Monday, November 09, 2009

The Unexpected Peaceful End



Twenty years ago today, the Berlin Wall fell. The East German government announced a new travel policy allowing East Germans to leave - at will.

The Wall fell. A wall built for the purpose not of keeping invaders out but keeping subjects within fell.

The Berlin Wall, a plain and obvious reminder of the tyranny that the Soviet Union imposed was shattered; and the world changed again. My grandparents saw that wall be built; they never imagined that it would come down in their lifetimes.

What it has become, we are still trying to understand.

The Telegraph has an excellent feature with background information.


ABC News has posted some archival footage on YouTube:
Nov. 9, 1989 Special Report
Nov. 10, 1989
Nov. 10, 1989 Nightline

And National Review has some pieces:
Centuries in the Making
The Road from 1989
Remembering the Fall
Symposium