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The Fall of the Wall…Plus Twenty Years

Posted on November 9th, 2009 by Retired-Ed in History

As I write this, there is a huge celebration going on in Berlin. I was watching on German television, but I was surprised that it was only carried on one of the minor channels and not one of the major networks. Oh well; it was exciting nevertheless. Many heads of state were there, as was Hillary Clinton, representing the United States. At first, I wondered why our President was not in attendance, but then I realized that he has a somber duty tomorrow. He will be attending a memorial service at Fort Hood in Texas. He needs to be there in Texas. But this post is about Berlin.

I can’t believe it has been twenty years since the fall of the wall. I remember it well. I had arrived in Germany about a month earlier. My family had only been with me for a few days. They were visiting our family in America and arrived in Germany a couple of weeks after I did. We knew that things were happening in the East. Refugees were escaping from the East through Hungary and other areas. Imagine our surprise, however, when we saw on television that the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) or East German government had collapsed. The television then switched to scenes of jubilant German citizens dancing on top of the infamous Berlin Wall.

I can remember when it was built in 1961. Actually, I was attending summer school that summer. I was between my freshman and sophomore years of high school and was taking a typing class during the summer. My friends and I were walking home from class, and someone had a transistor radio (they were a bit of a novelty back then) with us. We heard a news report that the Soviets had constructed a wall between East and West Berlin, in effect imprisoning the citizens of East Berlin. I had no idea at that time that I would visit the divided city 28 years later.

Back to 1989, the Wall had opened, and people were pouring across. Quite by happenstance, my family and I had made plans for the weekend to visit the Harz mountains. Wendy was about 13 at the time, and Allison was 6 years old. We lived in a hotel, since we had not secured housing yet. Our car had not arrived  from Korea, our previous assignment, so we had rented a car to tour Germany on the weekend. It happens that the Harz mountains are near the border between West and East Germany. It was so exciting! Every overpass had huge signs welcoming the East Germans who were coming across. You can’t believe how much stuff could be packed into a Trabi! A Trabi is the infamous East German Trabant, a car that took years to arrive and was make mostly of fiberglass. Those cars were so tiny, and I think they held whatever the people wanted to bring with them to freedom, along with the entire family. It was exciting, yet sad. It was their first taste of freedom in over forty years. People were waving from the overpasses. Flags were waving. Hugs were exchanged. I get nostalgic just thinking about that weekend.

A few weeks later, I visited Berlin. I even got turned away at Checkpoint Charlie (and Checkpoint Charlie will be in the next post) because I had an official US government stamp in my passport that I had used in Korea and Japan. Interestingly enough, the very next night, Checkpoint Charlie closed for good, and I was able to enter East Berlin. Some friends took me to an opera in the Stadts Oper (City Opera House) to see Die Fledermaus. Very enjoyable. I had purchased some black market Ostmarks (East German Marks) the night before (shh! don’t tell anyone), but I didn’t need to use them, so I still have them as souvenirs.

The next night, I had an opportunity to get some pieces of the Wall. I still have quite few, even though I have given many to friends. The Fall of the Wall changed the course of European history, and I feel that I was there! Quite a thrill for me.

In my next post, I’ll describe my various trips to Berlin on business and one with my family. And daughter Allison, do you remember goose stepping with the Soviet soldiers who were marching to their war memorial? They got a big kick out of that.

Until next time….

Tchüss

Retired-Ed

2 Comments

2 Responses to “The Fall of the Wall…Plus Twenty Years”

  1. citywendy Says:
    November 9th, 2009 at 9:39 pm

    I remember calling those Trabi cars “Eastie Beasties.” There were similar cars in Russia when I visited in ’93. I’ll always remember the fall of the wall as a marker of a new era in my life. I’d just turned 13, had moved to Europe only days before, and the ’90s were upon us. Usually new decades don’t seem to find their momentum until the third or fourth year, but in my book, the 90s really seemed to start when the Berlin Wall came down.

  2. Allison Says:
    November 9th, 2009 at 11:34 pm

    I’ve heard you mention about stepping with the soldiers, but I don’t remember it at all. What I remember is standing at the Wall, jumping from one side to the other, saying, “Now I’m in East Germany; Now I’m in West Germany” over and over again. I picked a huge chunk of the wall from off the ground and I colored it with crayons, making my own graffiti. You still have it on a bookshelf in your sun room. Do you have pictures of me with the Soviet soldiers?

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