As of today, the Berlin Wall has been down for as long as it was up.
When it fell on November 9th, 1989, I was too young to understand the historical significance of the news of its demise.
The actual tearing down started the following summer and would last for more than a year and a half.
The first time I went to Berlin I visited an exhibition – the 20th anniversary of the wall’s fall was coming up – and I was very moved, ending up reading for hours about how it affected the people in Berlin and the rest of Germany. Breaking families in half, separating lovers, siblings and children from parents.
Since then Berlin during the Cold War has fascinated me and I’ve read lots of books and watched documentaries, especially about Stasi. Of all the hobbies… Anyway.
And perhaps it’s nice to be reminded that history, occasionally, moves in the right direction.
