The Wall

The only thing I had ever heard about Berlin prior to our trip was "The Wall." I hadn't realized exactly what that all entailed however until we saw the remnants and heard stories as to how crippling the Wall made life, especially for the East Berliners. Although education was free for the Communist East Berlin, those who were trained as industrial workers were paid practically the same wages as those who studied for years longer to become engineers, doctors or professors. In the early years of the divided country it was relatively easy to get your free education in the East, load your young family up and dash across the border one night to the West. Obviously, this didn't sit well with the East as they were having a "brain drain" and losing all of the time and money they had invested in training these people. Hence, in 1961, the Wall came into existence.

For the West Berliners, all they saw was the 15-feet-high, gray slabs of cement that we have seen pictured all our life. For the East Berliners, there was a preliminary wall followed by a wasteland of sand where your footprints could easily be tracked and riddled with booby traps. At the second fortification there were guard towers every couple hundred feet and patrolling soldiers with machine guns and guard dogs. Behind this line of defense was a deep trench guarded by a menacing line of tanks and finally the familiar Wall with "Checkpoint Charlie" at its heart as last barrier to freedom.

On our tour we heard courageous and insane stories of attempts to flee the East, each success creating a tighter line of defense for those who were left behind. In my mind, this oppression was all consuming and I felt great pity for those who had lived in the East.

Carolin's family, however, were from what she referred to as the "former East Berlin." Her father was a diplomat for the East and so they were able to leave the country with relative ease, living for portions of time in Turkey and traveling freely around Europe. The day the Wall came down in 1989, her father lost his job and the country they had belonged to for nearly 50 years suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke. She helped to explain that for many people, life in the former East was not the horror it is painted to be and many from the older generation still feel loyal to their nonexistent "East Berlin."

Carolin took Burke and I to what is known as "The East Side Gallery." Here a portion of the Wall has been left standing, but each panel has been turned into a work of art, allowing artist the opportunity to express their feelings about this time in history. Below are a few of the murals that Burke and I liked best.

How grateful I am to have been raised in a land of freedom!