Berlin, one day in November 1989 (by kerouac2)
Feb 3, 2009 13:27:11 GMT
Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2009 13:27:11 GMT
I grew up in a world where the Cold War seemed eternal. The Berlin Wall and the entire Iron Curtain were presented as a permanent division of the world, and the literature and films to which I had access confirmed this. The “other side” was a grim place full of unhappy people who dreamed of the West. This was taught in school, and I believed it. It would be that way forever, because both sides were strong and both sides were determined never to change.
However, in the late 1980’s, it became clear that the world was ready to move on. The political situations that had governed my formative years were cracking and breaking. And when the Berlin Wall broke open on 10 November 1989, I knew I absolutely had to see it.
I called my best friend and told him, “I have to go to Berlin tonight. Do you want to come?” He more or less cursed me and called me a bastard for springing it on him like that, because he had a dinner invitation that evening (and maybe a little more), but we were on the same political wavelength and after about 4 minutes of hard thought, he said “yes.”
We gave ourselves about an hour to grab a few things, settle some business and meet up again for the departure. And so as night fell over Paris, we set out on a non-stop journey of 1049 km to Berlin. Damn it, he didn’t have a driver’s license (still doesn’t 20 years later), which got us arrested on the return trip (also in the middle of the next night) since I was letting him drive after I started hallucinating at the wheel, but that’s another story.
I would like to show you some photographs of the amazing day in Berlin.
People were chipping away joyously at this extremely strong wall, built to last forever.
It took a lot of effort to break even the tiniest of pieces, or even more symbolic, make a hole that went all the way through.
The wall had been “decorated” everywhere. It was a shame to see all of this artwork slowly disappear.
The population was so happy to be there to live this historic moment. I wonder if these children remember the importance of this day – they are at least 25 years old now.
And this man – was he a teenager watching the wall being built in 1961?
Everybody without a hammer was wandering around absorbing the ambience.
To get a better view, a lot of people were using the observation towers. These had been built in the West so that family and friends could wave at the people stuck 600 meters away on the other side.
When you are at the foot of the wall, you don’t realize how wide the no man’s land is. Do you remember all of those movies and news reports of people trying to run that distance in the middle of the night with searchlights and machine gun fire? How incredibly desperate they must have been!
After spending several hours along the wall, it was time to go East.
Checkpoint Charlie was still in operation, as old habits die hard, but there was a jam to get through, especially for those from the East going West.
The East Germans in their Trabants were thrilled to drive to the other side to see for real what they had been watching on television and to buy whatever amazing things that they could afford. People would applaud when they would see a little Trabant overloaded with people chugging across the former no man’s land.
We wandered around for several hours on the strange side of town, so much cleaner and so much plainer than the messy West.
We didn’t have to wait in the long lines to go back. People holding passports of the “Allied occupying forces” had priority over everybody else. It was embarrassing.
Capitalism was already taking hold, as there were little chunks of the wall for sale.
It was perhaps one of the most remarkable days of my life. But there were still old broken pieces of the former magnificence of Berlin to remind me that the city had seen even more momentous times and that this would be retained as perhaps just a minor footnote in its history.
However, in the late 1980’s, it became clear that the world was ready to move on. The political situations that had governed my formative years were cracking and breaking. And when the Berlin Wall broke open on 10 November 1989, I knew I absolutely had to see it.
I called my best friend and told him, “I have to go to Berlin tonight. Do you want to come?” He more or less cursed me and called me a bastard for springing it on him like that, because he had a dinner invitation that evening (and maybe a little more), but we were on the same political wavelength and after about 4 minutes of hard thought, he said “yes.”
We gave ourselves about an hour to grab a few things, settle some business and meet up again for the departure. And so as night fell over Paris, we set out on a non-stop journey of 1049 km to Berlin. Damn it, he didn’t have a driver’s license (still doesn’t 20 years later), which got us arrested on the return trip (also in the middle of the next night) since I was letting him drive after I started hallucinating at the wheel, but that’s another story.
I would like to show you some photographs of the amazing day in Berlin.
People were chipping away joyously at this extremely strong wall, built to last forever.
It took a lot of effort to break even the tiniest of pieces, or even more symbolic, make a hole that went all the way through.
The wall had been “decorated” everywhere. It was a shame to see all of this artwork slowly disappear.
The population was so happy to be there to live this historic moment. I wonder if these children remember the importance of this day – they are at least 25 years old now.
And this man – was he a teenager watching the wall being built in 1961?
Everybody without a hammer was wandering around absorbing the ambience.
To get a better view, a lot of people were using the observation towers. These had been built in the West so that family and friends could wave at the people stuck 600 meters away on the other side.
When you are at the foot of the wall, you don’t realize how wide the no man’s land is. Do you remember all of those movies and news reports of people trying to run that distance in the middle of the night with searchlights and machine gun fire? How incredibly desperate they must have been!
After spending several hours along the wall, it was time to go East.
Checkpoint Charlie was still in operation, as old habits die hard, but there was a jam to get through, especially for those from the East going West.
The East Germans in their Trabants were thrilled to drive to the other side to see for real what they had been watching on television and to buy whatever amazing things that they could afford. People would applaud when they would see a little Trabant overloaded with people chugging across the former no man’s land.
We wandered around for several hours on the strange side of town, so much cleaner and so much plainer than the messy West.
We didn’t have to wait in the long lines to go back. People holding passports of the “Allied occupying forces” had priority over everybody else. It was embarrassing.
Capitalism was already taking hold, as there were little chunks of the wall for sale.
It was perhaps one of the most remarkable days of my life. But there were still old broken pieces of the former magnificence of Berlin to remind me that the city had seen even more momentous times and that this would be retained as perhaps just a minor footnote in its history.
