--- description: President Barack Obama said he will "never forget" the scenes of people reuniting with their families and entering "the free world." title: Obama Says He Will "Never Forget" Berlin Wall Fall image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Obama Says He Will 'Never Forget' Berlin Wall Fall  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Nov 7, 2014 10:20 PM CUT  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Nov 7, 2014 10:20 PM CUT As people around the world celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, President Barack Obama [said in a tweet](https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/530835151711113216 "undefined") that he will “never forget” the scenes of people reuniting with their families and entering “the free world.” “It was a reminder that walls of concrete and barbed wire are ultimately no match for the will of ordinary men and women who are determined to live free,” he said in the statement. He also used the occasion to take a jab at Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he said has held back progress in Europe: “But as Russia’s actions against Ukraine remind us, we have more work to do to fully realize our shared vision of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3573265/barack-obama-berlin-wall-2014/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3573265/barack-obama-berlin-wall-2014/"},"headline":"Obama Says He Will 'Never Forget' Berlin Wall Fall","datePublished":"2014-11-07T22:20:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:19:04.077Z","description":"While commending the reunification of Germany, the President criticized Russia's actions in Ukraine for unsettling Europe","url":"https://time.com/3573265/barack-obama-berlin-wall-2014/","keywords":["putin","russia","Barack Obama","Foreign Policy","History","europe","Obama","Berlin Wall"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3573265/barack-obama-berlin-wall-2014/","name":"Obama Says He Will 'Never Forget' Berlin Wall Fall"}}]}] ```