Tear Down The Wall

[mongers]

Today marks a quarter century since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Any thoughts, memories, what were you doing at the time ?

Germany marks anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall[/b]

9 November 2014 Last updated at 02:09

Celebrations are being held in Germany to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Concerts and exhibitions are being staged in the city and Chancellor Angela Merkel will later attend a huge open-air party at the Brandenburg Gate.

White balloons marking a stretch of the wall will be released to symbolise its disappearance.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people fleeing from Communist East Germany to the West.

Its fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War.

Chancellor Merkel will be joined for the festivities by former Polish trade union leader Lech Walesa and Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader.

The wall stretched for 155km (96 miles) through Berlin but today only about three kilometres of it still stands.

Within a year of its collapse, Germany - divided after its defeat in World War Two - was reunited.
....

Full article here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29974950

[crazy canuck]

I was in Berlin in August 1989.  I wish I had stayed a few more months. 

[Zanza]

Easily the best thing that ever happened in German history.

I was still a child back then and lived in a city close to the border and when they opened it, but I do remember how everybody was elated and how all of a sudden there were lots of Trabants on the road.

[The Brain]

Easily the best thing that ever happened in German history.

Damn that's some faint praise!

[mongers]

Easily the best thing that ever happened in German history.

I was still a child back then and lived in a city close to the border and when they opened it, but I do remember how everybody was elated and how all of a sudden there were lots of Trabants on the road.

Must have been something.

[The Brain]

I was cool and stayed in school. Watched it on me telly I suppose.

[Maladict]

Watched it on tv, I didn't really understand what was happening but it was clearly very important.
A few days later our teacher asked us to take our history book and skip to the last chapter. It described the present world, going into great detail on the iron curtain and Berlin wall. Then the penny dropped, new history had been written. The concept completely blew my mind.

[mongers]

Watched it on tv, I didn't really understand what was happening but it was clearly very important.
A few days later our teacher asked us to take our history book and skip to the last chapter. It described the present world, going into great detail on the iron curtain and Berlin wall. Then the penny dropped, new history had been written. The concept completely blew my mind.

Good teacher.

[The Brain]

Let me guess: you stood on your desks?

[Siege]

I was sucking dick in the middle of nowhere.

[The Brain]

I was sucking dick in the middle of nowhere.

Is dick kosher?

[CountDeMoney]

I was sucking dick in the middle of nowhere.

So what'll you do after three Zimas?

[derspiess]

I was in high school and a huge current events/Cold War nerd at the time.  I knew things were headed in that direction, but didn't realize how quickly they were accelerating. 

The first night everyone was dancing on the wall I was taking an early evening nap and my best friend called me up to tell me to turn on the TV.  I thought he was joking until I turned on my little black & white 13" TV and saw for myself.

It was amazing, but also somewhat bittersweet-- our war games & simulations were suddenly obsolete: Project Stealth Fighter, Gunship, Reforger '88, Red Storm Rising, to name just a few.

[Barrister]

The whole spring and summer of 1989 was a momentous time to begin with - with what was happening in Hungary, in Chechoslovakia, and now moving on to Germany.  It still wasn't 100% clear what was going on or where things would end (the USSR didn't fall for another two years) but you knew it was exciting, historic times.

No fancy memories for me - just of watching it on the tv in the basement of the bungalow we lived in at the time.

[celedhring]

I was 11 years old. I actually don't have much concrete memories of it, as in "what were you doing when it happened". I remember much more vividly the fall of the URSS, but I was a bit older when that happened.