Fall of the Berlin Wall: Strange, I can't remember...

[Kirsten]

... where I was when I heard the news back in 1989. I can't even remember how the news were brought to me, whether it was by tv, or by a family member or friend who told me... Everybody else seems to remember, there's a lot of talk about it these days, especially today on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall.

Of course I remember how exciting those times were. I went back to school those years, and we dicussed the political developments a lot. And I remember the weeks after the Iron Curtain was breached, all the Trabants coming to our towns, and everyone was so cheerful and excited. But I don't remember the actual moment when I learned about the Wall being opened, and I wonder why. After all, this has been the most joyful and exciting moment in my country's recent history...

Kirsten

[RICHARD]

I remember seeing the TV clips of the people with sledgehammers and prybars, People on top pulling friends up and others running around holding chunks of concrete in the air and hoping that no one would get hurt!

Interesting thought?
Could it be, because it was gradual and didn't fall all at once, that there wasn't a real time to put to the wall 'falling'?

I was thinking that, unlike a "breaking news story" or an event that happens in an instant, it took a while to get used to and the changes came about gradually.

I think it would have been fun to have been there.

I like parties.

[Kirsten]

Oh, there was a breaking news story, when former SED-official Günter Schabowski announced that people from East-Germany are allowed to travel... From wikipedia:
"On 9 November 1989, after a misunderstanding, Schabowski famously announced in a live broadcast international press conference that (effectively) all rules for travelling abroad were lifted, in effect "immediately" ("sofort, unverzüglich"). However, the misunderstanding was only with regards to the date; the plan had been to lift the rules, found to be unsustainable after mass defections of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the next morning.
Tens of thousands of people immediately went to the Berlin Wall where the vastly outnumbered border guards were forced to open access points and allow them through, which proved to be the end of the Wall regime. "

The same night, thousands of GDR citicens crossed the checkpoints and the Brandenburg gate, but I guess I didn't learn about that until the next day...

Kirsten

[Kirsten]

BTW, forgot to say, the songs that still captures the atmosphere of those days for me (and for many others) is Scorpion's "Wind of Change".

[RICHARD]

BTW, forgot to say, the songs that still captures the atmosphere of those days for me (and for many others) is Scorpion's "Wind of Change".

So, you are a "Rocker Chick"!

Throw me some devil's horns!

[K9karen]

I remember it well. I cried from happiness. I'm glad I was alive to see it.

[Lady's Human]

I had just gone to Ft. Hood Tx on active duty when the wall fell, and went to Germany for an exercise the next year. I still remember seeing East Berlin......is should have been left as a monument to the stupidity of communism......minus the little girl, couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 years old, picking through a dumpster.

The pucker factor when the wall came down was high, as no one knew what the Soviet Union was going to do in response. It didn't get any calmer as the changes ripped through the Soviet Union after the wall fell.

[Kirsten]

Richard, it's a Rock BALLAD!!

Yes, I remember how the Eastern part was looking when I first went there for a visit. Anyway, nowadays, you won't see much of the former decay.

I remember how strange it felt when it was suddenly possible to travel East. Living in West Germany close to the inner German border, I lived for almost 25 years with the knowledge that the world ended 30 East from where I was living. Looking at the fence and see the land beyond was eerie, but it was a normal thing, something that I never thought would ever change. And then it all happened so quickly. However, the most amazing thing was that it happened without any blood being spilled.

Kirsten

[finn's mom]

I was living in Weiden, Germany when the wall came down. I was in 8th grade. I don't remember much about it, except the armed guards were scary and cool at the military base gates.

[smokey the elder]

I was driving toward Rochester, New York on the Quickway (Rt. 17) and heard it on the radio! I was so blown away I needed to pull over for a few minutes to collect my thoughts. "Mr. Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!" is my favorite Ronald Reagan quote of all time.

[Kirsten]

"Mr. Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!" is my favorite Ronald Reagan quote of all time.

Oh yes, I remember that!! And who would have thought that it was really going to happen!

They were showing the footage of that Reagan speech a lot on tv the last couple of days.

Kirsten