Fall of the Berlin Wall

November 9, 2009 marked twenty years since the fall of the Berlin wall. I was talking with my mom about it yesterday, reminiscing about our trip to Berlin this summer. As I watched news clips and read articles about the commemoration, I pictured standing at the Brandenburg Tur and walking along where the wall once stood, and going to Checkpoint Charlie, where they had set up a wall with panels describing different events and themes from the wall going up to the wall coming down. One of the most heartbreaking displays I remember seeing was one where two women were holding their children up from different sides of the wall so that these cousins could meet each other.

I would have loved to have been there for the festivities Monday. So many historical figures were brought together to remember they symbolism of the wall. AP quoted Chancellor Angela Merkel as saying, "Both [the fall of the Berlin wall and Kristallnacht--night of broken glass, which was also November 9] show that freedom is not self evident. Freedom must be fought for. Freedom must be defended time and again. Freedom is the most valuable commodity in our political and social system." She called the fall "epic" and lauded Mikhail Gorbachev. "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."