To Recall the Fall of the Berlin Wall: The 30th Anniversary
By Amanda Rodriguez
BERLIN- A few hundred feet from the east side of where the Berlin Wall once stood, journalist Regina Köhler recalls how, as a young girl, she had vivid dreams in which she was standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate with magical powers to fly over the gate to the west side of the city. Her dreams came from a longing to escape from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), a regime that separated her from relatives in West Berlin.
West Berliner and filmmaker Patrick Meyer recalls a much different and happier experience sitting inside his West German home as a child without any worries. “I remember hanging out with my friends, eating ice cream close to the wall and we would just watch the guards in the tower on the east side and they would just stare back at us while we ate ice cream and played in the field,” Meyer said.
This year marks 30 years since the Berlin Wall opened and these two people, who grew up within miles of each other, find themselves reminiscing about two completely different ways of life, and about that day the Cold War barrier fell on November 9, 1989, a day that changed their lives and marked the end of a divided Germany.
The History
In 1961, Soviet-backed East Germany built the Berlin Wall to separate communist East Berlin from democratic West Berlin. The wall between East and West Berlin was nearly 12 feet high and approximately 27 miles long. It had 302 guard towers and 55,000 anti-personnel explosive devices.
East Berlin, under the effective control of the Soviet Union, lived under major restrictions. “We had limited clothing options, some foods you could not find on the east, and there were always Stasi [Secret Police] around watching to make sure you were not plotting to escape,” Köhler said.
It was not uncommon for East Berliners to try finding different methods to escape from the east side. But the road to do so was a dangerous one. A “death strip” prevented all who wanted to flee from being able to leave with ease. The area between the inner and outer walls was about 160 yards wide and had hundreds of watch towers, guard dogs, floodlights, trip-wire machine guns, and anti-vehicle trenches that caused many deaths and prevented many more from trying to leave the East.
At least 138 people died after failed escape attempts across the Berlin Wall. Estimates claim that more than 5,000 escaped by going over and under the Berlin Wall.
West Berlin was divided into three sectors that were under the control of the World War II Allies: the United States, France and the United Kingdom. “The west side was like living on a free island,” Meyer said. “Even though we were enclosed by a massive cement wall, everyone was free and happy.”
Remembering The Wall’s End
The city that was the epicenter of the Cold War and which was radically impacted by German reunification, has events planned throughout the year to remember the historic day the wall was opened to free passage.
“A special program on the weekend of November 9th will take place where there will be a commemoration with politicians to lead discussions and educational sessions and youth gatherings,” said Hannah Berger, spokesperson for the Berlin Wall Memorial Foundation. On top of this main event in November, there are over 15 other major scheduled events by the foundation to commemorate the fall of the wall throughout the year.
The Berlin Wall Memorial is the central memorial to Germany’s division, located not far from the center of the capital on Bernauer Street. It contains the last extended piece of the Berlin Wall with preserved grounds behind it.
After having played an important role in post-World War II Germany and in supporting West Germany during the Cold War, the United States is also staging events to mark the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall — including a dance interpretation of the event by a local dance group, according to Peter Burba, deputy cultural attaché at the US Embassy.
The United States Embassy, rebuilt in 2008 on its historic property, occupies a key position in the heart of town, right next to the iconic Brandenburg Gate. “The relationship with Germany is important because we maintain mutual values and security and there are over 50 million Americans that have ties to Germany,” said Joe Giordono-Scholz, press attaché at the US embassy.
With this in mind, to honor the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall, the embassy held a reception earlier this year to unveil the installment of an upper level, outdoor Ronald Reagan patio, with a kiosk that plays a video of the former US president speaking opposite the Brandenburg Gate in 1987, when he uttered his now-famous line: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
The Wall’s Lasting Impact
Meyer, the west Berlin filmmaker, recalls the day the wall opened. “They interrupted the show I was watching, “Knight Rider,” with a public announcement saying ‘The wall is coming down!’” Meyer remembers how people from the west side rushed to the wall with hammers to physically chip away at the hated structure. He set out with his friends to see what the commotion was about.
He remembers how even clothing styles could indicate who used to live in the West versus the East. “In my memory the East was always dark and grey, there was no color and that’s also how they used to dress,” Meyer said, adding that even today, sometimes one can guess with the older generations what side of the wall they used to live on.
Köhler remembers that shopping in East Berlin was very simplistic because there was hardly ever any color to the fashion and very limited options to choose from. She remembers the first day after the wall fell when she took her then 7-year-old son to a toy store on the west side. “My son started crying because when we went inside there were so many toys and cars to choose from,” she said. “He became overwhelmed and he said, ‘It’s too much for me, please let’s get out’.”
Still 30 years later, many Berliners say there are noticeable and lasting effects that persist from the divided years. “Even though there isn’t a visible barrier, there are still some invisible ones that linger to this day,” said Susanne Kippenberger, a journalist at Der Tagesspiegel, a major daily paper in West Berlin when the wall was up.
Kippenberger has been an editor in the paper’s Sunday supplement for over 20 years and says there are still differences in the way competing newspapers cover events from the east and west side of the city, since their subscriber bases — thought now aging — are still dominated by those who had lived on one or the other side of the former divide.
She said that when someone passes away on the east side, there is a bigger obituary for them and vice versa for the west, and that the language used in the journalistic writing can be distinctively different.
Christian Seelenbinder, bar manager at Hotel Kastanienhof, grew up on the east side of the Iron Curtain and said the wall still has lasting effects on his life. Relations among relatives in the West and East became strained because of the wall’s physical divide of the city. He cites common stereotypes — West Berliners were assumed to be treated well and East Berliners assumed to be “mini Soviets.”
“It’s a very cliché thinking that is still alive and still exists, even 30 years later after the fall of the wall,” Seelenbinder said.
Economic disparities persist decades later, which Seelenbinder attributes partially to the former GDR controlling things like who had access to higher education and who could get a good job. He said some of his family members, including himself, were unable to continue their schooling, which affected their lives years after the fall of the wall.
German economists are also predicting that the western part of the country will remain wealthier than the eastern part for many years to come as the western German baby boomer generation begins to pass away, leaving inheritances to their children and grandchildren, whereas those in eastern Germany have no such accumulated lifetime savings.
Western Berliner Meyer and eastern Berliner Köhler say the psychological divide never really vanished, though it is now hard to find traces of the physical divide. They still live just a few miles from one another and find that today their lives are outwardly not much different.
Meyer lives with his wife and kids in western Berlin and has been busy working on various film projects, while Köhler has been enjoying her summer in between her home in Treptow and a summer home an hour’s drive north in Uckermark, in the former East Germany.
Although Meyer and Köhler lived two different lifestyles during the Cold War, behind the wall that divided West and East Berlin, they both share feelings of pride and happiness about how Germany managed the transition and how Berlin has grown as a city. “I am proud that we [my family] managed it. I’m proud of my sons to this day. They are doing very well, both of them. I’m happy now,” Köhler said.
Amanda Rodriguez recently graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a major in Sociology, a minor in Professional Writing and a certificate in Journalism.
