A Berlin Tale:“20 YEARS AFTER THE WALL CAME

DOWN”.

By Ivonne Corichi.

A Berlin Tale.Berliners celebrated the 20th anniversary of thefall of the Berlin wall which for decades dividedcommunism from democracy, east from west and families from each other.

A Berlin Tale.The Berlin wall was built in 1961 by the German DemocraticRepublic. It was the solution to a massive migration to WestGermany after World War II. The GDR lost over 20% of it’scitizens, whom left Eastern Germany to find a better life.

A Berlin Tale.The Wall was built by a recommendationof the Soviet Union. It had four versions:*Wired fence (1961).*Improved wired fence (1962-1965).*Concrete wall (1965-1975).*Border wall 75 (1975-1989).

The wired fence was weaker than theconcrete wall.The concrete wall was less dangerousthan the wired fence, because it stoppedthe killings of people who wanted tocross to West Germany.

A Berlin Tale.From 1961 to 1989 the visits to East Germany were limitedto some citizens whom individually requested a tourist visa. West Germans were allowed to enter only after 1971, and visits before then were only during Christmas of the firstyears.

The gray Germanconcrete wall separateda lot of things, not onlypeople.

A Berlin Tale.East Germans were not allowed to travel outside GDR’sborders. Only some exceptions were made to old age pensioners, professionals and important family matters.East Berliners were punished, which made a statementto eastern bloc countries.

A Berlin Tale.During a speech at the Brandemburg Gate commemoratingthe 750th. anniversary of Berlin on 1987, US President Ronald Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorvachev to tear downthe wall as a symbol of increasing freedom in the eastern bloc.

The western bloc arecountries where freedomand democracy rule overdictators and censorship.

A Berlin Tale.Some East European countries removed it’s physical bordersin 1989,which lead to another massive Eastern Germanmigration. This might have been the spark, which detonatedseveral pacific demonstrations in both Berlins.

A Berlin Tale.On November 9th. GDR’s new leader Egon Krenz, allowedrefugees exit directly through crossing points, and proposedfree travel as well. The GDR’s spokesman announced this at a press conference which was televised incomplete in WestGermany and it’s moderator might have misunderstood thecontext and announced a “Historic Day… East Germany opened it’s borders to everyone”.

A Berlin Tale.East and West Germans, soon gathered at the wall.The guards were outnumbered and opened the gates ofcheckpoints and allowed free crossings.People started chipping the wall with hammers and demolished lengthy parts of the wall. They might sellthe concrete chips as souvenirs.

A Berlin Tale.Between November 9th. and December 23, West Germanswere allowed into East Germany under restrictive visits.This might have been a peaceful period while migrationofficers decided a visa-free travel and the start of theGerman reunification concluded in the first week ofOctober 1990.

A Berlin Tale.This week Germans celebrate the 20th. Anniversary ofthe fall of Berlin’s Wall with the “Festival of Freedom”.During this festival, thousands of foam domino tiles willbe stacked along the wall’s perimeter.

A Berlin Tale.Today, there are world citizens that might not knowabout this, and live in oppression.Is there a possibility they’ll know?I invite you to tear down the walls and the boundariesauthorities put around us. Like East and West Germans,let’s speak out loud and manifest peacefully our thoughts.