When fog obscured the visibility along the river.
Refugees had to endure freezing temperatures, scaling barbed-wire fences and hiding from soldiers on patrol. Getting caught meant a one-way ticket to one of East Germany’s special prisons — if you were not shot…
How Germany’s “death Strip” Became A Sustainable Lifeline.
At least she got the continent right.
Thank goodness we always have celebrities like this to set us straight about what’s going on in the world.
‘We knew where the enemies were,’ Goldberg said, after unknowingly mixing up Germany and Russia.
“Even if you are a true Republican, don’t you remember? ‘Tear down this wall.’ Reagan was clear about who our enemy was, and still is.”
I miss the Cold War too. Good times. MAD times (Mutually Assured Destruction).
How I do wish we could turn back the clock.
After the wall came down – with the more benign cousin of today’s callous capitalism the victor – we took a summer trip to Berlin in the ever-dependable family BMW (it looked like an East German Trabbi compared to modern cars today). I remember sitting in the back listening to Madonna’s latest album on my Walkman as the bright energetic Berlin streets slipped by the car window. Besides the Brandenburg Gate, we bought giant furry Russian winter hats and military cap badges and chunks of the wall being sold on lines of tables.
Happy days. The global standoff was over, with us coming out on top. How did we let that slip through our fingers?
Or bleak, Cold War style, if you prefer.
5,000 photos from the fall of the Berlin Wall – It stood in the way of his freedom. When the Berlin Wall finally fell, Robert Conrad, an East German photographer, was obsessed with taking pictures of its demolition.
Right. And nobody had any intention of tearing it down twenty-eight years later either.
But, you know, stuff happens.
In his lack of preparation, he mistakenly insinuated that the checkpoints in the Berlin Wall — which up until then were guarded by soldiers with orders to shoot anyone trying to cross — were now open. They weren’t, but that announcement was all East Berliners needed to storm the wall and demand they be allowed to cross into West Berlin. After that, the wall became obsolete, and soon fell.
Who beat you like a red-headed stepchild.
For Germans, Losing the U.S. to Trump Is Like Losing a Father – The 30th-anniversary celebration of the Berlin Wall’s collapse comes with grief over the end of a special relationship.
I don’t know if I can hold back the tears but give me a second or two. There. I’m much better now. Thanks. But this massive output of cheap emotion has a heavy taste of déjà-vu in it for me, folks. The Germans already had their hearts broken and lost their special relationship back with W., didn’t they? And we don’t even want to talk about how heartbroken they were with Ronald Reagan HIMSELF. They don’t even want to have to think about him today. Some thirty years later. You know, thirty years after he made possible the fall of the Berlin Wall? Wait a minute. I’m chocking up again…
Berlin gets unwanted Ronald Reagan statue – Ronald Reagan is already an honorary citizen of Berlin, so city authorities have always deemed a statue inappropriate. Nonetheless, a bronze replica of the former president is set to be inaugurated at the US Embassy.
That means Disneyfication.
Just stop by Checkpoint Charlie sometime and see for yourself.
Authorities in Germany’s capital Berlin have banned local performers from wearing US army uniforms at Checkpoint Charlie, the iconic Cold War crossing between the east and west of the city.
They said the actors exploited tourists by demanding money for photos at the attraction…
People impersonating US soldiers have been at Checkpoint Charlie for nearly 20 years, working in rotation to pose with tourists.
But many Berliners are unhappy about the “Disneyfication” of the site, where fake Soviet Red Army fur hats, gas masks and pieces of the Berlin Wall can be found for sale.
Go Neues Deutschland. There are not a lot of East Berlin newspapers out there that have the backbone to call the fall of the Berlin Wall fake news.
Communist newspapers? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?
Wolfgang Hübner returns from the archives of the Neues Deutschland newspaper clutching a rare treasure: a thick binder containing one of the biggest misses in journalistic history.
Mr Hübner has unearthed the edition of Friday, November 10 1989, the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is the most consequential moment of the decade, yet that day’s ND — the official organ of the Socialist party of East Germany, boasting a circulation of more than 1m — contains not a word on the event.
“Lots of traffic at the border crossing.”
Last call for boarding to Cold War Berlin. Don’t forget your VR goggles.
Who says time travel isn’t possible?
30 years later, Berlin Wall comes back to life with virtual reality – German startup offering visitors and history buffs an ‘authentic’ and immersive Cold War-era tour of the divided capital.
A packed bus approaches Checkpoint Charlie, the Cold War’s most famous border crossing, as grim-faced East German guards whisper among themselves about whether to hold you for questioning.
After a few heart-stopping minutes, you and your fellow passengers are free to pass into the smog, soot and shadowy intrigue of 1980s East Berlin.
Das Ost-Berlin vor dem Mauerfall ersteht für Touristen wieder auf. Mit VR-Brille kann man eine Stadtrundfahrt vom Checkpoint Charlie zum Palast der Republik unternehmen, vorbei an Gendarmenmarkt und „Ahornblatt”.
Right back where I started from…
Berlin’s state cabinet has agreed on a rent freeze for five years to counter rising housing costs in the German capital.
The city’s leftwing coalition government wants to freeze the rent for apartments built before 2014, according to a report by the German news agency dpa.
Only a minority of Berliners own their homes or apartments and rent has been rising sharply in recent years, forcing many to move outside the city.
So put back up that Berlin Wall.
Cause Venezuela here I come!
Observing Hermann 