Living Memory: The Fall of the Berlin Wall

11/9/2013

For 28 years, the Berlin Wall stood as a monument to the division between East and West. In the summer of 1989, the borders of first Hungary, then Czechoslovakia opened, and thousands of East Germans fled westward. On the 9th of November, East Germany opened the Berlin Wall and the border, allowing free passage for the first time since 1961. What was it like to live in Germany at the time? This week, we explore history within living memory!

Podcaster: Kirsti
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Further Reading

Andrei Cherny. The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour. (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2008.)

Hope Millard Harrison. Driving the Soviets Up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953-1961. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.)

Frederick Taylor. The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989. (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2007.)

Music by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)

Randal

11/11/2013 02:10:11 am

I really enjoyed this week's podcast - keep up the good work!

When the Berlin Wall fell I had just started college and was distracted by other things. I do remember the reaction of most of my professors and family however. Without exception everyone was glued to the television coverage.

Looking back, I realize the importance of what had happened but failed to truly recognize it at the time - we all live history in one way or another. I like to think it is one of the more important lessons I learned in college.

Kirsti link

11/11/2013 11:24:44 am

Thank you, Randal, and thanks for listening!

I think a lot of people underestimated the importance of the opening of the borders, and I think a lot of people, myself included, overestimated it. There was such an air of celebration and accomplishment that still hadn't faded when we left Germany in January of 1990 that it seemed like all the work was done. Of course, it was only just beginning, and Germany is still struggling with the very different needs and infrastructure of East and West.

On the other hand, many of my American friends barely registered that it happened at all, except that we got a day off school to celebrate. Given that the entire reason any of us were IN Germany at the time was bound up in those events, I was pretty surprised at the lack of general curiosity I saw. Starting college half a world away is certainly a better reason to miss things than they had!

Living Memory: The Fall of the Berlin Wall

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