[NA]Nov 9. 1989[NA]

pete - were you there or here, at the time?
 
Timing was interesting - I was born a couple months beforfe it went up, one of my kids was born a couple days before it came down. I remember watching TV pretty much all day when it fell.
 
I remember watching all that on TV.

And by chance, we happened to be in Berlin for the 'official' closing of Checkpoint Charlie. A bunch of bigwigs were there, it was crowded and it felt like a big party. Highlight for me was renting a sledgehammer and getting to knock some chunks of concrete off the wall. I just wish I knew what happened to those chunks. I think the ex kept them.
 
And you speak such good American. ;)

Crazy indeed. I remember Reagan's words - "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Somehow I always picture Gorbachev with his head down and a hammer and chisel, picking away the wall, saying "Yes Mr. Reagan."
 
We were in Berlin last June for the 22nd anniversary of Reagan's speech.

I stood about where his podium had been, and looked east through the Brandenburg Gate. People were riding bikes through the Gate on that sunny day, some were on roller blades. Through the Gate, I could see in the former Eastern Sector the new U.S. Embassy, the fashionable, rebuilt Hotel Adlon (where a few years ago Michael Jackson held his infant child over the railing), a new Kennedy Museum (with a huge mural of the current President of the United States in the window) and a Starbucks.

There was no hint a Wall had been there, except for two courses of stone inlaid into the pavement west of the Gate, marking the location of the Wall.

We took a tour of the Hohenschönhausen Memorial Center in a quiet residential district on the outskirts of East Berlin, which up to only twenty years ago had been a Stasi prison. Our guide had been a prisoner, whose crime was his attempt to leave the country.

We visited the Berlin Wall Museum at Checkpoint Charlie. At a replica of the checkpoint hut my wife posed (for a one-Euro fee) for a photograph with actors representing French and US border guards. Across the street was a tacky group of fast-food joints, under the collective banner, "Snack Point Charlie".

Our hotel, the Berlin Hilton, was on Mohrenstraße, well inside the former eastern sector.

We attended a press conference announcing that an exhibit honoring Ronald Reagan will open at the Berlin Wall Museum this month. Michael Reagan presented the museum director with an advance copy of the speech, the mark-up copy from the National Security Council, with a memo addressed to Colin Powell, ten days before the speech was given.

The memo to Powell read,
The Brandenburg Gate speech is better than before, but the staff is still unanimous that it's a mediocre speech and a missed opportunity.

Nelson, Fritz, and I have given up on any further major improvements but believe that a few particular small things do need fixing. Attached is a memo to Griscom transmitting these few suggested changes.
​
Below is one of the "suggested changes". Fortunately, the President ignored it.

speech_1.jpg


More photos of this visit here.
 
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I remember seeing the wall and passing through Checkpoint Charlie in 1971 for a tour of East Berlin. The contrast between east and west was dramatic.

Flash forward 35 years. Three years ago I was in Germany for meetings and we had a day to spare, so a bunch of us hopped on a train from Hanover to Berlin. A lot easier than our bus trip in 1971. We decided to go to the museum at Checkpoint Charlie, so we hopped on the UBahn. Walking to Checkpoint Charlie from the UBahn station it dawned on me, "We're approaching from what used to be East Berlin." Other than the museum and a marker on the ground showing where the wall had been, you wouldn't have known. What a wonderful change.

Celebrate today. It is the anniversary of something many of us did not expect to see in our lifetimes.
 
Ghery said:
I remember seeing the wall and passing through Checkpoint Charlie in 1971 for a tour of East Berlin. The contrast between east and west was dramatic.

Flash forward 35 years. Three years ago I was in Germany for meetings and we had a day to spare, so a bunch of us hopped on a train from Hanover to Berlin. A lot easier than our bus trip in 1971. We decided to go to the museum at Checkpoint Charlie, so we hopped on the UBahn. Walking to Checkpoint Charlie from the UBahn station it dawned on me, "We're approaching from what used to be East Berlin." Other than the museum and a marker on the ground showing where the wall had been, you wouldn't have known. What a wonderful change.

Celebrate today. It is the anniversary of something many of us did not expect to see in our lifetimes.
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I lived in Frankfurt in the very early 70s, I remember taking a train to West Berlin and seeing the museum and observation deck at Checkpoint Charlie. The view over the wall was one of the most gray, dreary, dead, things I've ever seen. I remember seeing the border guards on the other side of the wall watching us with binoculars.
 
A mile-long section of the Wall still exists in Berlin. It runs along a riverbank where it does not interfere with travel, but it stands as a reminder of the grim reality of not very long ago.

Berliners call it "Eastside Gallery," as it bears memorable and poignant artwork of the time.

Some examples:

(Note the date on the license plate of the Trabi breaking through the wall ...)

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Across the street from the Reichstag is a monument to East Berliners who died in the attempt to cross to the West.

090612_032.jpg
 
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In the summer of 1966 I was bumming around Europe, and one night found myself on a train from Copenhagen to Berlin. On the ferry crossing we all were interviewed by the Stasi as they made their rounds on the ferry, making us fill out declarations including how much foreign currency we had. The emphasized that, since we were on a through train, we could not change our itinerary or change any currency as it would be re-counted when we re-crossed the border.

In the middle of the night, I was jolted awake by a lurch of the train, and looked out the window to see a large "Berlin" sign going by. I had slept through my stop! I grabbed my stuff and ran to the end of the car, literally leaping off the train onto the platform. I landed in a heap with some bruises and scrapes, but no holes of any caliber (pun intended - keep reading). I dusted myself off and then wondered what to do. I was horrified to look back up at the sign and see that it actually read "Ost Berlin" (East Berlin). I had jumped off the train too soon! Ruh Roh! Fortunately it was about 4AM and the place was deserted.

I consulted my maps and guidebooks, and deduced that I was about a few miles from West Berlin. Not being able to change any money (and seeing no public transportation running at that hour) I decided to walk out. I aimed for the Brandenberg Gate.

What a trip. At that hour of the morning, there were many people picking through bombed out rubble, looking for usable brick. There were also Stasi on each corner. Every one of them stopped me and gave me the 20 questions, which I tried to answer with my insufficient german. However, once they figured out my story, they were pretty helpful. I feel lucky that I was not robbed, fined, tolled, or relieved of any money.

Dawn was breaking when I finally approached the Brandenburg Gate. Anyone familiar with divided Berlin will tell you that the B. Gate was, despite its promising sounding name, not a place to cross the wall. But what did I know? As I approached, I saw a sign which seemed important. I got most of the meaning, and was thumbing through my dictionary, coming to the conclusion that it said "If you cross this line you will be shot" or similar - a genuine welcome to East Berlin sign! At that point I heard running footsteps behind me... the Stasi again. We went through all the questions another time, and then they steered me over to Checkpoint Charlie.

It got really scary there. All my luggage disappeared. My passport disappeared. After my prolonged questioning ended I sat there in an empty room for at least an hour not knowing what was going on.

Finally, everything was returned and I was let through. I walked across Checkpoint Charlie at about 8:30am and there was the American guardpost. I will tell you that the US flag has never looked so good! I reported to the guard and he just sat there, snoozing and nursing a cup of coffee. Finally I said "would you like to see anything?" and his response was "No. If they will let you through I will, too."

And you walk from the grim concrete bunker style of architecture which was so prevalent in East Berlin into the neon, chrome, and glass modern city of West Berlin. It was a rebirth. The contrast has left an impression on me which persists today, and I cry for the East Germans who were imprisoned there. After that, I toured the western side of the Wall and saw many places where they had embedded shards of broken glass in the concrete on the top.

The wall was an absolute horror. I feel lucky to have observed it as I did, and also very very lucky to have gotten out without any ill effects at all.

Like most of the world, I was so happy when it came tumbling down.....

-Skip
 
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Matthew said:
The view over the wall was one of the most gray, dreary, dead, things I've ever seen. I remember seeing the border guards on the other side of the wall watching us with binoculars.
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Exactly. When we took a bus tour, I noticed the same thing. It was truly depressing. The only color I saw was a few flower boxes in windows of those large gray cinder block apartment buildings.

Right now we're saving up for a trip. We plan on spending about a month riding motorcycles around. Looking forward to going back, just to see how much has changed.
 
Skip Miller said:
In the summer of 1966 I was bumming around Europe, and one night found myself on a train from Copenhagen to Berlin. On the ferry crossing we all were interviewed by the Stasi as they made their rounds on the ferry, making us fill out declarations including how much foreign currency we had. The emphasized that, since we were on a through train, we could not change our itinerary or change any currency as it would be re-counted when we re-crossed the border. ....snip....
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Yikes!!! :eek:
 
I was still in high school when the wall came down. We had an exchange student from West Germany who was incredibly excited, but also a little sad that she couldn't be there in person.
 
Wow, great story Skip.

And Snackpoint Charlie? Hilarious!
 
I was there after 11/9, but before free transit. We got the ol' Grenzpolizei treatment on the train ride in. Checkpoint Charlie was still operative, but there were holes in the wall, and all Germans were allowed free transit. My sister and I hopped through a hole and walked around the (now cleared of mines) border zone. I talked to the border guards while my sister grabbed chunks of the wall. One guard was pretty cool, the other seemed not so thrilled with having Americans crawling around his sector. We left when they saw their Lt on his way to their sector - they said "You need to go now, our boss is coming." I wish I were still fluent in German today. That was a pretty cool experience.

I will never forget leaving the DDR in 1973, on our way from Poland to France. We couldn't find the border. No signs. Everybody we stopped for directions pointed us in a different direction. Finally stumbled upon the border, and boy howdy, what a border. Guard towers. High fences. Dogs. Bright lights. Guard comes to my dad's window with submachine gun raised. Nice welcoming. We were in trouble because we didn't have one of those stickers with our nationality on the car (we had our VW Bus, with Pennsylvania plates!!). Finally got through after about an hour or so, but that was scary. Just a scary, scary place.
 
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