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Moments I Wish I’d Witnessed: The Fall of the Berlin Wall

Earlier this month, European leaders convened in the city of Berlin to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the end of the boundary which once cut it in half – dividing both the metropolis and the world surrounding it. The Berlin Wall was brought down by hordes of empowered protesters on November 9, 1989 – a day in history that I really lament not being alive to have seen. (Damn you, universe!)

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 as a physical division between West and East Germany, the former being controlled by US, UK, and French powers, and the latter, Soviet forces. It started as light fencing but quickly developed into a fortress of barbed wire and watch-towers, heavily patrolled to ensure that no East-Berliners would get out, and no West-Berliners would get in. The city, divided in this way since the aftermath of WWII, was a physical product of the Cold War if there ever was one.

On the Soviet side of the fence, the economy was centrally-planned, meaning that the state owned…just about everything. Shortages of basic goods were high and personal freedoms low; the state owned every TV and radio station, with huge amounts of censorship being imposed. Conversely, communism was nearly absent from West Germany – and as a result, foreign media and culture flowed in more freely.

These two faces of Berlin were the two faces of the world; from the end of WWII on, tensions between the USSR and the “West” (largely, the United States) had dominated the political landscape. The fall of the Berlin Wall was to be the fall of communism, finally uniting these two halves under a common banner of liberal freedom.

As we know, the last 20 years haven’t been a walk in the park; freer trade and the spread of liberal ideas world-wide has come with its own set of problems. The rich and the poor are as far away from one another as ever, and disparity causes a lot of conflict. It’s always up for debate if “freedom” is really being had by anyone, at all. But a united Berlin is a constant reminder that the world is capable of unity. Of peace. Of making things better.