Happy 25th, Fall of the Berlin Wall!

Twenty-five years since that wall came down. I was a teenager, watching on teevee as citizens pulled it apart, climbed up on it and celebrated, uniting Germany. I remember being astonished that it was happening in my lifetime, and feeling giddy as I watched people reach out and grasp freedom with both hands. It was awesome.

The Scorpions captured the mood of the late 80s and early 90s well, as people in Eastern Bloc countries wrested political control from their masters, and embraced democracy. Winds of change definitely were blowing.

The Cold War ended. And spy novel writers everywhere had to find a new Big Bad to write about…

Now if we could just end other wars, that would be outstanding. I’d love to see the world united. Yes, of course, we’d still have our differences and problems. No, of course it wouldn’t be perfect. But to be able to work things out without war, cold or hot? I’ll take it. Moar winds of change, plz.

Image shows people standing in front of and atop the Berlin Wall. One person is being helped up to the top by others.
People atop the Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate on 09 November 1989. The text on the sign “Achtung! Sie verlassen jetzt West-Berlin” (“Notice! You are now leaving West Berlin”) has been modified with an additional text “Wie denn?” (“How?”). Also in blue is the logo for ONCE, whose cycling team was started in 1989. Image and caption by Sue Ream via Wikimedia Commons.
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Happy 25th, Fall of the Berlin Wall!
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3 thoughts on “Happy 25th, Fall of the Berlin Wall!

  1. rq
    1

    Ah yes, the independent, democratic eastern bloc. Some do it better than others, I must say, but there’s nothing like a project for eternity to keep you busy.
    The Berlin Wall came down, but a couple of years later the barricades went up in Lithuania and Latvia, so obviously not everyone was quick to get the message.
    And now… Well, at least the Berlin Wall went down, eventually.

    (Did you see the intallation of lights Berlin did as a commemoration? Fantastic and visually jarring!)

  2. 2

    Yep, the Soviets finally allowed their wall to be torn down, and a few short decades later the USA proves how we are so much better than they by building a ginormous, honking wall on the Mexican border.

  3. 3

    East German officialdom claimed that the Berlin Wall was to keep out agents of the evil empires, but it was evident which way everybody wanted to go — to West Berlin and West Germany.

    There are still two countries divided by the Cold War: China and Korea.

    Taiwan is the plain Republic of China, as opposed to Communist China, the People’s Republic of China. Both nations’ governments consider themselves the only legitimate government of all of China, and other nations have to choose which one to officially recognize (One-China policy – Wikipedia). Taiwan and Communist China are separated by a natural moat instead of a wall, however.

    North Korea and South Korea are still at loggerheads, with North Korea being a reclusive Stalinist regime with a de facto monarchy. The boundary between them continues to be heavily militarized. North Korea is big on military force despite its very obvious other needs, claiming that it is to protect itself from certain evil empires.

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