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Author Topic: 20 years celebration of the Fall of the Berlin Wall!  (Read 14784 times)
popsUlfr
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« on: November 09, 2009, 07:39:19 pm »

Berlin, Paris, Los Angeles... all are remembering the day! It's nothing short of amazing, I wouldn't have thought so much involvement possible.

It's a shame I could not go to Berlin to witness the event firsthand... Still, the memories, stories and anecdotes be they painful or filling us with joy make up for it Smiley

For everyone else: let that be an excuse for taking a day off or being just plain lazy for once (who am I kidding?)

Have a nice day!

EDIT: Huge Dominos coming from all around the world were aligned to reflect the proverbial fall of the wall! It's meant to trace back the propagation of the collapse Wink
http://www.mauerfall09.de/en/portal/9-november.html
Domino Gallery
More Domino!

EDIT2:
It was uploaded only a couple of minutes ago in the live stream!
Fall of the Dominos
« Last Edit: November 09, 2009, 09:42:11 pm by popsUlfr » Logged
ABoretz
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« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2009, 07:42:42 am »


Thanks for the links popsUlfr!  I watched that video of all the giant dominoes falling and was surprised by how much emotion I felt.  I mean, it's a pretty cheesy concept - if written down or described to someone; make many tall slabs, paint them with "art", and watch as they sequentially fall one against another to the end - and yet it was the screams and cheers of the Berliners as they watched the kinetics of that "art piece" unfold that drew me in to their shared zeitgeist and which finally touched my heart.

Twenty years ago - two decades back - there was no Internet.  The Twin Towers still stood near Manhattan's southern tip.  There was no Czech Republic.  No Ali G.  No iPods nor iPhones.  The list goes on...  there was no U.S. President Obama!

In fact, I'd guess that many of the folks that are registered on this very forum didn't even exist back then!   Cheesy   

But there were twin tanks, U.S. and Soviet, facing turret to turret at the "Checkpoint Charlie" crossing point between East and West Berlin!

And there also was a Mikhail Gorbachev back then.  And I just have to wonder what he's thinking now...  whoop!

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popsUlfr
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« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2009, 07:27:06 pm »


Thanks for the links popsUlfr!  I watched that video of all the giant dominoes falling and was surprised by how much emotion I felt.  I mean, it's a pretty cheesy concept - if written down or described to someone; make many tall slabs, paint them with "art", and watch as they sequentially fall one against another to the end - and yet it was the screams and cheers of the Berliners as they watched the kinetics of that "art piece" unfold that drew me in to their shared zeitgeist and which finally touched my heart.


That was quite effective in portraying the chain reaction that happened 20 years ago. It also instills thought into when it comes to the numerous other walls in the world splitting nations and most importantly, people.

Twenty years ago - two decades back - there was no Internet.  The Twin Towers still stood near Manhattan's southern tip.  There was no Czech Republic.  No Ali G.  No iPods nor iPhones.  The list goes on...  there was no U.S. President Obama!

In fact, I'd guess that many of the folks that are registered on this very forum didn't even exist back then!   Cheesy  

Yeah, well I didn't exist back then. I was lucky enough to be born only a couple of months after the event Cheesy
Old stories are sustaining my curiousity. But not only that, you would be surprised how present this wall still is in the people's mind nowadays. Living in fear of being watched, every of their moves reported... the Stasi comes to mind. As long as those traumatic experiences are still anchored in the population's head, the Wall continues to exist.

But there were twin tanks, U.S. and Soviet, facing turret to turret at the "Checkpoint Charlie" crossing point between East and West Berlin!

Of course! Berlin was the battlefield of the cold war, the noman's land and turning point. It was where the whole crisis started. Where Allies and Soviet Union clashed together and one like the other wanted to claim the city for himself.
Resolving the question of Berlin would ultimately resolve and end the conflict.

And there also was a Mikhail Gorbachev back then.  And I just have to wonder what he's thinking now...  whoop!

Gorbi was also present to the celebration. He deserves a great share of credit in this happy "denouement".

EDIT:
This reminds of how a little error/misunderstanding caused finally the end of the wall.
Maybe you already know the story but it's about that legendary Press conference attended by SED Politburo member Guenther Schabowski.
It was the usual blah blah for 50 minutes until Guenther remembered there was something else concerning Travel Regulations that was "decided" the same day.
He wasn't present at the meeting, he just got a small handwritten message from one of the persons present. Note that it was basically only a couple of notes and the regulations have not been fleshed out yet.
An italian journalist asked what were the terms of these regulations. To that he responded no requirements(reasons) are needed and steady in/out travel are granted.
He didn't stress too much the fact you had to actually request approval to do so, something like that usually means months will pass until you get such approval.
Another Reporter asked the primordial question: "When does this become effective?"
Guenther responds: "To my mind... this becomes effective as of now. Immediatly."

No hesitation on part of the population there. On the second he said that a sheer mass of people walked towards the border checkpoints. The Policemen were totally confused, they didn't get any orders on how to handle the situation.
They tried to retain them but couldn't stand any longer in front of a crying woman, imploring them to let her pass.

The press conference was transmitted live and it seems every News flash had another version of the meeting. Guenther didn't know how much of an impact his answer had on the people. It was the next day he was informed the wall was no more Tongue

Still, it's a miracle the whole situation didn't degenerate and blood wasn't shed.

This story never fails to make me laugh.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2009, 08:19:52 pm by popsUlfr » Logged
Josey
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« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2009, 11:32:01 pm »

I don------ Angry Angry Angry Angry aaaah my message got cut off again....i will fix it tomorrow, sry guys its late
« Last Edit: November 18, 2009, 11:38:30 pm by Josey » Logged
ABoretz
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« Reply #4 on: November 19, 2009, 03:22:48 am »

I don------ Angry Angry Angry Angry aaaah my message got cut off again....

Sorry, Josey, but it's a limitation of the SMF (Simple Machines Forum) software that special characters cause truncated text.   Sad

Are you by any chance composing your thoughts in an out-side program - like WORD - and then copy/pasting into the forum's "Post reply" field?  That could explain how those special characters are getting into your post.

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Josey
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« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2009, 11:37:05 am »

hi...

no not at all i am just writing in this post reply field. i have to say that my posts dont always get cut off sometimes it works just normal. Yesterday i wanted to say that there actually was some bloodshet on the lets call it predemonstrations before the wall collapsed. What a lucky hunch that we had Mikhail Gorbi who didnt let the military to struck between these peaceful people. I just saw a documentation about it on german television   Cheesy
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Alex
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« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2011, 06:51:24 am »


Today (October 3 2011) Germany celebrated the 21st year since The Reunification of Germany.  ( articles:  The Reunification of Germany and Germany celebrates national Unity Day... )  
Congrats (and good luck) to our German Machinarium forum members!  



P.S. In November of '09 this forum was unable to display special characters (like Ú è ö, € )  So that's what Josey was complaining about in his posts back then.   Grin

« Last Edit: October 04, 2011, 07:03:18 am by Alex » Logged
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