Witness to history

Like many Europeans, French President Nicolas Sarkozy remembers exactly where he was and what he was doing the day the Berlin Wall fell. On Sunday, Sarkozy shared this memory on his Facebook page, revealing that on November 9, 1989, the future leader of France was chipping away at the wall with a small pick-axe.

At the time, Sarkozy was the deputy general secretary of France's RPR party. He and party colleague Alain Juppe heard about the changes underfoot in the German capitol and set off for Berlin on November 9.

"Having reached West Berlin, we went to the Brandenburg Gate where a large and jubilant crowd had already gathered in response to announcmenets about the likely opening of the border," Sarkozy wrote on Facebook.

From there, Sarkozy went to Checkpoint Charlie to "confront this wall," he wrote. Once there, he even "had a go with a pick-axe" and took a few swings at the famous barrier between East and West Berlin.

"We were surrounded by families who hacked against the cement. Some of them spoke to us to explain their feelings and their new ambitions," Sarkozy recalled.

Sarkozy was due to appear in Berlin on Monday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders as part of the celebrations commemorating the fall of the wall.

"It is this freedom that we are still defending in Europe and that we are celebrating 20 years on," concluded Sarkozy in his Facebook post.

mz/AP/afp/DPA

Editor: Jennifer Abramsohn