MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/. Over a quarter of Russians polled (28%) have a positive attitude towards the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a poll held by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center timed to the 30th anniversary of the event informed.
"Most Russians state that at the moment of the fall of the Berlin Wall, they had a positive attitude to the event (28% in 2019 and 32% in 2009 and 2005). 11-15% of respondents, depending on the year, claimed that they did not understand the situation very well at that moment, while 10-14% saw both advantages and disadvantages of the situation. 4-8% of those polled, depending on the year, had a negative attitude towards the fall of the Berlin Wall," the pollster informs.
The survey shows that practically every Russian (93%) has heard of the fall of the Berlin Wall, however, over half of Russian citizens (60%) are unable to say who built it. As for the causes of this historical event, 17% of Russian citizens stated that it was the change in USSR politics, 13% think that it was a decision of former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, while 11% name unrest among German citizens as the reason for the wall’s fall. Five percent each list improvement of relations between states and political changes in the world as the main causes.
Over a third (37%) of those polled think that the fall of the Berlin Wall had predominantly positive consequences, while 35% are of the opposite opinion. However, the poll shows that nearly half of Russians (44%) have a positive attitude to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Germany, compared to 28% who see it in a negative light.
The poll was held on November 3, 2019 among 1,600 respondents over 18 years of age via a phone interview. The margin of error does not surpass 2.5% with the probability of 95%.
The 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is being celebrated in Germany this week. The main events will be held on November 9.
The Berlin Wall, seen as a Cold War symbol, was built in 1961 at the initiative of East German leader Walter Ulbricht amid labor outflow to West Germany. After Hungary opened its borders in 1989 against the backdrop of the policy of perestroika in the USSR, 15,000 people fled East Germany through the neighboring country within three days.
On November 9, 1989, East German official Gunter Schabowski unexpectedly announced the new rules providing freedom of movement for the citizens of the German Democratic Republic. They boiled down to the following: East Germans were allowed to leave the country through checkpoints. The first crossing barrier was opened on the same day.