Reader response
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Where was I when the Wall came down?
I never thought in my lifetime I would see this horrible piece of shame come down. Having visited my grandparents in East Germany as a teenager and seen for myself what Communism is all about, I cannot describe the emotions I had on November 9. I celebrated the day with two American friends at McDonalds with a Coke. I will never forget this day as long as I live. -- Birgit Harms, US
We were living in New Delhi at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I had made friends with a staff member of the East German embassy who was caught completely unaware by the sudden end of the existence of the GDR. We received the usual invitation for the New Year's Eve party from the West German embassy but the new friends from the ex-GDR embassy had also invited us. We followed our hearts and chose to go to the East German embassy to celebrate New Year 1990 on the roof of their now redundant diplomatic mission in Asia.
The atmosphere was first somewhat low-spirited. Some of the eastern friends had lost their dreams and uncertainty was a dominant feeling. We listened and drank champagne. There was happiness and hope mixed with sadness and some fear.
We answered very simple questions, like "can I apply for a job with more than one company?" We had to explain the details of 'western freedom.' What was for us entirely normal and common practice was very new and unusual for them. We encouraged them to embrace the change but we did not praise the West over the East. The wounds in their souls were still wide open and healing was yet to begin. They were good people who lived for what they believed in and we respected that.
The West German embassy had made it very clear they wanted none of them. There were perhaps good reasons for this but for those affected it was yet another blow on a body that was already in great pain. I am sure that all of them did well after the reunification and we feel privileged to have been able to make the sudden and unexpected change a bit easier for them. -- Dieter & Nilima Pelz, Australia
I was assigned to the Berlin Brigade, Office of the Commanding General, US Army. I remember the night before, when coming home from the grocery store, you could not get on a subway because they were completely full. I came back up to the street and found out what was going on. My German friend Bruce Schlottow and I made our way from Sophie-Charlotte Platz over to Brandenburg Gate and watched history unfold in front of us for the next few days. I can remember smelling the exhaust of the Trabbies in the street, seeing how excited everyone was, and how I felt being a part of history. I have never forgotten that time and I have always considered Berlin my home after returning back to Dallas, Texas. -- A. Alex Arce, US
I was an undergraduate student in my advanced German conversation and composition class at a small Midwestern liberal arts university. I was majoring in German, planning to spend a semester abroad in the next year, and my instructor was able to provide us with up to the minute information as she had recently been teaching in East Berlin. For me, this event was monumental and, even from such a distance, the feeling was heady and I was engrossed in watching every moment.
I visited Berlin and former East Germany for the first time in September 1990, shortly before reunification. I was struck by the fact that I had spent most of my day wandering around former East Berlin, and only when I crossed at the Brandenburger Tor, did I realize that East and West were not as obvious as I had thought. Sure, there were landmarks such as the Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz and the pieces of Wall still standing, but there was also a lot that looked similar and perhaps had already been assimilated by this time. -- Kathy Evenson-McDermott, US
I was born in Prague. My father was Slovak, my mother was Hungarian. Our family emigrated to New Zealand after World War II. When the Berlin Wall came down I was sitting in my bedroom watching TV news. I was overcome with both joy and sadness and I found myself sobbing. The sadness came because my father had not lived to witness this event, but I was joyful that it had happened. I could not think who could understand my feelings and emotion as I was alone, but I thought of a Lithuanian friend so I phoned him with the good news. I was glad I found someone who I could share my feelings with; a person who understood. -- Katarina Broughton, New Zealand
I had just returned from visiting my family in Germany. My husband turned on the news and we saw the Wall coming down in pieces. I wished I would have planned my trip to have been there at that time and place. -- Sabine, US
We had come to visit friends in Hamburg and drove with them to West Berlin, still through East Germany at that time. The excitement was like electricity. We took a taxi to Checkpoint Charlie, a place I crossed into East Berlin a few times, with sadness and a bitter taste. It was buzzing this day like a bee hive. People from all over the world gathered along the wall, hammering and chiseling. A young Frenchman stood next to me and with a big grin, handed me a big piece of its painted section. I still have it.
People were wandering from East to West and vice versa, some crying, some laughing and hugging each other, complete strangers, yet united in what was at one time an impossible event in our lifetime. I thought of my father, who went through two world wars together with so many others in his age group. He would have shed tears too, as I did now.
I returned to the taxi, where we gathered with glasses of champagne. The first East Berliners in their Trabants were coming across. Windows rolled down and waving, laughing as we, who stood there, waved back. I met a couple that had never been to the West. We embraced each other. The men were shaking hands and the women were crying. This terrible division ended and a rebirth began. The rebirth of a United Europe and the end of the 'Cold War.' --Isabella Miram, US
I wept when at long last my "liebes land" was free! I am not German but since 1942 I have had a love affair with Germany. I don't know why! I was only 4 years old! Other than China, on that November 9 the world's biggest prison - for both East and West - was closed. November 9 was the greatest day in world history! Alles Gute, Deutschland -- Robert McCormick, Australia
How sad that in her recent speech celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall, (as far as I know) Angela Merkel made no mention of the two individuals who, more than anyone else, brought a close to the Cold War and the fall of the Wall: Lady Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan. Reagan and Thatcher squarely faced the "evil empire" and refused to be intimidated. Under huge financial pressure, Gorbachev was forced to remove all Soviet troops from Eastern Europe. I was in Hungary shortly after the Russian army pulled out, and it was obvious to all concerned that it was only a matter of time before the whole communist system fell apart. The reason the Wall came down is that the only thing keeping it up was removed: the Red Army. Gorbachev didn't tear down the wall, he abandoned it and the freedom-hungry people of Germany tore it down. --John Roughton, US
Having visited both West and East Germany in 1985, it was a melancholy experience to visit a divided country, its capital cut in half and its people torn apart by politics. Only four years later, I watched with joy the nation re-unify and put aside its painful past for a new start, at the very heart of an increasingly united Europe. 20 years on, from far away Australia, I send you my warmest congratulations on this special day and I wish and hope that Germany continues to go from strength to strength. -- Terry Papadis, Australia
I was 9 years old when the Wall came down, so the only things I could clearly remember were the happy people from a fellow European nation celebrating their unity and hope for the future. Nevertheless, that was a powerful message for a young person as myself and I've never forgotten it. The fall of the Wall and subsequent reunification also meant the end of the Cold War and the dream of a peaceful European Union, as the one we have today. For me, Germany's unity symbolizes Europe's unity and the fall of the Wall is the most convincing proof that you can't divide people with ideological barriers for long. -- Constantine Michailidis, Greece
Compiled by Stuart Tiffen
Editor: Susan Houlton
