels speaking

18. Cutaway media

19. SOUNDBITE: (French) Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels:

"It's a day of mourning and sadness when a man leaves us, and particularly a man of such qualities. We are in mourning, but for me it isn't so much a day of mourning but rather a day of immense remembrance and gratitude toward a man who for 26 years lead the church."

20. Cutaway photo of Danneels as a young man shaking hands with Pope John Paul II

Paris - 3 April 2005

21. Exterior of La Cigale Club

22. SOUNDBITE: (English) Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, Former archbishop of Paris: (on expectations of a new Pope)

"That he will follow the way of John Paul has opened to face, the new world that we are living in now so that he will give all of the Churches hope and fight for peace and respect for human beings."

23. Poster

24. SOUNDBITE: (French) Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, Former archbishop of Paris: (on the Conclave)

"It takes place in a meeting where we are locked-in until we've elected a Pope without any communication with the outside (world). There will be no journalists, no cell phones, no radio, no telephones. We're just amongst each other faced with God and our responsibilities."

Milan - 3 April 2005

25. Various exterior shots of Milan Cathedral Duomo

26. Various of mass in progress

27. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, Archbishop of Milan:

"Peace to you dear Karol, after christening you became in me and and with me son of the father that is in the skies, peace to you that by the gift of the holy spirit became Pope John II and Universal shepherd of my church. Peace to you."

28. Nun praying

29. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, Archbishop of Milan:

"In this day of universal mourning I have to mention the dearest caress that Pope John Paul the II gave me three years ago, at the beginning of July, strongly encouraging me to accept to become, as he wished, your Archbishop (addressing Milan people)."

30. Various shots of Tettamanzi coming out of cathedral to applause from crowd

STORYLINE:

Pope John Paul II died of blood poisoning and the collapse of his blood vessels, the Vatican announced on Sunday, releasing the official death certificate a day after the pontiff's passing.

The bulletin was issued shortly after the pope's body was laid in state in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on Sunday.

John Paul died on Saturday evening aged 84.

The certificate listed the ailments the pope suffered from, including acknowledging officially for the first time that John Paul had Parkinson's disease.

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony was one of those by the pope's bedside when he died. He said that the "Holy Father looked very, very much at peace".

Catholics across the world are waiting to see who will succeed the late pontiff to head the Catholic church.

There are no clear favourites, making the question of papal succession as unpredictable as any in recent history.

The cardinals must decide whether to follow John Paul II with another non-Italian or hand the papacy back to its traditional caretakers.

The College of Cardinals will meet in Vatican City on Monday in its first gathering before a secret election to be held later this month to choose a successor to John Paul.

The funeral is expected between Wednesday and Friday.

Many cardinals live in Vatican City, while others cut trips short or cancelled plans to head to Rome.

Cardinal Walter Kasper of Rottenburg interrupted a visit to Bulgaria to fly to the Vatican.

"We have had a lot of respect for him, and we have loved this pope very much" he said. "We are now praying to God to reward him for everything he has done, for Germans as well, because he was one of the causes (factor) which made the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fall and he also helped Germany's reunification," Kasper said.

Kasper added it would be a hard task to replace Pope John Paul II.

Former Detroit Archbishop Edmund Szoka who is now the Governor of Vatican City was also at pope's bedside in his final days. He thinks it's impossible to predict the outcome of the conclave.

"You know the Romans have a saying that a cardinal who goes into the conclave as pope comes out as a cardinal, which means you can't predict," Szoka said. "The newspapers say these are the big candidates the contenders and so forth, but you cannot predict that. They weren't predicting this pope to be selected."

Belgium's Cardinal Godfried Danneels quickly left China to head to the Vatican.

Danneels and Kasper and Szoka are expected to be considered for the top post in the Catholic church.

French Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the former Archbishop of Paris, said that the next Pope might be an unexpected pick.

Lustiger is expected to leave for Rome tomorrow. He is one of a five French Cardinals allowed to participate in the conclave to choose John Paul II's successor.

Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the Archbishop of Milan, also paid homage to John Paul, who was 58 when the cardinals stunned the world and elected the cardinal from Krakow - the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

SHOTLIST:

Vatican City - 3 April 2005

1. Wide shot St Peter's Square, crowd in square for mass

2. Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony walking through St Peter's Square

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Cardinal Roger Michael Mahony, Cardinal of Los Angeles

"Our Holy Father looked very, very much at peace. He looked very much like he does (sic) in his good times. It was very satisfying I think for all of us to see him looking so serene."

4. Woman lighting candle

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Cardinal Roger Michael Mahony, Cardinal of Los Angeles

"He was such a brilliant light for the world and like that Easter candle, the light of Christ, at the very end the candle began to flicker, then on it's own it simply went out. So it was very touching moment, a very moving moment for all of us who were there."

6. Swiss guards on street

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Cardinal Simon Pimenta, Cardinal of Bombay

"He was one of the great pope's we've had. He did so much for the church in this transitional time, from the old regime to the new regime, so he will go down in history as one of the great popes we've had."

8. Swiss guards

9. Various of bulletin outlining causes of death

Vatican City - 3 April 2005

10. Nun praying

11. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of Pontifico Council for promoting Christian unity, Cardinal for Rottenburg:

"We are now praying to god to reward him for everything he has done, for Germans as well, because he was one of the causes (factor) which made the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fall and he also helped Germany's reunification. (Q: Will it be hard to replace the pope?) Yes... we'll see."

12. Thousands of people queuing outside Basilica to attend mass

13. Franciscan monks

14. Letter and pictures posted on message board by young girl reading: (in Italian) "Goodbye pope, for me you are like a father, from Martina."

Rome, Italy - 2 April 2005

15. Set-up of Cardinal Edmund Szoka

16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Cardinal Edmund Szoka, Governor of Vatican City:

"You know the Romans have a saying that a cardinal who goes into the conclave as pope comes out as a cardinal, which means you can't predict. The newspapers say these are the big candidates the contenders and so forth, but you cannot predict that. They weren't predicting this pope to be selected."

17. St Peter's Basilica as seen through window in Szoka's office

Brussels, Belgium - 3 April 2005

18. Various exteriors of Brussels Cathedral

19. Set up of news conference with Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels

20. Danneels speaking

21. Cutaway media

22. SOUNDBITE: (French) Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels:

"It's a day of mourning and sadness when a man leaves us, and particularly a man of such qualities. We are in mourning, but for me it isn't so much a day of mourning but rather a day of immense remembrance and gratitude toward a man who for 26 years lead the church."

23. Cutaway photo of Danneels as a young man shaking hands with Pope John Paul II

STORYLINE:

Pope John Paul II died of blood poisoning and the collapse of his blood vessels, the Vatican announced on Sunday, releasing the official death certificate a day after the pontiff's passing.

The bulletin was issued shortly after the pope's body was laid in state in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on Sunday.

John Paul died on Saturday evening aged 84.

The certificate listed the ailments the pope suffered from, including acknowledging officially for the first time that John Paul had Parkinson's disease.

John Paul also suffered heart and kidney failure brought on by a urinary tract infection last week.

The confirmation of the death was made through a heart monitoring machine, and he was declared dead after more than 20 minutes of monitoring his heart, the document said.

The certificate was signed by the pope's personal physician, Dr. Renato Buzzonetti.

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony was one of those by the pope's bedside when he died. He said that the "Holy Father looked very, very much at peace".

Catholics across the world are waiting to see who will succeed the late pontiff to head the Catholic church.

There are no clear favourites, making the question of papal succession as unpredictable as any in recent history.

The cardinals must decide whether to follow John Paul II with another non-Italian or hand the papacy back to its traditional caretakers.

The College of Cardinals will meet in Vatican City on Monday in its first gathering before a secret election to be held later this month to choose a successor to John Paul.

The funeral is expected between Wednesday and Friday.

Many cardinals live in Vatican City, while others cut trips short or cancelled plans to head to Rome.

Cardinal Walter Kasper of Rottenburg interrupted a visit to Bulgaria to fly to the Vatican.

"We have had a lot of respect for him, and we have loved this pope very much" he said. "We are now praying to God to reward him for everything he has done, for Germans as well, because he was one of the causes (factor) which made the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fall and he also helped Germany's reunification," Kasper said.

Kasper added it would be a hard task to replace Pope John Paul II.

Former Detroit Archbishop Edmund Szoka who is now the Governor of Vatican City was also at pope's bedside in his final days. He thinks it's impossible to predict the outcome of the conclave.

"You know the Romans have a saying that a cardinal who goes into the conclave as pope comes out as a cardinal, which means you can't predict," Szoka said. "The newspapers say these are the big candidates the contenders and so forth, but you cannot predict that. They weren't predicting this pope to be selected."

Belgium's Cardinal Godfried Danneels quickly left China to head to the Vatican.

Danneels and Kasper and Szoka are expected to be considered for the top post in the Catholic church.

John Paul was 58 when the cardinals stunned the world and elected the cardinal from Krakow - the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

Russian/Nat

The leaders of the former Soviet republic of Georgia gave Pope John Paul II a warm welcome as he arrived in the capital, Tbilisi, on Monday.

Ahead of the visit, President Eduard Shevardnadze had told parliament that the Pope was one of the world's "greatest thinkers".

He said he hoped the papal visit would help bring peace to the troubled Caucasus region.

The president has done his best to play down criticism from the conservative wing of Georgia's Orthodox Church.

He congratulated the pontiff's pivotal role in pushing forward reforms in eastern Europe after the Berlin Wall came down a decade ago.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)

"I think that his Holiness' visit is needed by all of us, all citizens of Georgia and the whole of the Caucasus. I think that such a visit, our meetings with him will without doubt stimulate lasting peace in the Caucasus."

SUPER CAPTION: Eduard Shevardnadze

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)

"I also want to say that our relationship with Georgian Orthodox leaders and the Catholic Church is built on other principles. Principles that did not exist in the past. We've now worked together, consulted with each other, it is in general our wish, our opinion, that the Pope's visit is a helpful event, it indicates an important event for Georgia and the whole of the Caucasus. I am personally very interested in this event."

SUPER CAPTION: Eduard Shevardnadze

Shevardnadze was Mikhail Gorbachev's foreign minister when the Wall fell 10 years ago.

During his visit, the 79 year old Pope will hold talks with Shevardnadze and Patriarch Ilya II, the head of the Orthodox Church.

He will also celebrate mass in a sports' stadium on Tuesday.

Georgia was converted to Christianity in 337 AD and has a strong Orthodox Church.

Georgia was officially atheist during Communist times.

XFA Tbilisi, Georgia, November 8 1999

1. Wide shot of parliament

2. Mid shot of entrance

3. Shevardnadze walks in

4. Cutaway of cameras

5. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze

6. Cutaway of cameras

7. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze

8. Cutaway of cameras

SHOTLIST:

+++VIDEO ORIGINAL 4:3+++

NATO TV - File

West Berlin, Germany - 1961

1. Various construction of Berlin Wall

2. Various of soldiers by wall

AP File

Berlin, Germany - June, 1961

3. Wide of Brandenburg Gate

+++VIDEO ORIGINAL 16:9+++

Brandenburg gate, Berlin, Germany - August 11, 2011

4. Mid tilt up Peter Hillebrecht walking towards Brandenburg gate

5. Mid of Peter Hillebrecht walking trough Brandenburg gate

6. Mid of Peter Hillebrecht looking at information board

7. SOUNDBITE (German) Peter Hillebrecht, former AP photographer

"I remember that the GDR battle groups stood here in front of the Brandenburg gate with their water cannons. We photographers provoked them until they sprayed us with water and we got good pictures."

8. Wide of Peter Hillebrecht crossing street zoom in mark of former wall

Photo Peter Hillebrecht, copyright Associated Press/ No access North America, Canada and the internet

9. Mid photo GDR battle group preparing construction of the Berlin wall

10. Close photo GDR battle group preparing construction of the Berlin wall

Potzdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany - August 11, 2011

11. Mid of Peter Hillebrecht and his wife walking

9. SOUNDBITE (German) Peter Hillebrecht, former AP photographer

"First we opened the lines from Berlin to Frankfurt to send pictures. Then Frankfurt sent the pictures to London. London sent them to New York and the colleagues in New York opened the lines to overseas to Tokyo and South America."

+++VIDEO ORIGINAL 4:3+++

AP FILE

Berlin, Germany - June, 1961

12. Various of Berlin streets

+++VIDEO ORIGINAL 16:9+++

Photo Peter Hillebrecht, copyright Associated Press/No access North America, Canada and the internet

13. Wide of photo of Potsdamer Platz in 1961

14. Close of photo of Potsdamer Platz in 1961

15. Pan photo of Potsdamer Platz in 1961

AP Television

Potzdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany - August 11, 2011

15. Wide of aerial view from Potsdamer Platz

Photo Peter Hillebrecht, copyright Associated Press/No access North America, Canada and the internet

16. Mid of photo of Potsdamer Platz in 1961

AP Television

Potzdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany - August 11, 2011

17. Wide top shot from Potsdamer Platz

18. SOUNDBITE: (German) Peter Hillebrecht, former AP photographer

"The flight was a turbulent flight because the wind was strong like today. The helicopter flew up and down and I remember that the door was open and one of my legs was hanging out�that would''t be allowed today."

Photo Peter Hillebrecht, copyright Associated Press/No access North America, Canada and the internet

19. Mid of photo people building the wall

20. Close of photo people building the wall

++VIDEO ORIGINAL 4:3+++

AP FILE

West Berlin, Germany - June, 1961

21. Various of wall being built

22. Various of completed wall

+++VIDEO ORIGINAL 16:9+++

AP Television

Berlin, Germany - August 11, 2011

23. Mid of Peter Hillebrecht walking towards wall at Topography of Terror memorial

24. Close of wall at Topography of Terror memorial

25. SOUNDBITE: (German) Peter Hillebrecht, former AP photographer

"You see the stones here in the picture and you can find them here in the wall. The picture looks nice because of the branches of the tree but the atmosphere in Berlin was depressive."

Photo Peter Hillebrecht, copyright Associated Press/No access North America, Canada and the internet

25. Tilt up of photo of GDR refugees at refugee camp in Mariendorf, Berlin

+++VIDEO ORIGINAL 4:3+++

AP FILE

West Berlin - June 1961

26. Refugees in West Berlin reception camps.

27. SOUNDBITE: (English) Reporter, No name available

"Why did you come to West Berlin at this moment ?"

SOUNDBITE: (English) Refugee, No name available

"We feared that we can''t go in the future"

SOUNDBITE: (English) Reporter, No name available

" You thought that the barriers were going to be closed ?

SOUNDBITE: (English) Refugee, No name available

"Yes"

++VIDEO ORIGINAL 16:9+++

AP Television

Check Point Charlie, Berlin, Germany - August 11, 2011

28. Mid of Peter Hillebrecht taking photographs with his old Leica camera

29. Close of sign at Check Point Charlie

30. Wide of Check Point Charlie

31. Mid of Peter Hillebrecht walking along former wall

32. Soundbite (German) Peter Hillebrecht, former AP photographer

"I remember sitting in one of those buildings at Checkpoint Charlie, taking photographs and watching American and Soviet tanks pulling up and facing each other. We all expected a clash any minute. It was a very depressive atmosphere and we were all scared."

Bernauer Strasse, Berlin, Germany - August 11, 2011

33. Peter Hillebrecht looking at memorial for victims of the wall

34. Close of victims of the wall

35. Mid of Peter Hillebrecht walking at memorial site

+++VIDEO ORIGINAL 4:3+++

AP FILE

West Berlin, Germany - June 1961

36. Various of people escaping through barbed wire

37. Various of people escaping jumping from buildings

+++VIDEO ORIGINAL 16:9+++

Kelkheim, Germany - August 2011

38. Various of Peter Hillebrecht at his newspaper offices

LEADIN:

50 years ago the Berlin wall went up - dividing not only the city and Germany but also hundreds of families, friends and relatives.

Photographer Peter Hillebrecht shot the first photographs documenting the construction of the Berlin wall in 1961.

To this day he remembers the time he witnessed history.

STORYLINE:

Brick by brick the wall went up on August 13th 1961.

It completely shut off West Berlin from East Berlin as well as dividing West Germany from the soviet-ruled eastern bloc.

Fifty years after his pictures of the construction of the Berlin Wall were published around the globe, former AP photographer Peter Hillebrecht slowly walks along a cobble-stoned line on a street that today reminds visitors and locals of the infamous barrier that once divided the German capital.

In 1961 he received a phone call at 2:30 in the morning from an editor telling him that the East Germans had started building a wall through the city.

At the time he was a 31-year-old photographer for The Associated Press, who usually worked in Hamburg and was only in Berlin for a few weeks to fill in for a colleague on holiday.

Now the 81-year-old remembers that historic day.

Hillebracht ran out and took some of the first pictures that night, and then many more during daylight in the Tiergarten neighborhood and at the Brandenburg Gate where the East German soldiers had started shoveling earth and putting up fences.

Standing at the gate he casts his mind back to that night.

"I remember that the GDR battle groups stood here in front of the Brandenburg gate with their water cannons. We photographers provoked them until they sprayed us with water and we got good pictures."

Hillebrecht''s AP pictures of the emerging Berlin Wall hit newsstands across the world; it was a barrier that was to define the Cold War and divide a continent.

"First we opened the lines from Berlin to Frankfurt to send pictures. Then Frankfurt sent the pictures to London. London sent them to New York and the colleagues in New York opened the lines to overseas to Tokyo and South America," he says.

Germany had been divided into a capitalist western and communist eastern sectors after the end of World War II. That split pitted the nation at the forefront of the Cold War for nearly 30 years.

At the height of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the East German regime started building a wall through the capital, dividing streets and neighbourhoods, tearing apart families and friendships.

The division ended on November 9, 1989 after communist East Germany opened the Berlin Wall amid pressure from massive demonstrations.

Today, only a few of the wall''s 12 foot (3.5 metre) high concrete slabs remain standing - reminders of the city''s 28 years of division.

Among the most famous is a graffiti-painted, restored section of the wall, known as the East Side Gallery. It snakes along the bank of the Spree river for three quarters of a mile (1.3 kilometers).

Elsewhere in the city, the authorities are now scrambling to restore crumbling stretches that escaped, either by luck or chance, the frenzy of Berlin''s citizens eager to tear apart the hated barrier down.

Only a fraction of the 25 mile (40 km) path the wall wound through the heart of the city is marked today. A cobble-stoned line that stretches down streets and across roads reminds passers-by where the wall once stood.

When the wall was first built, nobody knew what was going to happen next. Many people were afraid that the wall would serve as a provocation and escalate the Cold War.

Hillebrecht visits the Topography of Terror memorial, built on the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS.

After allied bombing raids destoryed the headquarters in 1945 it became the site of the boundary line between the American and Soviet zones of the city.

"You see the stones here in the picture and you can find them here in the wall. The picture looks nice because of the branches of the tree but the atmosphere in Berlin was depressive," says Hillebrecht.

Also on Hillebrecht''s tour of Berlin he visits Checkpoint Charlie, one of the crossings between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.

These days it is a tourist attraction but in 1961 many feared it could have been the spark to ignite a wider conflict.

A stand off in 1961 between US and Soviet tanks ocurred over whether East German guards were authorised to examine the documents of a US diplomat travelling through to East Berlin to the opera.

"I remember sitting in one of those buildings at Checkpoint Charlie, taking photographs and watching American and Soviet tanks pulling up and facing each other. We all expected a clash any minute. It was a very depressive atmosphere and we were all scared," says Hillebrecht.

Today (Ausust 13, 2011) marks the 50th anniversary of the building of the wall.

Some 130 people lost their lives trying to escape across the Berlin Wall - the exact number is still disputed. They will be honoured at a central memorial ceremony to be attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel and others.

After 37 years with the AP as a photographer and manager, Hillebrecht left the company in 1996.

Despite his age, Hillebrecht can''t stop doing the job he loves.

Back home in Kelkheim, a small town in central Germany, he works every day, editing photos and articles for his local paper.

Police blow up apartment building by the Berlin Wall in an anti-refugee campaign.

1. ws pan buildings by berlin Wall

2. mcu sign 'You Are Now Leaving The American Sector',Checkpoint Charlie area

3. ws building blown up, collapses

4. mcu US officer looks thru binoculars

5. mcu East German soldier by barbed wire

6. ms soldier by wall

7. mcu wreath laid to escapees who died, pan up of cross and East German guards on other side of wall

8. ws newsmen, cameramen, pan to wall and East German troops

9. cu West German soldier

10. cu East German soldier

11. ws another building blwon up, collapsing,

12. cu American soldier looking on

13. ws pan people looking at ruins, from both sides of the wall

Film: Pos - Sound: Mute - B&W - NYFilm: a0004097 - LN Number: LN33811 - Available in HD

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday the United States is investigating allegations of war crimes in Syria, adding it will keep urging Russia, Turkey, the Syrian regime and its allies not to take steps to further destabilize an already difficult region.

Pompeo was speaking alongside his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Moedlareuth.

Earlier in talks with Maas, Pompeo discussed growing US concerns about economic and strategic threats from Russia, China and Iran.

Pompeo arrived earlier for a two-day trip in Germany, meeting with American troops in the south of the country.

His trip is based around the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in an area where he served as an Army officer during the Cold War.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans were stationed in West Germany during the Cold War, and the country was one of the U.S.'s closest allies.

That relationship continued after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in 1989, but ties have become strained recently under the presidency of Donald Trump over a series of issues.

Pompeo is visiting five German cities on the two-day trip. In Berlin, he will deliver a speech highlighting the U.S. role in helping eastern and central Europe "throw off the yoke of communism," according to the U.S. State Department.

He will also unveil a statue of Ronald Reagan on an upper-level terrace of the U.S. Embassy, overlooking the site in front of the landmark Brandenburg Gate where the Berlin Wall once stood and the former president gave his famous 1987 speech beseeching then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "open this gate" and "tear down this wall."

Other stops Thursday include a visit to the site of the attack on a synagogue in Halle and the city of Leipzig, where mass protests set the ball rolling which led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Moedlareuth - 7 November 2019

1. News conference with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State:

"You know, the events of 1989 remind me of what binds us, our two countries, free societies, trans-Atlantic allies and friends. We share a strong belief in the rule of law and in democracy, human dignity, free speech, freedom of religion and so many other unalienable rights, things we know to be central. These values link us together as people in those nations and they define our policy, our foreign policy choices. Not all nations share these liberal values. I spoke last week in New York City about the nature of how Chinese Communist Party, China's governing entity, views the world and we should speak frankly about such things. I know Germany, too, is facing its decision about how to handle its telecommunications network. This isn't just a simple decision, it's complicated, but it comes in the face of the challenges that are presented by the Chinese Communist Party."

3. Cutaway

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State:

"Heiko and I spent a fair amount of time this morning, as he said, talking about Syria. The United States will continue to monitor the ceasefire and hold human rights violators there accountable. We're investigating allegations of war crimes and we'll continue to deliver on our humanitarian mission there. And we'll keep urging Russia and Turkey and the regime and its allies not to take steps that would further destabilize that already difficult region that has caused the mass displacement and refugee flows that we have already seen."

5. Cutaway

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State:

"Germany has been a great partner in supporting our efforts to attempt to denuclearize North Korea. You've maintained pressure on Russia to meet its commitments to implement the Minsk agreements. You stood alongside the United States and many European partners trying to achieve democracy in Venezuela. And in September, you stood along with France and the United Kingdom in ascribing responsibility for the Iran attacks, for the attacks by Iran on Saudi oil facilities. Each of these issues has, at its core, the mission of protecting inalienable rights and human dignity, something the communists of East Germany failed to do for so many years."

7. Zoom in on Pompeo and Maas

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday the United States is investigating allegations of war crimes in Syria, adding it will keep urging Russia, Turkey, the Syrian regime and its allies not to take steps to further destabilize an already difficult region.

Pompeo was speaking alongside his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Moedlareuth.

Earlier in talks with Maas, Pompeo discussed growing US concerns about economic and strategic threats from Russia, China and Iran.

Pompeo arrived earlier for a two-day trip in Germany, meeting with American troops in the south of the country.

His trip is based around the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in an area where he served as an Army officer during the Cold War.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans were stationed in West Germany during the Cold War, and the country was one of the U.S.'s closest allies.

That relationship continued after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in 1989, but ties have become strained recently under the presidency of Donald Trump over a series of issues.

Pompeo is visiting five German cities on the two-day trip. In Berlin, he will deliver a speech highlighting the U.S. role in helping eastern and central Europe "throw off the yoke of communism," according to the U.S. State Department.

He will also unveil a statue of Ronald Reagan on an upper-level terrace of the U.S. Embassy, overlooking the site in front of the landmark Brandenburg Gate where the Berlin Wall once stood and the former president gave his famous 1987 speech beseeching then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "open this gate" and "tear down this wall."

Other stops Thursday include a visit to the site of the attack on a synagogue in Halle and the city of Leipzig, where mass protests set the ball rolling which led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Moedlareuth - 7 November 2019

1. News conference with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State:

"You know, the events of 1989 remind me of what binds us, our two countries, free societies, trans-Atlantic allies and friends. We share a strong belief in the rule of law and in democracy, human dignity, free speech, freedom of religion and so many other unalienable rights, things we know to be central. These values link us together as people in those nations and they define our policy, our foreign policy choices. Not all nations share these liberal values. I spoke last week in New York City about the nature of how Chinese Communist Party, China's governing entity, views the world and we should speak frankly about such things. I know Germany, too, is facing its decision about how to handle its telecommunications network. This isn't just a simple decision, it's complicated, but it comes in the face of the challenges that are presented by the Chinese Communist Party."

3. Cutaway

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State:

"Heiko and I spent a fair amount of time this morning, as he said, talking about Syria. The United States will continue to monitor the ceasefire and hold human rights violators there accountable. We're investigating allegations of war crimes and we'll continue to deliver on our humanitarian mission there. And we'll keep urging Russia and Turkey and the regime and its allies not to take steps that would further destabilize that already difficult region that has caused the mass displacement and refugee flows that we have already seen."

5. Cutaway

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State:

"Germany has been a great partner in supporting our efforts to attempt to denuclearize North Korea. You've maintained pressure on Russia to meet its commitments to implement the Minsk agreements. You stood alongside the United States and many European partners trying to achieve democracy in Venezuela. And in September, you stood along with France and the United Kingdom in ascribing responsibility for the Iran attacks, for the attacks by Iran on Saudi oil facilities. Each of these issues has, at its core, the mission of protecting inalienable rights and human dignity, something the communists of East Germany failed to do for so many years."

7. Zoom in on Pompeo and Maas

French President Francois Hollande said a failure to come together on a European solution to the migrant crisis would spell the end of free border travel under the Schengen agreement.

He also said France would not leave Germany alone to shoulder the burden of refugee arrivals and other countries should join in on a mandatory basis.

Hollande said France was ready to take in "hundreds more, a thousand."

He criticised countries that have said they would take on refugees based on their religion, and for building walls, referencing the fall of the Berlin Wall and the actions taken by European countries then.

French President Francois Hollande said a failure to come together on a European solution to the migrant crisis would spell the end of free border travel under the Schengen agreement.

He also said France would not leave Germany alone to shoulder the burden of refugee arrivals and other countries should join in on a mandatory basis.

Hollande said France was ready to take in "hundreds more, a thousand."

He criticised countries that have said they would take on refugees based on their religion, and for building walls, referencing the fall of the Berlin Wall and the actions taken by European countries then.

AP TELEVISION

Paris - 7 September 2015

1. News conference

2. SOUNDBITE: (French) Francois Hollande, French President:

"There are countries that would like to apply ethnic criteria (to refugee selection), that would like to take in some but not others, in the name of religion. There are countries that would like to build walls and not take in a single refugee. What would these countries have been thinking 30 years ago, if at the moment of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we would have said 'no, not right now. Not like this. Don't come. Take your time. Stay where you are.'? No, we said 'come, you are Europeans, you will build with us the union that we want. We are in the same environment, with the same principles and human rights.' This is, once more, the kind of discourse we should be having."

3. News conference

4. SOUNDBITE: (French) Francois Hollande, French President:

"Why did I refuse the term 'quotas' when it was spoken? Because it created an ambiguity which allowed us to think that once the quotas had been distributed we would be able to do nothing more and the right of asylum is a fundamental right and we would have been saying that above a certain number (once the quotas had been met) you could not come anymore and ask for protection. That is not France, and that's why we have proposed this sharing mechanism. The only change, and I said it earlier, is that this is mandatory."

5. News conference

6. SOUNDBITE: (French) Francois Hollande, French President:

"What led me to take this decision together with the (German) Chancellor is a principle of solidarity, agreed with the Chancellor, and she said that in the face of the refugee arrivals coming from Hungary who are going to Germany. I told the Chancellor that I am ready, together with France, to take in hundreds more, a thousand, because we cannot leave Germany alone to take on this solidarity and responsibility as these people arrive over the course of the coming weeks. There are things we can do on a voluntary basis and those we can do on a mandatory basis. This is why this is a new mechanism that should now be adopted by European countries under a common policy. If we do not have this common policy this mechanism will not work, it will disintegrate and there will be bigger numbers and it will undoubtedly spell the end of Schengen, a return to national borders. And do you think we can, with national borders, carry out the response that is expected of us? No. We need Europe and Europe needs solidarity and responsibility. This means organisation. Europe isn't just a place. Europe is policies, Europe is means, Europe is also border controls that must be present. That's what Europe is."

A historic deal ending a decades-long dispute between neighbours Greece and Macedonia over the latter's name met with mixed reactions in both countries on Wednesday, with some welcoming the agreement and others horrified at what they see as unacceptable concessions.

Under the deal reached between the two countries' prime ministers on Tuesday, Macedonia will change its name to Republic of North Macedonia, and will amend its constitution.

The agreement is expected to be signed this weekend.

The name dispute has poisoned the two countries' relations since Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, with Greece arguing that the term "Macedonia" implied a claim on the territory and ancient heritage of its own northern province of the same name.

Opponents in Macedonia disagreed with any modification to their country's name, seeing it as a threat to their national identity.

Bujar Osmani, the Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister of the Government for European Affairs likened the day the deal was made as "a historical day. A day where another Berlin wall has fallen."

However Naum Stoilkovski, spokesman for the opposition VMRO-DMPNE party believes that with the agreement "Macedonians will lose any European and basic human rights for self-determination, language, historical and cultural identity."

Skopje - 13 June 2018

1. Wide of Skopje downtown

2. Bujar Osmani, Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister of the Government for European Affairs, at his desk

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Bujar Osmani, Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister of the Government for European Affairs:

"June 12 will be remembered as a historical day. A day where another Berlin wall has fallen. It is important that on the same day, 20 years ago, NATO entered in this region in Kosovo, and on the same day as I said another Berlin wall has fallen and now NATO is spreading throughout the region. This day will divide the history of this country and this region in two parts. It is important for all the communities, because the NATO narrative and the EU narrative is the glue for the ethnic cohesion in the region but also for the perspective of the region, politically, economically and security wise."

4. Cutaway flags

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Bujar Osmani, Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister of the Government for European Affairs:

"There is going to be resistance, domestically from those who oppose the prospective of the country but also in the region, within the region and geopolitically. But I believe the energy that has been released from solving this dispute will not leave anyone, here in the country or in the region, indifferent to this issue and therefore I think we are going to implement this agreement as we have agreed yesterday. Yes we are going to face resistance as we are going to get closer to NATO the opposition will be bigger and bigger, but I think the energy will surpass all the differences and the opposition to this process."

6. Wide of VMRO-DPMNE opposition party headquarters

7. Naum Stoilkovski , VMRO-DMPNE, opposition party spokesperson, walking along

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Naum Stoilkovski , VMRO-DMPNE, opposition party spokesperson:

"First of all, VMRO-DPMNE is not against Nimetz process, but with this so called agreement Macedonians, will lose any European and basic human rights for self-determination, language, historical and cultural identity. That's why this is not an agreement for VMRO-DPMNE but a full acceptance of all Greek demands, even the rights already won by Macedonia."

9. Various of downtown Skopje

Refugees from Iraq and Syria are being trained as guides to lead other refugees around some of Berlin's most popular museums.

The tours have been providing an opportunity for the refugees to understand more about their new country of residence and how it rose from the ashes of the Second World War.

It has also allowed them to see how their own Islamic culture is appreciated in Germany.

Among the 19 trainee guides is Zoya Masoud, a 28-year-old Syrian architect from Latakia who came to Germany four years ago.

As she showed a tour group round Berlin's Museum of Islamic Art on Wednesday, she said the tours give the new arrivals a break from the stress of resettlement, and help them to begin integrating.

Refugees from Iraq and Syria are being trained as guides to lead other refugees around some of Berlin's most popular museums.

The tours have been providing an opportunity for the refugees to understand more about their new country of residence and how it rose from the ashes of the Second World War.

It has also allowed them to see how their own Islamic culture is appreciated in Germany.

Among the 19 trainee guides is Zoya Masoud, a 28-year-old Syrian architect from Latakia who came to Germany four years ago.

As she showed a tour group round Berlin's Museum of Islamic Art on Wednesday, she said the tours give the new arrivals a break from the stress of resettlement, and help them to begin integrating.

Berlin - 16 December 2015

1. Refugees on museum tour in front of the Mshatta Facade exhibition in Museum of Islamic Art

2. Various of 28-year-old Zoya Masoud, an architect from Latakia in Syria, giving a guided tour

3. Pan up from Masoud's hands to her face

4. Refugees tour group talking to Director of the Museum of Islamic Art, Stefan Weber.

5. SOUNDBITE (German) Stefan Weber, Director of the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin:

"What's important about this project is that it's a project by refugees, for refugees."

6. Masoud talking with a male refugee in tour group

7. SOUNDBITE (German) Stefan Weber, Director of the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin:

"But also German reconstruction. They grew up thinking of Germany as a flourishing country and then they see the pictures from the end of World War II. They see that war isn't the end of history but that there's hope for rebuilding their own country someday."

8. Pull out of refugee tour group walking through museum with Weber

9. Wide shot of interior room of museum

10. Tracking shot of refugee tour group moving from room to room, pan down to exhibit

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Zoya Masoud, trainee guide and architect from Latakia who came to Germany four years ago and now works at the Syrian Heritage Archive Project:

"I was really deeply touched with their reactions and first the way they were surprised sometimes about the objects to be here in Berlin, and surprised about facts about Islamic art, and the idea that they are meeting their own culture here in Berlin is really very nice."

12. Pan left from map on wall to tour group in Aleppo Room

13. Group in Aleppo Room

14. Close of exhibit

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Zoya Masoud, trainee guide and architect from Latakia who came to Germany four years ago and now works at the Syrian Heritage Archive Project:

"A new country for them so they come here, it's a first welcome, to take them a bit away from their stressful daily life now because they are applying for asylum and it's a lot of bureaucracy, paperwork and so, this is in the first place, the second thing is to integrate them hopefully in a new country in Germany."

16. Pan up from refugees looking upwards to motif on ceiling

17. Refugees looking at motif on ceiling

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Tamader Almaftah, archaeologist from Aleppo:

"And the Aleppo Room is really wonderful place to describe how it is in Aleppo from before and the Aleppo Room is also another example of how the cultures came together."

19. Wide pan left to show Mshatta Facade

German chancellor Angela Merkel, together with Holocaust survivors remembered the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp 70 years ago.

The concentration camp was liberated by the Soviet army on January 27, 1945, in the last months of the war.

The Soviet advance from the east forced the Nazis to retreat from occupied eastern Europe to Germany and they took many of their prisoners to kill along the way.

However, they left several thousand behind, among them children and those prisoners closer to death.

Eva Pusztal-Fahidi survived Auschwitz, but lost 49 family members, among them her little sister and parents.

The 75-year-old survivor said she can never forget the past and has made it her mission, as long as she lives, to do everything she can to make the younger generations aware of what happened during the Nazi regime.

"The wound never heals. With each memory the wound reopens. The question is how often. And you are immediately there, remembering the small gesture of Mengele: left-right," Pusztal-Fahidi said remembering the moments when the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele selected people and decided who would live or die.

Merkel said Germany was ashamed of its past.

"Germans are guilty for the suffering and the death of millions of people and some Germans tolerated it. Germans were the perpetrators, co-perpetrators, people who denied to see, they were silent confidants," she said.

Merkel condemned all hateful rhetoric against anyone on account of their religious or ethnic background.

"We don't want to hear slogans full of hatred against people who are believers or believe in different religions. We don't want to hear slogans full of hatred against Jews. We don't want to hear slogans full of hatred against people in Germany who found a new home here or who are just looking for shelter when threatened with war and persecution," she said.

Merkel's comments echoed the sentiment of Auschwitz survivor, Marian Turski, who gave a moving speech at the memorial event on Monday.

"If someone humiliates a Roma, a Jew, Bosnian, Turk, Israeli, Palestinian, Christian, Muslim or a non-believer today it is like Auschwitz starts all over again."

AP TELEVISION

Berlin - 26 January 2015

1. German chancellor Angela Merkel arriving

2. Merkel greeting guests

3. Auschwitz survivor Marian Turski (right)

4. Merkel talking to Auschwitz survivor Eva Pusztal-Fahidi

5. Tilt down from enlarged black and white photo on wall to piano player

6. SOUNDBITE (German) Marian Turski, Auschwitz survivor:

"If someone humiliates a Roma, a Jew, Bosnian, Turk, Israeli, Palestinian, Christian, Muslim or a non-believer today it is like Auschwitz starts all over again."

7. Wide of Turksi on stage with people applauding

8. Pusztal-Fahidi walking onto stage

9. SOUNDBITE (German) Eva Pusztal-Fahidi, Auschwitz survivor:

"The wound never heals. With each memory the wound reopens. The question is how often. And you are immediately there, remembering the small gesture of (Nazi doctor Josef) Mengele: left-right."

10. Pusztal-Fahidi on stage

11. People watching ceremony

12. SOUNDBITE (German) Angela Merkel, German chancellor:

"We Germans feel great shame for what happened. Because Germans are guilty for the suffering and the death of millions of people and some Germans tolerated it. Germans were the perpetrators, co-perpetrators, people who denied to see, they were silent confidants."

13. People attending ceremony

14. SOUNDBITE (German) Angela Merkel, German chancellor:

"We don't want to hear slogans full of hatred against people who are believers or believe in different religions. We don't want to hear slogans full of hatred against Jews. We don't want to hear slogans full of hatred against people in Germany who found a new home here or who are just looking for shelter when threatened with war and persecution."

15. Wide of stage with audience clapping