Day one Berlin

Stuffed ourselves on the hotel breakfast buffet, then headed out for the Berlin Wall memorial. It’s a short 1 mile, which took us about 1.5 miles after meandering through Humboldthain park, visiting the flak/antiaircraft battery and going the wrong way for a bit.
When you actually see what “the wall” started as then became, you wonder what was going on to cause this level of stress. Overnight, about 30 miles of barbed wire and guards were put in place. Most thought it was temporary so no escape needed. After 2-3 months they saw it was here to stay. Each time there was a successful escape, new prevention measures were put in place. While some areas were just a tall “border wall” (sound familiar?), others became multiple walls, separated by a kill zone, sand pits and ditches to catch vehicles, iron spikes to impale jumpers, and other deterrence.
Some buildings were actually on the line, front door to the east, back door the west. They were nailed shut. When people jumped out of windows into nets held by the fire brigade, they were boarded up or blocked in. When they jumped off the roof or slid down a rope, barbed wire fences were put on the roof. When they dug tunnels under the wall, the buildings were torn down.
It wasn’t until the Polish Solidarity movement, the Czech/Slovak Velvet revolution, and similar actions that Reagan’s challenge to tear this wall down happened.
What really draws the emotion are the stories, monuments and memorials to the families torn apart, lives turned upside down, and communities destroyed because of the greed and politics from thousands of miles away. Shouldn’t have happened then and we shouldn’t repeat it now.Read more