Berlin Gears Up to Mark 20th Anniversary of Fall of Wall
Oct 21st, 2009, 09:49 AM
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Berlin Gears Up to Mark 20th Anniversary of Fall of Wall
Though Berlin has been marking the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall all thru 2009 the city is gearing up for special festivities for the actual anniversay date - Nov 14, 2009 - so if in Berlin then or the week before check out the schedule of events:
Kulturprojekte Berlin: 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin theme year '20 years since the fall of the Wall' is being sponsored by Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin. ...
http://www.kulturprojekte-berlin.de/...all-came-down/ - Cached - SimilarLatest news stories
Events: 20 Years since the Fall of the Wall
After more than 28 years of German division, the Berlin Wall fell overnight from 9 - 10 November 1989, a historical event of global significance. ...
http://www.germany-tourism.de/ENG/.....f_the_wall.htm
Kulturprojekte Berlin: 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin theme year '20 years since the fall of the Wall' is being sponsored by Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin. ...
http://www.kulturprojekte-berlin.de/...all-came-down/ - Cached - SimilarLatest news stories
Events: 20 Years since the Fall of the Wall
After more than 28 years of German division, the Berlin Wall fell overnight from 9 - 10 November 1989, a historical event of global significance. ...
http://www.germany-tourism.de/ENG/.....f_the_wall.htm
Oct 21st, 2009, 09:52 AM
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And to mark the occasion German Rail is offering its 4-day flexipass (including Twin Pass) at a 20% discount for sales thru Nov 20, 2009 and will give a free Berlin City Sightseeing Tour with it - Raileurope is offering this - not sure about other German Railpass outlets like ACP Rail.
Oct 21st, 2009, 12:12 PM
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Neither one of your links work.
This one has lots of info/events: http://www.mauerfall09.de/en/home.html
Also, for those of us who can't be in Germany during November, check your city's German embassy and/or Goethe-Institut to see what type of events they are planning.
http://www.goethe.de/enindex.htm
This one has lots of info/events: http://www.mauerfall09.de/en/home.html
Also, for those of us who can't be in Germany during November, check your city's German embassy and/or Goethe-Institut to see what type of events they are planning.
http://www.goethe.de/enindex.htm
Oct 21st, 2009, 01:52 PM
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Palenque,
Bless you and many thanks for bringing this up. It was a defining moment of the 20th century. It allowed me to drive all over eastern Europe and even right into the Ukraine. Our children will never know what we lived through before that night, whatever the date. What I do remember is that Dr. K and all the experts were predicting another 20 years of Communist domination. KKKrap on them.
Your links are somewhat off.
Bless you and many thanks for bringing this up. It was a defining moment of the 20th century. It allowed me to drive all over eastern Europe and even right into the Ukraine. Our children will never know what we lived through before that night, whatever the date. What I do remember is that Dr. K and all the experts were predicting another 20 years of Communist domination. KKKrap on them.
Your links are somewhat off.
Oct 22nd, 2009, 02:27 AM
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If someone happens to be in Berlin at this time then it might be a nice thing to do. However, it annoys the hell out of me that there is such a big fuzz about this event. The first hole in the wall between east and west was made in Hungary on 2nd May 1989 when they officially announced to remove the fences to Austria. And on 11 September 1989 the first East Germans left Hungary by car at the border crossing point Hegyeshalom-Nickelsorf to drive towards Vienna.
Also, Berlin played a minor role in the peaceful revolution in East Germany. The demonstrations and major events that led to the fall of the Communist regime in Berlin took place elsewhere, especially in Leipzig, Dresden and Plauen, where they started originally. Even after 9 November 1989 most protesters in East Berlin demanded a separate East German country, not reunification, and wanted to 'reform' the Communist regime. The demands for re-unification (changing the slogan from "Wir sind das Volk" to "Wir sind EIN Volk") again were created in Saxony.
Sheesh. And now Berlin will even get a re-unification monument paid for by tax money. What for?
I.
Also, Berlin played a minor role in the peaceful revolution in East Germany. The demonstrations and major events that led to the fall of the Communist regime in Berlin took place elsewhere, especially in Leipzig, Dresden and Plauen, where they started originally. Even after 9 November 1989 most protesters in East Berlin demanded a separate East German country, not reunification, and wanted to 'reform' the Communist regime. The demands for re-unification (changing the slogan from "Wir sind das Volk" to "Wir sind EIN Volk") again were created in Saxony.
Sheesh. And now Berlin will even get a re-unification monument paid for by tax money. What for?
I.
Oct 22nd, 2009, 02:50 AM
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Seen from the West, the opening of the wall was the most spectacular moment. Nov 9 is when the revolution crossed the border and reached us, so on this date East and West party together.
Historically speaking, there were many steps in this development. Perhaps the most crucial turn was indeed Oct 9 in Leipzig, the first big peace demonstration when everyone was expecting violence but it didn't happen, the state was helpless against seventy thousand people with candles. After this, the DDR wasn't the same any more.
Let the Berliners build a monument if they need one. Leipzig does not need a new memorial. It has one, better than any new monument could be, that will forever be connected with the events of 1989: Nikolaikirche.
Historically speaking, there were many steps in this development. Perhaps the most crucial turn was indeed Oct 9 in Leipzig, the first big peace demonstration when everyone was expecting violence but it didn't happen, the state was helpless against seventy thousand people with candles. After this, the DDR wasn't the same any more.
Let the Berliners build a monument if they need one. Leipzig does not need a new memorial. It has one, better than any new monument could be, that will forever be connected with the events of 1989: Nikolaikirche.
Oct 22nd, 2009, 06:04 AM
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Ingo - i can appreciate your take and it does seem that the German National Tourist Office is using the famous Berlin Wall to try to lure tourists to Germany but to Americans it is the focal point, unjustly as you point out, of the fall of the Iron Curtain - what with Reagan making his famous "Mister Gorbachev Tear Down that Wall" muttering there and visions of Berlin Airlift, etc. So it is symbolic to us as most of us know relatively little about the real breach of the Iron Curtain and where it started and yes much more devastating protests in places you mention.
Do i detect a Berlin envy and may this envy be typical of folks in the rest of the old DDR? And i am not being critical but curious if you antipathy towards Berlin and Berliners is widespread as i suspect.
Do i detect a Berlin envy and may this envy be typical of folks in the rest of the old DDR? And i am not being critical but curious if you antipathy towards Berlin and Berliners is widespread as i suspect.
Oct 22nd, 2009, 06:43 AM
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Interesting facts! I wished I had known them before making my travel plans. How frustrating, I made the assumption that the Berlin celebration would happen on its true anniversary date instead of 5 days later, how unpuenktlich!
I had just finalized all my travel plans so that I'll be in Berlin by Nov 9 and then head to Leipzig 3 days later.
I had just finalized all my travel plans so that I'll be in Berlin by Nov 9 and then head to Leipzig 3 days later.
Oct 22nd, 2009, 06:54 AM
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No, it is not envy. It is disdain. And yes, it is VERY widespread in the rest of the former DDR. Oh, and the majority of my colleagues from Southwest Germany share my antipathy. I've heard words like "parasits" and such, especially when topics like Berlin's debt (practically bankrupt) come up.
Oct 22nd, 2009, 06:57 AM
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DAX, no need to worry. There's still a lot going on on the exact date:
http://www.mauerfall09.de/portal/9-n...auerfalls.html
http://www.mauerfall09.de/portal/9-n...auerfalls.html
Oct 22nd, 2009, 07:14 AM
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News about the silent Monday evening protests in Leipzig was never released to the west. I learned about it several years after the fact when I was working there. One of the protesters invited me to his home for dinner and told me what the people had done. They were brave souls considering what the Soviets had done to protesters in Warsaw, Prague, and Budapest in years past.
Oct 23rd, 2009, 01:22 PM
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Berliners and Saxons are as much buddies as New Yorkers love people from L.A. and vice versa.
(East) Berliners remember the time when Saxons got installed by a now long gone GDR regime in relevant places of the Government.
And the former East hated the way East Berlin got all the good stuff for their stores (yes, what you saw there WAS the GOOD stuff) so they could show off at least a bit to foreign visitors.
The Southwesterners (i.e. the poor folks having to live in Stuttgart and that sorta State that sorta city is a sorta capital of) now hate Berlin so much that half of them have moved there. Swabian has become a second language in Berlin. If it were a language.
The average Berliner gets up at 11, has breakfast from 12 to 2 in a coffee shop, "working" on some whatever project on his laptop (that's why any place has wifi now), preferably a "project" that is somehow publicly-funded and goes on forever, and parties each night from 8 to 4. It's not the place where fans of Calvinistic working ethics will have fun.
But Berliners don't care what any West or East Germans think of them. For them it's just the "rest" of Germany that is ruled by the dream of having 1.5 kids, a single family home in some god-forsaken place with "fresh air", a German shepard guarding the well-trimmed small lawn behind spotless picket fences. On weekends these people recycle their trash or do eco-friendly bike trips. For a true Berliner that sounds as much fun as driving a spike through your forehead.
Germany is glued together by mutual detestation. Seriously.
(East) Berliners remember the time when Saxons got installed by a now long gone GDR regime in relevant places of the Government.
And the former East hated the way East Berlin got all the good stuff for their stores (yes, what you saw there WAS the GOOD stuff) so they could show off at least a bit to foreign visitors.
The Southwesterners (i.e. the poor folks having to live in Stuttgart and that sorta State that sorta city is a sorta capital of) now hate Berlin so much that half of them have moved there. Swabian has become a second language in Berlin. If it were a language.
The average Berliner gets up at 11, has breakfast from 12 to 2 in a coffee shop, "working" on some whatever project on his laptop (that's why any place has wifi now), preferably a "project" that is somehow publicly-funded and goes on forever, and parties each night from 8 to 4. It's not the place where fans of Calvinistic working ethics will have fun.
But Berliners don't care what any West or East Germans think of them. For them it's just the "rest" of Germany that is ruled by the dream of having 1.5 kids, a single family home in some god-forsaken place with "fresh air", a German shepard guarding the well-trimmed small lawn behind spotless picket fences. On weekends these people recycle their trash or do eco-friendly bike trips. For a true Berliner that sounds as much fun as driving a spike through your forehead.
Germany is glued together by mutual detestation. Seriously.
Oct 26th, 2009, 03:44 PM
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Topping this thread again, in case anyone is still interested: I just found a recent article in English on Spiegel Online which I'd like to share, it sums up the events in Leipzig on October 9, 1989:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...654137,00.html
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...654137,00.html
Oct 26th, 2009, 05:39 PM
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I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the Wall fell. I was in the St. Petersburg airport (Florida) having spent a week down there with my boyfriend. I was leaning over the Chanel perfumes when it came across the speaker in the store - it must have been a radio show being interrupted, or something. We were both very moved.
What were you doing when you heard the news?
November 9 is a big day in Germany history, by the way. At least two other major events happened on that day in the 20th century - neither of which were positive like the Wall coming down.
What were you doing when you heard the news?
November 9 is a big day in Germany history, by the way. At least two other major events happened on that day in the 20th century - neither of which were positive like the Wall coming down.
