This week has seen the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. So where were you and what were you doing when you heard about, and probably witnessed via the media, this momentous occasion? I was 14 starting on my GCSE's having been unable to walk for several months- It was probably one of the first times other than the Falklands war, Royal Wedding, IRA bombs, chernobyl, football riots or Miner's strikes that I was truly aware of more than Newsround news. It seemed to be an amazing thing that sister was reunited with sister - that people were tearing it down with their bare hands. It was probably at a time of awakening for me - exciting texts in English, advanced algebraic equations, teachers who talked to you like near equals and were interested in your opinion. So to be becoming aware of the world at a time of such tumoltuous (sp?) change was exciting - it is probably when I became aware of politics being a positive thing not just tyranny and backlash - although China was to soon make us aware that tyranny was still live and kicking.
I was an undergraduate then. I didn't have a television and was too deep in my studies to pay much attention to the news at all, so I missed most of the events that led up to it. When I heard that the Wall had come down, it came as quite a surprise.
ReplyDeleteFeeling very lucky as I happened to be studying abroad in Spain in my senior year of college. I was sitting in my Madrid apartment with my 5 other roommates watching the news. I made the decision right then that I would use my 1 month Eurail pass at the end of the semester to get to Berlin to get myself a piece of the wall! I still have those pieces somewhere around here....
ReplyDeleteI was watching it on television in amazement. I never thought I would see it fall in my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI spent 4 years in the U.S. Army in Western Germany only 7 years prior to the fall. I was the first woman tank mechanic with the largest army armored brigade in the free world. We worked constantly, 7 days a week, to keep that brigade ready to fight "Soviet aggression" should they decide to invade through the Fulda Gap, which is a strategic invasion point for that area of Germany.
Although I was not present when the wall fell, I felt suddenly satisfied and happy that I played an indirect part of it. Luckily, my sister and brother-in-law were present during the fall, and helped to smash it. I have a single, small, green spray-painted pebble that I keep on display. It's a pebble of freedom, baby!
just returning to England having lived in South Africa for 7 years - coming back to be with Mark (if only I had known then........)
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