30 Years of German Unity - The Legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev

Gorbachev on his last international visit with Angela Merkel in Berlin, by invitation of Cinema for Peace in 2014. Artist and filmmaker Ai Weiwei committed to create a monument.

BERLIN - After Cinema for Peace hosted Mikhail Gorbachev in Berlin for the 20th and 25th anniversaries of the fall of the Berlin Wall—and after founder Jaka Bizilj built “The Wall Museum”—on the 30th anniversary of German unity, Cinema for Peace announced a monument for Gorbachev in Berlin and a feature film about his life, written by Andrew Knight, who also wrote the Oscar nominated film Hacksaw Ridge by Mel Gibson.

One of the world’s leading contemporary artists, Ai Weiwei—who experienced how Gorbachev inspired the student movement leading up to the tragic Tiananmen Square events in 1989—will create the installation, which the former Vice President of the World Economic Forum, Ulrich Bettermann, will support financially, together with members of German civic society such as Hermann Bühlbecker. Like Cinema for Peace flew-in Alexei Navalny as a humanitarian mission, under similar ad-hoc circumstances, Bettermann flew Mikhail Chodorkowksy from prison in Russia to Germany, after Vladimir Putin’s arrangement with Hans-Dietrich Genscher, while Genscher worked closely at that time with Cinema for Peace and met several times at his home for workshops, discussing his personal life story, the decisive steps towards the fall of the Berlin Wall, as we are telling it at The Wall Museum, sanctions in regards to Crimea and Eastern Ukraine and the release of Pussy Riot and Chodorkowksy before the Olympic Games in Sochi. In 1999, Bettermann arranged an emergency flight of Raisa Gorbachova to Münster/Germany, where she died before a successful bone marrow transplant could save her life.

On the eve of 30 years of German unity, a group of dedicated supporters—including the likes of Golden Globe honoree Nastssja Kinski—expressed the desire to name a street and tram line between East and West Berlin after Gorbachev. Chancellor Angela Merkel stated to chairman Jaka Bizilj: "I share the view that Mikhail Gorbachev has made a decisive contribution to overcoming European division and achieving German unity." The German Chancellor wishes this project success, as well as “all projects designed to honor Mikhail Gorbachev’s historic role” in the process.

Roger Waters’ “Wish you were here” for Raisa and Mikhail Gorbachev

German President Horst Koehler’s message for Gorbachev

Jan Josepf Liefers’ 1989 keynote address for 700.000 East Germans, declaring the end of East Germany (in German).

The Sunday Times. 27.09.20. “Reach out to Vladimir Putin or risk a new arms race, Mikhail Gorbachev warns next US leader.”