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Child Item

So its 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany. Do you Remember it?

AMKC

Imagine its 30 yeas since the Berlin wall fell. I remember where I was for some of that day. I was watching the news with my Mum and Dad and the rest of the family. Watching all these people hitting the wall with whatever they could get be it a small hammer or a lump hammer etc and thinking its going do be a long time before they knock that down as well as asking the Dad why are they doing that and him explaining why. I was only a child after all and did not realise the significance of it at the time. Do you remember where you were?

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branie2

Ipso wrote: »

Has herself cone to have a look?

She might have when people weren't looking

CalamariFritti

Carry wrote: »

<snip>

Nicely written, must have been some night in Mitte.

Wouldn't necessarily agree with the last sentence' though. Yes it was a takeover rather than a reunification, there were losers and capitalism wasnt going to be one of them for sure. But then there was a huge challenge that faced the new country and no blueprint to it. To pull it off at all was quite an achievement I think.

mvl

TBH, I've no real-time memories about it: I was a teenager, but on the other side of the Iron Curtain (by comparison with majority of the posters here). So for me the following month is unforgettable.

Raconteuse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMDbX1zksgI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnUQ0I68VGg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C56aBZYsxko

CalamariFritti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTygF2V0MtY

bodhrandude

Was living in Leitrim at the time with the parents and remembered seeing it on the news, quite a emotional time. I remember the Roger Waters concert that followed where he done the Wall show with a bunch of celebrities. To get a feel of East Germany and the Stasi before the wall came down you should all check out the brilliant film The Lives of Others, a passionate and moving view of the Eastern Bloc.

JupiterKid

Yes, I remember the fall of the Berlin Wall very well. I was 14 at the time and in 3rd year in secondary school - Inter cert year. It was incredible to see an edifice that represented the division of Europe, something we all thought would long outlive all of us, come down so suddenly.

There was a real sense of elation and heady joy in Berlin that week, from the live news broadcasts of the events.

Big Nasty

Same as that, 14. Although I do recall it happening it didn't have much of an effect on me. Had little knowledge or interest in politics or world affairs at that age. Have read up on it a fair bit in latter years.

As great a moment in time as it was for Germany and Europe it hasn't been all fun and games for the former East German population. After unification as people swarmed to the west for work unemployment soared in the east. Most major industry today is still in the west with higher earning power and less unemployment than in the east today.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/30-years-after-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-children-of-a-united-germany-remain-divided/2019/11/07/08840a18-ff89-11e9-8341-cc3dce52e7de_story.html

Bob Harris

vriesmays wrote: »

NKOTB were top of the charts.

Was it the New Kids on the Eastern bloc or the Western bloc?

branie2

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

The news broke when an East German minister announced that border controls would be relaxed during a press conference.

He was asked "when?". He didn't really have an answer, so he replied "now, I suppose".

East Germans headed for the Wall. The border guards had not received orders. Normally they would shoot, but they just stood down.

One of the quickest regime collapses of all-time.

A glory night!!

Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of the change

meeeeh

mrsdewinter wrote: »

We'd never heard of Croatia, say, because Yugoslavia was pretty much terra incognito.

Yugoslavia wasn't that much terra incognito. At that time we would holiday on Croatian island Rab among mostly German and some Italian tourists. I grew up in Slovenia, which was then part of Yugoslavia. Even then (I was 11) I was acutely aware how much more oppressive and closed communism inside Warsaw Pact was.

For us the fall of Berlin wall was exciting event and we realized our lives are going to change significantly. I don't think anyone actually understood how much of basket case communist economy was and how long and how hard it will be to dismantle it. Solidarity in Poland and fall of Berlin Wall started something that ended in war in Yougoslavia and wars in former Soviet Union. Not everything went to plan but it is still hugely positive.

Irish Stones

I remember it very well.
I was at home with my parents at that time and watched the TV news and we saw the wall being knocked down.
And my first thought was "My God, the world is going to change... and not necessarily to the better..."

Galwayguy35

I was 14 at the time and remember watching it on the news but TBH I didn't pay much notice as to what was going on.

There were a few Germans living in our area who were very excited about it, they came here in the early 80s and bought isolated farmhouses to live a kind of hippy lifestyle.

kravmaga

I was 20 at the time, watched it with my parents, remember it was on BBC news when their reporter John Simpson's report failed mid way during transmission. :-)

igCorcaigh

I was 16 and remember it being in the news, but no TV visuals stand out now.

Teacher at school brought it up in class, saying we should appreciate the amazing times we lived in.

I remember other events at the time more clearly though. Hillsborough. China. Acid house music. An amazing year.

A lot of disasters in the 80's.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989

[Deleted User]

I remember around that time some German teenager took an airplane and kept flying it across Europe until he arrived in no less than Red Square in Moscow. That was a huge story at the time. This 18-year-old, actually:

Mathias Rust

igCorcaigh

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I remember around that time some German teenager took an airplane and kept flying it across Europe until he arrived in no less than Red Square in Moscow. That was a huge story at the time. This 18-year-old, actually:

Mathias Rust

Yes! I remember something of that.

igCorcaigh

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I remember around that time some German teenager took an airplane and kept flying it across Europe until he arrived in no less than Red Square in Moscow. That was a huge story at the time. This 18-year-old, actually:

Mathias Rust

Wiki:

The incident aided Mikhail Gorbachev in the implementation of his reforms, by allowing him to dismiss numerous military officials opposed to his policies. Rust was sentenced to four years in prison (for violation of border crossing and air traffic regulations, and provoking an emergency situation upon his landing). He was officially pardoned by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet Andrei Gromyko, and released after 14 months in prison.

igCorcaigh

Gorby.

What a different world we could have now if he were allowed to continue the reforms.

igCorcaigh

I remember Gorby branded acid paper in 1990.

vriesmays

Bob Harris wrote: »

Was it the New Kids on the Eastern bloc or the Western bloc?

Boston block.

dasdog

Quite a monumental day - I remember laughing at the haircuts and stone washed denim and moustaches from this backwater island.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FODvjYoVEi8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gy94N_mcWs

Edgware

I remember it well. We sent Helmut Kohl a very competive quote to rebuild the wall but the ignorant ****er didnt even acknowledge our letter. We asked Bertie to put in a good word for us but no good

The Highwayman

I was in boarding school, 6th year.

We were all let off study for the night and sent to our years TV rooms to watch it. We knew what it meant, it was quite a remarkable night.