Comments on: Memories of the Wall

By: sauseschritt

sauseschritt — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 21:30:08 +0000

the berlin wall from a japanese perspective

By: novala

novala — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 18:44:48 +0000

Are there really such few people who went to East Germany before 1989?? I remember well our trips to visit the other half of the family in the other Germany. Each time we went I was so scared that they might not let us out again. If they wanted to find a reason they would have found one.

One shouldn’t romantize all that.

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 05:43:07 +0000

One of the things I remember from my recent trip to Berlin was visiting the Soviet memorial in Treptower Park. At first, it seems almost quaint in its peddling of misconceptions about socialism – until you think that kids would have been taught about how correct all of this was as recently as 15 or less years ago. A very scary thought to think how education could be used in that way.
TH, you’re definitely right. The world is a better place.

By: Sebastian Holsclaw

Sebastian Holsclaw — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 14:38:08 +0000

I visited Hannover in the early 1980s. Our hosts took us to see the East/West border. The contrast between the different sides of the border was stark.

By: TH

TH — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 14:07:55 +0000

I crossed the border a few times on my way to Berlin and back to Bavaria. I remember the apprehension of a classmate on the school trip to Berlin, whether they’d let him through, as he had longer hair than in his passport. I remember staring at the wall and going through and finding myself in a different decade in east Berlin. I remember the quiet terror when pasing through the checkpoints.

I remember passing long convoys of Trabants on the motorway from Vienna to Passau after Hungary opened the border. I remember them waving and honking.

I remember finding out the wall was down two days later in my favourite coffee house here in Vienna. I didn’t and still don’t watch tv usually. I remember watching german tv on cable that night and being absolutely stunned.

And my daughter is 13 now and there never was a wall. There never was the constant knowledge that the nuclear arsenal of *both* superpowers was aimed at your hometown.

The world is a better place now.

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 01:47:41 +0000

It’s one of the few things that stands out really clearly from when I was much younger. Then again, I was only 5 at the time. And my parents forced me to watch it (I don’t think I disagreed though). I’m glad they did; whilst other currents are possibly more important in some ways, the cultural importance of the collapse of the Wall was so much greater. The memories of having seen it collapse, even on TV gives a mental framework of reference.

By: claudia

claudia — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 01:09:55 +0000

who weren?t allowed to wave back if we waved, at least that?s what we were told

That’s what we were told, too. I grew up at the West/East German border, in the Bavaria-Hesse-Thuringia triangle. We had soldiers wave back at us — but it was always a single one, always the one at the very end of the line.

By: Armin

Armin — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 00:42:04 +0000

Oh yes, those memories of the wall and the border…

When I was in the army we went to the border for our “political education” (I think that’s what it was called). We were given orders to wear our civilian clothes for the actual visit of the border. Then we looked at the border and the border guards on the other side (who weren’t allowed to wave back if we waved, at least that’s what we were told. Don’t know if that’s true). Strange feeling that we were both German yet they had the order to shoot at us if we moved any further.

A year or so later I drove from Hannover to Berlin on the transit Autobahn. The interesting bit was that it was December (i.e winter) and I had my Laser dinghy on the trailer behind my car. The border guard asked me if I was taking the boat for winter storage in Berlin. When I told him that I was going to a regatta for the weekend he looked very confused. At least they didn’t inspect the boat if I was smuggling anything in it, I heard of others who had to completely unpack everything.

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 09 Nov 2004 22:58:17 +0000

I went to E. Berlin in its waning months in July 1989 – the Hungarians had opened the fence, but governments hadn’t started to topple yet. Maybe I’ll post about it tonight.

By: Michael D

Michael D — Tue, 09 Nov 2004 22:50:44 +0000

Prior to 1990, I frequently drove across the GDR, Polish and Hungarian borders. I always seemed to be the one they stopped and searched when coming back. And, they were looking for… babies!