Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

The Berlin Wall

In a few days the people of Berlin will celebrate the 20th annivesary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall – an event that truly changed the world.  

The Wall, built overnight on August 13 1961, lasted for 28 years, dividing families, a city, a nation and the world. 

 

But what really was it that was called the "anti-fascist protective rampart" in the East and "Iron Curtain" in the West? Was the Wall really just a wall? Find it out here…


I let the this movie speak for itself.

[Editor’s Note – Where were you when the wall came down?  What did the Berlin Wall mean to you?  Thoughts on walls and doors?]


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 11 Comments

11 comments

  1. Chris Blask

    and it never occurred to me that it would ever go away.

    When I saw a piece of it a few years after it came down in 1989, in a hotel in Montreal, I walked around it and touched it from both sides.  It was stunning to see something so simple that spoke so much to the situation that created it.  One side was a riot of color and graffiti, the other a uniform tan.  I stood for a long time with my hand on the tan side, thinking about what it meant that I could never have done the same thing in 1989.

    I want to thank you for “Goodbye Lenin”, it has become one of my favorite movies.

    BTW – Do you have a scan of the picture of your uncle?

  2. HappyinVT

    I had an aunt who lived in East Germany.  While we were visiting my Oma and Opa back in the ’70s that aunt came to visit.  I remember being slightly in awe of her because it seemed so cool, for lack of a better term, that she had to go through all the paperwork and such to be granted permission to visit.  I didn’t speak any German but she seemed really sweet (not that being from East Germany means one is not sweet).

    My mother died before the wall came down but I imagine she celebrated from above.

  3. Steve M

    I dated this girl from Germany for a little while.  This was shortly after reunification.

    She told me that in her country, college was free, paid for by the government.  I thought that was pretty cool.  She said yes, but the downside is, you have to go to whatever school they tell you to.  She told me a story about a friend of hers who wanted to study engineering, but they sent her to school in Leipzig (in the former East Germany) and guess what, they hadn’t had any new scientific equipment since 1945.  So I guess that degree wouldn’t be very marketable.

  4. Elch

    These are probably the most comprehensive recordings from Novemver 09 1989 that have been captured on tape by brave camera teams. It is the historic date on which the Berlin Wall was teared down.

    A mistaken press release about free border passing from East to West triggered an uncontrolled chain of reaction and the unimaginable happened…

    (with English subtitles)

Comments are closed.