Tulsa World: Berlin recalls the wall's fall 20 years ago

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Berlin recalls the wall's fall 20 years ago
The barrier gave way to eventual unity of East and West Germany and a new era in Europe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (center) and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (center, in cap) cross the Bornholmer bridge in Berlin on Monday during commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Bornholmer bridge was a border crossing between East and West Berlin in 1989. Herbert Knosowski / Associated Press

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press
Published: 11/10/2009 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 11/10/2009 5:44 AM

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev crossed a former fortified border on Monday to cheers of "Gorby! Gorby!" as a throng of grateful Germans recalled the night 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall gave way to their desire for freedom and unity.

Within hours of a confused announcement on Nov. 9, 1989, that East Germany was lifting travel restrictions, hundreds of people streamed into the enclave that was West Berlin, marking a pivotal moment in the collapse of communism in Europe.

Merkel, who grew up in East Germany and was one of thousands to cross that night, recalled that "before the joy of freedom came, many people suffered."

She lauded Gorbachev, with whom she shared an umbrella amid a crush of hundreds, eager for a glimpse of the man many still consider a hero for his role in pushing reform in the Soviet Union.

"We always knew that something had to happen there so that more could change here," she said.

"You made this possible — you courageously let things happen, and that was much more than we could expect," she told Gorbachev in front of several hundred people gathered in light drizzle on the bridge over railway lines.

Hours later in a symbolic gesture, former 1980s pro-democracy leader Lech Welesa helped initiate a chain reaction that led to the toppling of 1,000 massive foam dominoes placed along the route of the now vanished wall. With Walesa was Miklos Meneth, Hungary's last prime minister before communism collapsed.

The organizer of the dominoes, Moritz van Duelmen, director of Kulturprojekte Berlin, said the idea was to "make history according to the domino theory."

Music from Bon Jovi and Beethoven recalled the joy of the border's opening, which led to German reunification less than a year later and the swift demolition of most of the wall — which snaked for 96 miles around West Berlin, a capitalist enclave inside East Germany.

Memorials were held for the 136 people killed trying to cross the border.

The leaders of all 27 European Union countries and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev were in Berlin for the ceremonies.

The wall's opening came hours after a botched announcement by a senior communist official on a cold, wet night in 1989.

At the end of a plodding news conference, Politburo spokesman Guenter Schabowski offhandedly said East Germany was lifting restrictions on travel across its border with West Germany.

Pressed on when the regulation would take effect, he looked down at his notes and stammered: "As far as I know, this enters into force ... this is immediately, without delay."

Schabowski has said he didn't know that the change wasn't supposed to be announced until the following morning.

East Berliners streamed toward border crossings. Facing huge crowds and lacking instructions from above, border guards opened the gates — and the wall was on its way into history.

"This is not just a day of celebration for Germans," Merkel said. "This is a day of celebration for the whole of Europe; this is a day of celebration for all those people who have more freedom." By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press

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fredsdad, Tulsa, OK (11/10/2009 9:25:58 AM)

""You made this possible — you courageously let things happen, and that was much more than we could expect," she told Gorbachev"

How does one "courageously let something happen" that one does not have any capability whatsoever to keep from happening?

Revisionist history is fascinating. At the time the wall came down, Gorbachev was no hero, and today is feted for doing what he was forced to do.

Reagan engaged the USSR in an arms race that crippled and eventually collapsed Russia's weakened economy. Russia could no longer afford to effectively police its satellites, and Hungary and Poland bailed, opening their borders with West Germany to save their own failing economies. In that East Germans were allowed to go to Hungary and Poland, they now had a safe route to West Germany, making the Wall nothing more than a substantial inconvenience.

That there is so little mention of Reagan and so much adulation of Gorbachev during this celebration should be embarrassing. But liberals lost the capability to blush long ago. When history is not convenient, they simply rewrite it.

Orwell, in his novel "1984" called it "Newspeak". While Orwell's schedule was off by a few years, he was far more optimistic than he realized.

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fredsdad, Tulsa, OK (11/10/2009 9:43:22 AM)

It is, in a way a shame that there are no longer two Germanys, one socialist and one capitalist. I do celebrate the freedoms now enjoyed by residents of the former East Germany, but the stark economic lessons taught there have been lost in 20 short years.

Here you had one country, one people, one geographical area with nothing distinguishing one area of the country from another except government. One part of this country was exciting and modern and innovating and entertaining and wealthy. Another part of the same country, same people, was backward and dull and impoverished.

In one part of the country, people were pretty much on their own to figure out how to take care of themselves and meet the housing and transportation and medical and financial needs of themselves and their families. In another part of the same country, same people, the government provided everything the people needed from housing to jobs to healthcare to education to entertainment.

Anyone care to take a stab at which part of the country flourished, and which part failed miserably?

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