Page 28 - All About History - Issue 19-14

Eye Witness

FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL, GERMANY, 9 NOVEMBER 1989

Written by Dom Reseigh-Lincoln
‘‘ As we made our way

ANDREAS RAMOS
Born in Colombia
andraisedinthe
USA, Ramos lived into West Germany we
in West Germany
for seven years
before moving
to Denmark. He’s authored ten could all sense that the
books, including a number of
best-selling titles. He’s also a
lecturer in Digital Marketing
at the Silicon Valley Business
School. He remains an whole continent was about
outspoken commentator on
the fall of the Berlin Wall and
hopes future generations will
remember its importance. to change forever ’’

or 28 years, the Berlin Wall stood resolute, an years and then went to Denmark to work on a doctoral
imposing symbol of the Soviet Union’s cast-iron dissertation. I’d been to Berlin many times and had
hold over much of Eastern Europe. For almost three friends there. From the edge of the Wall we watched
decades, the citizens of the Wall’s Eastern side lived everything, and when the East Germans began to tear
Funder the watchful eye of the German Democratic down the wall, we joined them.”
Republic, a semi-autonomous government laid in place A month prior, the first metaphorical cracks in the
by its Soviet masters in Moscow. Heavily guarded and Soviet Union’s hold on Eastern Europe started to show.
laced with barbed wire, the 155-kilometre (96-mile)-long, Communication between Moscow and the German
3.6-metre (11.8-foot)-high structure ensured the German Democratic Republic (GDR) government led by hardline
capital remained divided through the fearful years of party leader Erich Honecker had broken down as the
the Cold War. No East German was permitted to cross Motherland struggled to contain its rapidly unravelling
the border into the West; the sights and sounds of a free vision for a united socialist future. Up until this point,
Berlin a few hundred yards away a constant reminder the borders of the Eastern Bloc remained intact, but the
of how fractured Europe had become in the decades growing pressure from refugees attempting to flee the
following the end of World War II. But as the 1980s drew failing communist system became too much for the
to a close, this symbol of division became the breaking neighbouring Hungarian government to ignore. On 19
point in European socialism. Based in Denmark at the August 1989, Hungary effectively opened its physical
time, science and technology student Andreas Ramos borders and allowed over 13,000 East Germans to surge
travelled to Berlin to witness first-hand the frustrations across the border into Austria. As the refugees sought
of a continent boil over in the streets of a divided city. sanctuary in the West German embassy, it sent a shock
“When I went to study at Heidelberg (in southwest wave through the infrastructure of the Eastern Bloc. A
Germany) in 1978 no one in government, academia or wave that would reach all the way to Berlin and beyond.
the general public could imagine the Berlin Wall would Back in the capital, the streets were more alive than
ever fall or the Soviet Union could collapse”, explains ever. A previously morose and subdued city was now
Ramos. “NATO was built on the premise of eternal bustling as its citizens took up arms in peaceful protests.
conflict with the USSR. But by the mid-1980s, after the East Berliners could sense the government was starting
USSR’s failure in Afghanistan, it was clear the Soviet to unravel. The resignation of Erich Honecker, the
Union had to change. But collapse? They simply hadn’t staunch idealist who had stated only months before
planned for change. It all happened on the streets, not that the Berlin Wall would stand tall for a century to
within the government. I was in Germany for seven come, had galvanised the nation’s hope for change. The

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