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THIS DAY 25 years ago saw the fall, metaphorically at least, of the Berlin Wall.
The date on which the wall fell is considered to be 9 November 1989, but its physical removal took some time. On 13 June 1990, the official dismantling of the wall by the East German military began. It was completed in 1992.
East German soldiers began erecting the wall in August 1961. It would divide East and West Berlin for almost three decades.
The move was condemned by the West, US Secretary of State Dean Rusk called it a “flagrant violation” of East-West relations. The structure blocked off an escape route for many refugees who were attempting to escape the Communist regime of the East.
This photo was taken on 13 August 1961 – the day the building of the wall commenced – and shows members of the East German military removing paving blocks on Friedrich Street in the east of the city.
The Wall was 12 feet high and some 96 miles long.
Estimates of the number of people who died trying to cross the wall vary. It is believed to have been in the region of 200. Some were caught in the barbed wire or fell, while others were shot dead by soldiers.
East German National People’s Army soldiers man an unfinished part of the Berlin Wall on 18 August 1961.
West German police wearing British machine guns in front of the Brandenburg Gate on 23 October 1961.
Sinatra Treaty
A culmination of events led to the wall’s collapse.
In 1989 the Soviet Union loosened its grip on neighbouring Warsaw Pact nations – countries on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain, which included East Germany – when it introduced the Sinatra Doctrine.
The document, which allowed the countries to determine their own internal affairs, was so-called in a nod to the Frank Sinatra song My Way. Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov coined the phrase.
It represented a major change from the earlier Brezhnev Doctrine, under which the internal affairs of satellite states were tightly controlled by Moscow.
Two women embrace at the Oberbaumbrucke crossing. The Berlin Wall was opened temporarily at various checkpoints on 31 March 1972 to allow East and West Berlin residents to reunite.
A section of the Berlin Wall, warning people they are now leaving West Berlin, pictured on 6 August 1974.
Sylvester Stallone embraces East Berlin nurse Liane Suendermann at West Berlin’s Checkpoint Charlie on 9 June 1988. Suendermann escaped from East Berlin to the West on 27 May by hiding in a passenger seat of a Mini car.
During ceremonies marking the 40th anniversary of East Germany, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (left) kisses East German leader Erich Honecker at Schoenfeld Airport in East Berlin on 6 October 1989. The photo was taken shortly before Henecker was forced out of power, and a month before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Revolution
The ‘revolutions of 1989′ that took place in Warsaw Pact countries led to Hungary opening its border with Austria and destabilising East Germany in the process.
In 1990, East Germany (or the German Democratic Republic) joined West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany. The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.
East Berliners get helping hands from West Berliners as they climb the Berlin Wall, early on Friday morning, 10 November 1989.
A man chisels a piece of the wall on 10 November 1989.
A man hits the wall with a sledgehammer on 12 November 1989.
Young East Berliners shout for joy as they run into West Berlin through an opening in the Berlin Wall on 23 December 1989. The new East German Government had promised to fully open the gate by Christmas of that year.
Dominoes symbolising the Berlin Wall sit on the ground after falling in front of the Brandenburg Gate on 9 November 2009, during the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the fall.
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Freedom in this world is precious and fragile. Others around the world would literally put their lives on the line to gain the kind of personal freedoms that we take for granted here in the west.
What would you do
If you were asked to give up your dreams for freedom?
What would you do
If asked to make the ultimate sacrifice?
Would you think about all them people
Who gave up everything they had?
Would you think about all them War Vets
And would you start to feel bad?
Freedom isn’t free
It costs folks like you and me
And if we don’t all chip in
We’ll never pay that bill
Freedom isn’t free
No, there’s a hefty in’ fee.
And if you don’t throw in your buck ‘o five
Who will?
What would you do
If someone told you to fight for freedom
Would you answer the call
Or run away like a little pussy
‘Cause the only reason that you’re here
Is ’cause folks died for you in the past
So maybe now it’s your turn
To die kicking some ass
Freedom isn’t free
It costs folks like you and me
And if we don’t all chip in
We’ll never pay that bill
Freedom isn’t free
Now there’s a hefty in’ fee
And if you don’t throw in your buck ‘o five
Who will?
You don’t throw in your buck ‘o five. Who will?
Oooh buck ‘o five
Freedom costs a buck ‘o five
Avina Laaf .. That Freedom ain’t going to last.
Its also Ironic and hypocritical that Western Leaders celebrate the unification of Germany and at the same time they are all puppets to the most grotesque apartheid nation on the face of this planet.
Berlin Wall VS Israel’s apartheid wall.
Frank, you mourn the fall of the wall don’t you!
Declan Noonan .. Whatever European peace that was created by the fall of the Berlin Wall is being destroyed by the US getting “involved” in Ukraine’s affairs.
I do hope the unified Germany has enough fire wood to last through the Winter.
Frank. Do you think your pal Vladimir is that stupid that he going to cut off his last source of foreign currency? Especially when the Russian economy is in a nose dive! Because if you do then you don’t think much of his intellect.
Mick Jordan .. Its a case of swings and roundabouts, you have seem to have forgotten about Russia trading with BRIC nations and of course Iran. Europe is the one that will suffer greatly here, It won’t be long before we will see massive food mountains build up and it may be more than butter that will be handed out at the Dole offices.
One possible benefit will be that Russians will become a lot more healthier if Putin boots out McDonalds and other toxic GMO us corporates..
Frank. NOBODY is investing in Russia. The Rouble has lost 40% its value since January and is still falling. Nobody is going to touch Russia at the moment. And the Iranian economy is in worse shape than Russia’s is. Ordinary Russian are dumping their Roubles and putting their savings in Euros, US Dollars, Swiss Francs and British Pounds so much so Russian Banks are running out of these currencies. Wealthy Russians are leaving in their droves to live in London and Frankfurt
I remember watching it live on TV & tears rolling down my face.
Everyone knows Rocky beating Drago signalled the end to the cold war and the soviet union
NATO promised that they would not expand eastwards should the wall come down and Germany be unified.
They Lied.
But the huge elephant in the room for the Kremlin is why so many former Soviet states looked west to NATO to protect them from Russia, instead of east to Russia to protect them from NATO.
@ablitive NATO doesn’t control the internal affairs of its members.. and all the EU is not part of NATO compare that with the Soviet Union – ridiculous propaganda from either a child who has some mythical ideology about mother russia and doesn’t actually remember what it was like who has read somewhere about the glories of communism or you’re just an idiot .
NATO is the arm of Satan and this has been proven over and over again with the continuous mess that it is creating in the middle east.
Riiiiiiiggggght.. Ok then.
Frank. NATO never agreed to not accept members of the old Warsaw Pact. They told the then Soviet Union that they “Would not actively seek those members”. Which they didn’t. Those countries came looking for NATO. Just as Ukraine will look to join NATO in the future. And one question you never answer is “Why did the old Warsaw Pact countries go running at full speed to join NATO?”
So this fallacy that NATO broke some non existant agreement is nothing more than Russian sour grapes.
The Soviet Union dominated and brutalised its supposed allies for 50 years. Hungary in 56 and the Prague Spring in 68 are prime examples. It practicly turned Eastern Europe into one giant Prison Camp. Where its citizens were not permitted to leave, speak freely without fear of arrest or choose their own government but to name a few.
And the former Soviet states now see Russia returning to type. And they want nothing to do with them.
Precisely Mick.
Perhaps one of the apologists can explain why so many people were killed attempting to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin, but nobody was ever killed attempting to escape from West Berlin to East Berlin.
Avina, that is not true and I doubt you have any evidence for that. People had family on either side and tried to cross in both directions.
Isaac it is well documented. Of 97 civilians killed whilst attempting to cross the wall, 96 were East German and 1 was Polish, all attempting to cross from East to West. If you have any evidence to the contrary please post it, otherwise stop spreading disinformation.
Pink Floyd,nuff said
I went over with my school to witness the fall of the Berlin Wall. We went through check point Charlie into, what can only be called, back in time! Ladas everywhere, 70s clothing, buildings in major need of repair. I brought a piece of the wall back for my grandparents & my granny thought it was just a rock with graffiti & through it out in the back garden!
Why all the Russian hate? Really! Has everyone forgotten the purpose of the wall?Also the eastern block countries were created as a buffer around Germany by Churchill and the other victors of World War Two.The eu was also started to keep Germany quiet.It worked very well no European countries had to go to war against Germany so far.
I wish East Germany would return, the east germans need a referendum to break away from germany and EU , as does Ireland
Traolach. Even if there was a referendum and the people voted to remain in the EU you and your ilk still wouldn’t accept it. So I don’t know why you are pretending to come over all democratic when you don’t believe in democracy in the first place.
have your say