For much of my life, the Berlin Wall was part of the world I grew up in. It was created on August 13, 1961, eight months before I was born. It was strengthened and improved over several decades and symbolized not only the dividing line between West and East Berlin, but between communism and democracy.
It cost 136 East Germans their lives trying to cross it to freedom in West Berlin and billions for the East German government to maintain it and a similar barrier between the two Germanys.
It even became part of my own lexicon. If I had a 'no way in Hades' intention of doing something, I'd say, "That'll happen when the Berlin Wall comes down."
On November 9, 1989 it did.
The pump had been primed by demonstrations in Leipzig, East Germany that summer. They were allowed to happen despite a massive police and military presence. Remember the East Germans were the first to congratulate the Chinese government after the violent suppression of the June 4 Tienanmen Square demonstrations in Beijing.Those demonstrations were fueled by Hungary and Czechoslovakia's August decision to open their border with Austria and allowing East German citizens on vacation there to leave their countries for the West.
At a routine late afternoon news conference, East German Politburo member Gunter Schabowski casually declared that East Germans would be free to travel to the West immediately.
The decision had already been made, but Schabowski got the date it was going to start crossed up. He tried to clarify his comments and said the new rules would take hold at midnight, but events moved faster as the word spread.
Thousands of East Germans surged toward the Wall checkpoints, including future German chancellor Angela Merkel, overwhelming the border guards. With no orders from the top forthcoming, they opened the gates and kicked off the biggest celebration in history. The Wall fell, and months later East Germany ceased to exist as well.
Hard to believe twenty years have passed since then.
1 comment:
I am 35 year old graduate. I am only one son of my parents. My father was a business man, he lost big money in his business and Bankrupt in 1986, that time I was in high school. Bank officials harrased him very cruely , they took legal steps to my father and post aution sale for our house and he suffered mental agony and died of heart attack on 1990. After my father death my mother faced many obstacles, now she is an arthritis patient, she cant walk with out anyones help. The last 19 years I have been fighting legally with bank, I lost all my hard earned money, now I am big zero and struggling for my daily needs. Now they are going to sale my house by auction for US$ 60,000.00. I don’t know where I can go with my mother? I am asking only one dollar per person, that the cost of your bed coffee or cigar (you can donate as much as you can). My paypal id is forrysakki@rediffmail.com or use the below link
By Sakki
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