The German people officially celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall Sunday, the 9th of November.
Deutsche Welle’s news headline the day before, November 8, 2014, read,
“Overture to the fall of the Berlin Wall – In 1989, after 28 years of dividing Germany, all of a sudden the Berlin Wall came down. But it’s a little known fact that before reunification, East and West held detailed preliminary talks about open borders.”
It shows that even though you haven’t seen or heard about something happening yet, behind closed doors it could be. And once a public announcement is made, events can unfold with remarkable speed.
A Mental Wall First
At the close of World War II the former capitol, Berlin, geographically located within Eastern Germany, was divided into four zones overseen by America, Britain, France, and Russia.
Map of Occupied Berlin
To most Westerners at the time, it appeared that Germany’s day as a world power and ability to be an aggressor were history. Russia, however, was not totally convinced – in addition to having her own designs for territorial expansion.
Russia wanted added guarantees. A divided Germany with one portion firmly part of a new Russian dominated Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (a.k.a. USSR or Soviet Union) provided that insurance she sought plus more territory.
The Soviet Union also contained multiple Eastern European lands first conquered by the German Nazis and then by the Russian Communists. They would act as a buffer between Russia and the Teutonic neighbor that had attacked her people twice in less than 30 years .
Britain and the U.S. became convinced Communism posed as much a threat to peace and liberty as Nazism had.
The Division is Cemented
According to the BBC,
“The mounting tensions between the Allies and Soviets culminated in the Berlin crisis and the construction of the Berlin Wall”.
The Berlin Wall built in 1961 also effectively slowed the flood of refugees from the east down to trickle.
Wall Finally Demolished
Less than three decades later a series of events in the Eastern Bloc led to dramatic change in East Germany also known as the German Democratic Republic or GDR.
The BBC states that,
“the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin.”
The 9th is commemorated as the day that the closed borders were thrown open and the wall separating the two Germanys tumbled down, as in a sense it had.
It happens also to be the anniversary of the proclamation of the German republic in 1918 as well as the infamous Nazi Kristallnacht in 1938.
However, the BBC pointed out,
“the wall’s actual demolition did not begin until Summer 1990”
Also the BBC added,
“The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on the third of October 1990.”
Eyewitness Account
Someone acquainted with an East German in the same field of work and with plans to travel to Germany for the 1990 Feast recalls what it felt like for the both of them in 1990.
The East Berliner, shortly before the Feast, had come to America for a conference but for the first time without an ever-present “comrade” shadowing him.
The two discussed the American’s upcoming trip and moved on to the expected reunification of Germany — remember the border itself had only been open for visits since November of the year before.
The American well remembers the East German’s poignant response,
“The difference is you have a country to return to, I can’t go back to my country”.
Newspaper headline says, Its Become a Reality, Germany
Like other nations before and after it, soon the GDR would be no more.
October 2, 1990 came. The American and his wife were at a hotel in a small town in Germany.
Anticipating the announcement a few hours later, at midnight a group of males on the street below began singing the German National Anthem beginning with the first verse, “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles …”.
That is somewhat noteworthy in itself because the first 2 verses were said to be stricken from its national anthem after WWII.
In the weeks to follow, all roads leading to Berlin were packed with cars and the hotels in the city were completely full.
East and West German police working together for the first time
Many people wanted a piece of whatever remained of the wall and to be In Berlin on the first anniversary of the November 9th announcement made 25 years ago.
