History Lesson: Remembering the Berlin Wall

[rambone]

Today marks the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

For 28 years, a nearly insurmountable barrier kept people from fleeing East Germany. But then, the dramatic night of November 9, 1989, saw the fall of the Wall that divided Germany. Today, it is difficult to imagine what was bitter reality just a few decades ago.

Today we remember a remarkable victory against Communism. Let us never forget the diligent efforts of Ronald Reagan and many other freedom-lovers who helped in defeating the Communists in Germany. Let us also diligently watch our leaders so that such tyranny never takes place again.



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwQsTzGkbiY"]YouTube - "Walled In!" Germany's inner border[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuYgIDzZdhs"]YouTube - The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbE_9MdASDE"]YouTube - Berlin Wall falls[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nch5MbnvTqY"]YouTube - The Wall (1962) / Berlin Wall Documentary Film Video[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnYXbJ_bcLc"]YouTube - Fall of the Berlin Wall[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjWDrTXMgF8"]YouTube - Reagan - Tear Down This Wall[/ame]




Obama must have been too busy tooting his own horn about Health Care than to attend the Anniversary ceremony.

 

[husker]

The Berlin Wall got the attention but the 800+ mile "inner border" between East & West is often overlooked. Fortunately the second half of the first video describes this.
Some estimate that 1/4 the population of East Germany crossed the border in the first week after it opened.

 

[Dryden]

The Russian threat and the Berlin Wall were the two biggest shadows that loomed during my childhood. They were the threats that effected politics for decades.
I hid my elementary-school butt under many tables or windowless hallways during air-raid drills. I knew where at least five Air-Raid shelters were located. I remember when Bonn was the West German capital. Every Olympics was a proxy war between America and the Soviet Block countries. Red was not only a color, it was the enemy.

I drank a beer on that cold night twenty years ago and watched it all crumble apart on live TV. It was surreal.


Edited to correct my memory lapse in geography. Thanks CarmelHP.

 

[CarmelHP]

I remember when Munich was the West German capital.

Bonn.

It seems like such a short time ago, 20 years, unbelievable.

 

[rambone]

They did a remarkable job making that first video I posted ("Walled In"). They digitally recreated the landscape of the entire stretch of the Berlin Wall. Check it out.

Who else remembers?

Anybody ever see the Berlin Wall when it stood? Or after the fall?

 

[Phil502]

That first Video is really great.

Let's not forget Poland and Hungary led the way in their own countries to make all this happen too.

Winds of Change from the East: How Poland and Hungary Led the Way in 1989 - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International