I was here1 ….

It’s been 20 years to the day2  and a night that I will never forget.  I will never forget driving toward the checkpoints and to see people cross from East to West and West to East.  I will never forget my fear as I slowly walked from West Berlin – where I lived and grew up – to East Berlin – scared they would close the gates while I was on the other side, worried what would happen – but then thinking that they could never do that — there were too many of us.

A lot of the news reports later on just stated that the East opened the gates — no, that’s not what happened and saying that discounts what the people weeks and months before the 9th of November.  What really happened that day was preceded by demonstrations, people fleeing the East to make it into the West – and it all ended in a big, huge mistake by an east German politician — but if you really want to know – this account that I found on you-tube is pretty damn accurate – and it brings tears to my eyes and it gives me goosebumps.  I was there at the Berlin Wall3  – I was a part of the people that celebrated out on the street that night.  I was one of the dumbfounded people…and one that was happy that day happened, even with all the struggles it brought with it.  the aftermath wasn’t always nice — but it was priceless.  A unified4 Germany (unified, not REunited) - it’s what I always dreamed of as a child – and now it happened and I got to see it.  Wow.

 

 

Here are before and after pictures5

  1. http://www.berlin.de/mauer/grenzuebergaenge/bornholmer_strasse/index.en.php [↩]
  2. http://www.kulturprojekte-berlin.de/en/projects/20-years-since-the-wall-came-down/20-years-since-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall/ [↩]
  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall [↩]
  4. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/world/europe/08germany.html?_r=1 [↩]
  5. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/09/world/europe/20091109-berlinwallthennow.html?hp [↩]