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Looking back: The Berlin Wall
Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the stunning, historic day when communist East Germany opened its borders after holding its population captive behind concrete and razor wire for nearly three decades.
Below is The Gazette's editorial published on Nov. 10, 1989. We think it captures the surprise, excitement and optimism of that remarkable day. Too optimistic about China, perhaps, but right when it came to the future of then-Czechoslovakia.
Our writers, of course, couldn't yet imagine the tumult that would follow in the next two-and-a-half decades as the post-Cold War world evolved in so many unpredictable, heartening and dangerous ways. But we did know it was a very big moment. Here is what we wrote:
These are truly amazing times, historic times, the dimensions of which are difficult to grasp as we live through them. Thursday the infamous Berlin Wall politically came tumbling down, bulldozed by the outburst of freedom that for years had been suppressed inside the hearts and souls of East German citizens.
In the old days, the incredible news would have produced a 10-bell alarm on the Associated Press news machine. Thursday freedom's big victory entered news channels through the silent world of computerdom. But what seismic news! It is earth-shattering to realize the Cold War is over. Can it be that East and West have come so far in such a short time? The Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, now East Germany, all enemies a short time ago, now are just countries that for the time being have a different political system than ours. Dramatic upheaval in Czechoslovakia may not be far behind.
China has a new leader. How much longer can China's tanks hold the people back? The door is open there, too, and it can't be closed.
A year ago observers would have laughed at the suggestion that the Berlin Wall was about to collapse. Yet on Thursday, Nov. 9, 1989, East Germany opened its borders, allowing its people to freely travel anywhere. It's an amazing time!
The Berlin Wall still stands, physically. It will probably remain standing where it doesn't interfere with travel. It will be one of Europe's great tourist attractions.
In a single day, though, the handwriting has been on the wall. The Berlin Wall has been transformed from a symbol of repression to a monument to freedom.
It's an amazing time.
l Comments: (319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com
Balloons are released from the installation 'Lichtgrenze' (Border of Light) in front of a painting depicting former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev kissing his East German counterpart Erich Honecker (R) along the East Side Gallery, the largest remaining part of the former Berlin Wall, in Berlin, November 9. Germany commemorated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the BerlinWall on Sunday. (Axel Schmidt/REUTERS)
A young member of the project 'Zirkus Ueberwindet Grenzen' (circus without borders) bounces on a trampoline onto the East Side Gallery, the largest remaining part of the former Berlin Wall, next to the installation 'Lichtgrenze' (Border of Light) in Berlin November 9. A part of the inner city of Berlin is being temporarily divided from November 7 to 9, with a light installation featuring 8000 luminous white balloons, following the 9.5-mile (15.3 kmilometre) path the Berlin Wall once occupied, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. (Hannibal/REUTERS)
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