Some 25 years ago last week back in
October 1989, amidst growing frustrations with East German style communist rule
a wave of mass protests swept East Germany. Barely fifty years after East
Germany was created in the Soviet occupied eastern Germany following the Second
World War, these demonstrations would ultimately led to the fall of the Berlin
Wall and the subsequent transformation of Europe.
During the
Cold War there were around some 5,000 successful escapes to West Berlin, and
many failed escape attempts. There is an on-going argument about how many
people died trying to escape to freedom - according to the Center for
Contemporary Historical Research (ZZF) in Potsdam there were 136 confirmed
deaths. Where once people risked everything to cross the old border now you
stroll from one half of the city to the other with barely a thought about it.
I remember clearly recall watching the protests on TV
and keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that the tyranny would fall. Almost miraculously it did
and from that moment onwards all things literally became possible, it is easy
to forget that we live in a post cold war Europe were it is quite possible and entirely
normal for the peoples like the Scots, the Catalans and others to seek
self-determination
No comments:
Post a Comment