Sunday, November 9, 2014

Germany celebrates 25 years since the fall of the Berlin wall

Twenty-five years ago I was a recent college grad who had studied international relations and US-Soviet relations. The events of November 9, 1989 were completely unexpected and would lead to the end of the cold war that had defined the world of my generation up to that point. It would be a few years later in 1995 that I would visit Berlin for the first time, and the wall was still very much in evidence. The Reichstag had not been restored, and there were construction sites everywhere as the country scrambled to rebuild areas of the city that had been part of the no man's land that was the wall. This included areas like Potsdamer Platz that are now centers of culture and the new Berlin. I have been privileged to visit Berlin many times since the 1990s and have been impressed with its growth as well as the commitment to remembering all of the past. November 9-10 also marks the anniversary of kristallnacht in 1938 when the Nazi's attacked Jewish neighborhoods and business, intensifying efforts to end the presence of Jews in Europe through genocide. The recently completed Topography of Terror is a testament to that history. I post pictures and commentary from my most recent trip to Berlin last June in my personal blog.