I remember standing on an overlook a long time ago. There was the wall, the barbed wire, and the minefields. A man a few steps to my right was waving to another on the other side of the wall about 100-150 yards away who was waving back furtively. My thought was they were family members. It was a pretty sad situation.
I read somewhere that at one point one in five people worked for or would provide information to the Stasi. I have to wonder how effective our “If you see something, say something” campaign will be and how Draconian the response will be to unsubstantiated information.
The philosophy that built it is alive and well, and still evil.
MamaLibertyOctober 29, 2014 5:44 am
I was present at the “Ronald Reagan Library” in Simi Valley, CA when a section of that wall was installed as a monument to something or other – probably old Ronnie himself… don’t remember much about the occasion except that the chunk of cement was totally covered with colorful paintings of flowers and butterflies. That seemed incongruous, given its history, but I don’t know if anyone tried to explain it then or not.
davidOctober 29, 2014 6:05 am
MamaLiberty – the painting was for the same purpose as putting flowers in the rifle barrels of Guardsmen during the VietNam war protests. Just a way of softening ‘the machine’, by making it more ‘humane’ in appearance. Every such act makes the juggernaut a little weaker.
ClaireOctober 29, 2014 6:14 am
Yep, during the wall’s existence, no one was allowed to approach it from the eastern side (at least not without risking being shot). But on the western side, people expressed their contempt (and the mere fact that it was a big, blank wall) by covering it with graffiti, the brighter the better. So the segments of wall that got spread around after the fall were mostly brilliantly “decorated.”
MamaLibertyOctober 29, 2014 7:21 am
Thanks, David and Claire. I remember some of that from the old Viet Nam days. Just was never artistic, and had a LOT of other stuff going on then. Never got involved in the hippy or war protest thing at all. Glad some people can make really unusual things beautiful.
Matt, anotherOctober 29, 2014 7:55 am
I was on duty in West Germany the night the wall came down. It gave us a few days of stress waiting to see what the response from the East Germans and Soviets was going to be. Glad it came down, since that time I have met some dleightful people from that region in Germany. Some had lived through the Dark days, a couple of youngsters had no knowledge of it.
ScottOctober 30, 2014 1:25 am
I lived in West Berlin as a teenager. I remember after one big party a bunch of us kids – mainly German but with some Amis – going a block over to the Wall and urinating against it. The Vopo guards could see us and not do anything.
Most of the Western side was covered with various graffiti – some of it from Turkish gangs!
ShelOctober 30, 2014 7:53 am
The monument at the Ronald Reagan Library had to be to his famous “Tear Down This Wall” speech. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ronald+reagan+tear+down+this+wall He did it so courteously that Gorbachev attended Reagan’s funeral, paused longer than others at the casket, and then reached out and touched it.
emdflOctober 31, 2014 9:23 am
Old Gorbie (and his masters) probably just wanted to be sure he was dead.
Glad the damn thing is gone.
I remember standing on an overlook a long time ago. There was the wall, the barbed wire, and the minefields. A man a few steps to my right was waving to another on the other side of the wall about 100-150 yards away who was waving back furtively. My thought was they were family members. It was a pretty sad situation.
I read somewhere that at one point one in five people worked for or would provide information to the Stasi. I have to wonder how effective our “If you see something, say something” campaign will be and how Draconian the response will be to unsubstantiated information.
The wall is gone, except for pieces used in various monuments to the fall.
http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/museum/museum_tour/sculpture.php
The philosophy that built it is alive and well, and still evil.
I was present at the “Ronald Reagan Library” in Simi Valley, CA when a section of that wall was installed as a monument to something or other – probably old Ronnie himself… don’t remember much about the occasion except that the chunk of cement was totally covered with colorful paintings of flowers and butterflies. That seemed incongruous, given its history, but I don’t know if anyone tried to explain it then or not.
MamaLiberty – the painting was for the same purpose as putting flowers in the rifle barrels of Guardsmen during the VietNam war protests. Just a way of softening ‘the machine’, by making it more ‘humane’ in appearance. Every such act makes the juggernaut a little weaker.
Yep, during the wall’s existence, no one was allowed to approach it from the eastern side (at least not without risking being shot). But on the western side, people expressed their contempt (and the mere fact that it was a big, blank wall) by covering it with graffiti, the brighter the better. So the segments of wall that got spread around after the fall were mostly brilliantly “decorated.”
Thanks, David and Claire. I remember some of that from the old Viet Nam days. Just was never artistic, and had a LOT of other stuff going on then. Never got involved in the hippy or war protest thing at all. Glad some people can make really unusual things beautiful.
I was on duty in West Germany the night the wall came down. It gave us a few days of stress waiting to see what the response from the East Germans and Soviets was going to be. Glad it came down, since that time I have met some dleightful people from that region in Germany. Some had lived through the Dark days, a couple of youngsters had no knowledge of it.
I lived in West Berlin as a teenager. I remember after one big party a bunch of us kids – mainly German but with some Amis – going a block over to the Wall and urinating against it. The Vopo guards could see us and not do anything.
Most of the Western side was covered with various graffiti – some of it from Turkish gangs!
The monument at the Ronald Reagan Library had to be to his famous “Tear Down This Wall” speech. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ronald+reagan+tear+down+this+wall He did it so courteously that Gorbachev attended Reagan’s funeral, paused longer than others at the casket, and then reached out and touched it.
Old Gorbie (and his masters) probably just wanted to be sure he was dead.