A lifestyle expat travel blog about culture, history, Brexit, the Royal Family, travels around the world, Europe, and being British in Berlin!
It’s October!
In a few days, Germany will celebrate the Re-Unification of Germany, otherwise known as, the Day of German Unity or Der Tag der Deutschen Einheit!
This most important day will take place on October the 3rd.
October 3rd is a public holiday given to the German people to honour the Re-Unification of the two German States previously called the German Democratic Republic (GDR) or DDR (Deutsche Democratic Republic) otherwise known as East Germany, and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) or Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD), otherwise also known as West Germany!
I cannot under-estimate how much I love this city.
Oh yeah, and then I wrote a cheeky article which most people didn’t seem to get. And the title? Germany is Boring.
Oops!
I mean, what is the big deal?
I’ll tell you what the big deal is my good man.
It’s the fact that the city of Berlin.
THIS city of Berlin.
Has been together in peace and harmony for 28 years.
That’s right.
28 years!
It’s a little complicated but after WWII, Germany was split and divided by the allies as punishment for Nazi Germany. And you only had to look at the city of Berlin to see who the Allies were namely; Great Britain, France, USSR, and the United States.
It was not long before arguments and squabbling took place in the international political arena and simply put, the Eastern and Western Bloc decided to go their separate ways, and an Iron Curtain ensued.
East Germany went one step further and built a wall in Berlin, cutting a line through the entire centre of the city!
This wall was supposed to prevent East Berliners and citizens of East Germany from fleeing to the West, but the Wall was unable to stop the mass of people from escaping.
As a result, in 1961, the ruling Communist Party in East Germany began adding more border fortifications to the Wall, creating a broad, many-layered system of barriers.
In the West, people referred to the border strip as the death strip because so many people were killed while trying to flee.
I have seen this death wall myself as I live in East Berlin and not 10 minutes away, is the main local park called Mauer Park.
The suburb of Prenzlauerberg where I live, is now enormously trendy and gentrified, and if you’re “in,” or want to be “in,” you strive to live here.
However, let it be noted that “Mauer” in German, means “Wall.”
With the downfall of East Germany in 1989, the Berlin Wall that the Socialist Party tried to use to maintain its power, also fell.
The Fall of the Wall marked the definitive end of its dictatorship.
The Berlin Wall enclosed West Berlin from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989.
A couple of years ago, I wrote about one of my favourite places, and where I first lived in Berlin – Kreuzberg. You can read all about it right here!
In my post, I mentioned that Kreuzberg had the Berlin Wall running right through the middle of it and that during the happy confusion, when the Wall actually fell, young people were leaving the East to go West, or leaving the West to go East!
In fact, I liked Kreuzberg so much that when I first made a documentary about being a British person in Berlin, we did the filming there!
In Prenzlauer Berg where I live now, we’re about twenty (20) minutes from the original East-West border, and about ten (10) minutes from the first border crossing on the bridge of Bornholmer Straße.
If you’ve ever since videos where East Berliners were running through the border with everyone clapping, and cheering, and giving out free beer, it was that one!
I always take my friends to where the original wall used to be!
And let me tell you.
I weep tears of joy because even though I wasn’t in Berlin when the Berlin Wall actually fell, living in Berlin means that I’m able to touch, see and sometimes smell, what it was like to live here pre-1989!
In fact, I can still remember when Potsdamer Platz was nothing more than wasteland and a piece of the border strip known as No Man’s Land. And looked like it too!
Not far off from Prenzlauer Berg, is a street called Bernauer Strasse, also known as Bernauer Straße!
As you can see, the Berlin Wall used to go right through it!
In fact, it was pretty horrid for all concerned, as you could actually see the other side of the Berlin Wall from your kitchen window, but you couldn’t go to the Western side without being shot!
Imagine the frustration, pain, and horror.
Many people tried to escape from freedom and found ways to be creative by jumping through windows, sailing across in a hot air balloon, digging tunnels underground, pretending to have a funeral and lowering the “dead” person into a pit, hiding inside the seated lining of a Volkswagen car, etc. All for a life of freedom.
Not much of the Wall is left today, which was chipped off and destroyed almost in its entirety. However, three (3) long sections still stand:
An 80-metre-long (260 ft) piece of the first (westernmost) wall at the now Topography of Terror, but which used to be the site of the former Gestapo headquarters!
And obviously, after WWII, the original building was razed to the ground.
A longer section of the second (easternmost) wall along the River Spree, near the Oberbaumbrücke in Kreuzberg / Friedrichshain, which you can see throughout the 1998 cult film Run Lola Run, starring Franke Potente (The Bourne Identity), and otherwise known as, East Side Gallery!
The film and soundtrack were just so exhilarating.
Even now, 20 years later!
A third section that is partly reconstructed, in the north at Bernauer Straße, was turned into a memorial in 1999.
And of course, isolated fragments, lampposts, a few watchtowers, and other elements, also remain throughout various parts of the city!
It’s easy to forget that this situation was only 28 years ago. Most of you reading this blog, are probably older!
Let’s get some history!
Hungary begins dismantling the fortifications on the border to Austria.People demonstrate against the election rigging in front of the Sophienkirche (church).
Local elections in the GDR. Opposition groups prove that the results were faked. People demonstrate against the election rigging in East Berlin on the seventh day of every subsequent month.
First Monday Demonstration in Leipzig. 1,200 people gather outside St. Nicholas’ Church. Their demands include freedom of travel and democracy.
New Forum’s initial call-out becomes a signal for change. Further grassroots movements follow.
Hungary officially opens its western border for GDR citizens, risking a breach in its diplomatic relations with East Berlin.
West Germany’s foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher informs the East German refugees in the Prague embassy, that they will be allowed to leave the GDR.
The GDR government bans travel to Czechoslovakia without passports and visas, to stem the mass exodus. Special trains transport people from the Prague and Warsaw embassies to the West, through the GDR. There are violent clashes with police along the railway line, as well as in Dresden.
On the 40th anniversary of the GDR, several thousand people demonstrate in Berlin outside the Palace of the Republic. In numerous East German towns and cities, similar protests are broken up by force.
Despite fear of military repression of the Monday Demonstration, 70,000 people take to the streets in Leipzig. The police, military and civilian forces do not intervene.
The single ruling political party calls for people to stay in the GDR, offering a “dialogue” concerning the country’s further development.
The number of people at the Monday Demonstration in Leipzig doubles. The security forces do not intervene.
Erich Honecker is forced to resign after 18 years in office. Egon Krenz is made the new secretary-general of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).
Krenz is also elected chairman of the State Council and the National Defence Council. 12,000 people demonstrate against his appointment in Berlin that evening.
300,000 people take part in the Leipzig Monday Demonstration.
The largest demonstration in the history of the GDR takes place in Berlin.
The government of the GDR, and the Council of Ministers collectively resign.
The Central Committee Politburo, the highest body in the GDR, resigns. West German chancellor Helmut Kohl links economic and financial aid for the GDR to three conditions: the opposition must be legalised, free elections must take place, and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) must renounce its claim to sole authority.
The Wall falls, prompted by a vague, but now famous, announcement of new travel regulations at a press conference. Tens of thousands of East Berliners rush to the checkpoints and force the border open.
The Berlin Wall is officially opened at Brandenburg Gate. The first concrete section is removed from its beams at 0.30 a.m.
The offices issuing passes for the GDR in West Berlin close for good. West Germans no longer need a visa, or have to change a certain amount of money, to enter the East.
The Unification Treaty is signed in East Berlin.
Germany celebrates the Day of German Unity, also known as Re-Unification Day or Der Tag der Deutschen Einheit!
It was the people who took to the streets en masse and courageously resisted a dictatorship, enabling both the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Peaceful Revolution.
The 28th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall is important because Berlin will continue to invite locals, expats, eyewitnesses who were here, and people of the world, to participate in the anniversary celebrations, and to tell personal stories about the Berlin Wall.
The connecting element will be a gallery, the Band der Einheit or Band of Unity showing the road signs of 11,040 towns and cities in Germany that are a blend of East and West Germany, and thus, a united Germany throughout the country.
As a symbol of German Unity, the gallery will span hundreds of metres across the festival area, and will explore the diversity of Germany in a simple yet appealing way, on a journey of discovery throughout Berlin, Germany, and Europe.
More than one million visitors are expected to attend the three-day festival.
There will be a diverse programme of local street music and street food, DJ sets, dance sets, and karoeke at the Bearpit in Mauer Park, and across the festival.
There will also be an orchestra, and musicians from all over the world, on stage at Brandenburg Gate, resulting in the Grand Finale of a huge open-air concert featuring German artists such as Boss Hoss, Samy Deluxe, Nena, and others.
Absolutely free of charge of course!
I’ll be there. Wil you?
Come join us!
For a full list of participating buildings, maps, and photographic displays, go to the official Nur Mit Euch / Only With You, website here!
As if!!
Keep reading my blog. There is more to come!
That’s it for now.
See you soon!
This article is not sponsored and all opinions and the currywurst and bratwurst that I’m sure to be happily scoffing in the next few weeks, are my very own!
I have so much to share with you.
I’ll be writing about my trip to Sweden, Estonia & Latvia very soon, and in the winter, I’ll be travelling to India.
Keep a look out.
Yipee!
October & November is going to be smashing.
Watch this space!
Note! I never travel without insurance as you never know what might happen.
I learnt my lesson in Spain. And obviously, in countries like Qatar, where technically the risk is higher, I can’t imagine going that far beyond, WITHOUT INSURANCE. No siree! You can get yours here, at World Nomads!
Please note that there are now affiliate links (for the very first time) connected to this post. Please consider using the links, because every time some sort of accommodation or travel insurance is booked via my links, I get a little percentage, but at no extra cost to yourself!
A win-win for all!
Thanks a million!
See you in Berlin.
I remember the fall of the wall very well. I was sitting on it in front of the Brandenburg Gate on 9 Nov watching the Vopos and the water cannon, none of which,, thankfully, were used. It was a weird atmosphere. Everyone remembers the euphoria, but I remember the angst before the euphoria. It did feel like it could go any way. An exciting time indeed!
Thanks so much Thomas!
No way! You were actually here! How amazing! I’m not usually jealous of people over anything at all, but for this, I really am! Wow! Wow!! Wow!!! It must have been so exciting but nerve-wrecking at the same time! Did you chip any of the Wall off! Did you take pictures? How long did you stay in the city? What else did you do? Spill all!
For the 25th Year Anniversary, I watched as Angela Merkel walked over the border bridge at Bornholmer Strasse, and then I rushed off to Brandenburger Tor and managed to blag myself a position. Right at the front! I was surrounded by an international community of people from all over the world, it was wet and cold, but I didn’t care. I might have missed 1989, but I wasn’t going to miss this one! We also did all the balloon stuff and followed the Berlin Wall trail throughout the city, with all our friends. It took hours, and of course, it was at night, but the atmosphere was amazing!
p.s. My first German boyfriend told me that in 1989, he was teaching German in a private school in Bristol, and when he saw the news, he just jumped in his car, and drove all the way to Berlin! From Bristol! He made it though! And an ex-student of mine, told me that they were in a pub in West Berlin, when they heard that the Wall was open, and so he and his mates went to the bridge border, saw all these people and then started giving out food and beer. In fact, he told me that all over the city, shops, bars and restaurants gave food and drink away (not that the East Berliners could afford to buy anything in those days) for free. To everyone! He said, it was the best day of his life! 😀
I loved this post, so well written with great photos to illustrate, I particularly liked the Chronology bit, great way of refreshing our memories on all the events that led up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. I remember seeing the scenes on the TV, I already lived in England, in fact, I was still living in London then. I remember crying my eyes out since it was so emotional. I can’t believe it has been 28 years already. I have never been to Berlin, my visit is long overdue. Your passion for Berlin is infectious…I will visit soon…I promise 🙂
Thanks so much Gilda!
I can’t imagine that it’s just 28 years ago. It’s not even that long, but so many things have changed the essence of what Germany is today!
I remember watching all the scenes on TV too. And being so happy and excited for them. And I still am!
When our son was very young, we used to go to the graveyards of people who had fallen or been taken away, both during WWII and during the Cold War. It was always amazing to me that when I first came to Berlin, I could literally see the differences between East and West Berlin by sometimes just walking down the street. I lived in West Berlin initially, and I would walk to the East Berlin border where you see peoples’ feet above, and everything thereon would be dull and grey! In fact, in those days I couldn’t even venture into East Berlin as it was still dangerous and packed with squatters and punks! Who knew that in 2009, I myself, would actually move to East Berlin! In fact, most West Germans began to flock to Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte, and now you’d be hard pressed to find any “original” East Berliners living here. Oops!
And not only that, but I would be living just 10 minutes away from the actual border bridge that people literally ran across in 1989! Sometimes it makes me cry with happiness! 😀
p.s. It’s hightime you came to visit Berlin, you’ll love it. 😀
thank you for sharing such great information about Berlin. wanting to live in Germany, is what sparked our desire to live abroad. my family and i are currently in Costa Rica and look forward to making our way to Germany.
Thanks so much for commenting TeamBz, I’m always happy to help! 😀
I’ve only been to the Dominican Republic in South America, and heard it was quite beautiful. I’d love to visit Peru, Mexico & Cuba one of these days! But if ever you need any info or guidance on Germany, I’m able to consult…!
I was in kindergarten when the wall fell, and I don’t readily remember seeing it on TV. One of my high school history teachers showed a documentary about the Berlin Wall.
President Reagan’s famous call to “Tear down this wall!” is memorable too.
Thanks so much Elisa!
Yep! The quote “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” was most powerful, because two years later, they did just that! 😀
Such eye-catching photos! I was too young to remember the fall of the Berlin Wall when it happened, but I recently watched Atomic Blonde, which is set in that era – it was pretty interesting to get a sense of what it was like back then. And yes, currywurst is my husband’s favourite too. Every time he sees it being sold, he has to buy one!
Thanks so much Michelle!
Berlin is such an interesting, many-layered city with oozes of history. But the most important part is surely the beloved currywurst! ;D
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