Im watching the stories about the Berlin Wall today with mixed emotions. In June 1981 I was on a student abroad trip to Europe. I went to West Berlin and we had a day trip into East Berlin. We were on a bus that went through Checkpoint Charlie in order to cross over to the Communist controlled East Berlin. The armed guards had us all get off the bus and took our passports. My heart stopped when I handed over that U.S. passport. I watched as the guards ran mirrors under the bus and checked compartments. We finally got approval to enter into East Berlin. I recall the dingy landscape and such a feeling of overwhelming depression. We were taken to several State-operated places, including a war veterans marker where the Soviet flags were flying everywhere. Different era - different times. The one thing I always remember is looking out that bus window and seeing a young man walking on the sidewalk. He looked straight at me, smiled and waived at me. It was a connection I have never forgotten in the midst of that time. It took nearly an hour to get cleared by the armed guards to leave East Berlin back into West Berlin. I stood and waited to get my passport stamped and looked at that ugly wall with shards of glass, concrete and barbed wire. I knew in my heart someday it would go down because such ugliness would not - could not - endure. Just a few years later that wall did come down.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 16:43:38 +0000
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