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February 7, 2012
Walking the Berlin Wall then and now
Published: 9 Nov 09 15:10 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091109-23147.html
Twenty years after the fall of the Wall, how much has Berlin changed? The Local walks the length of the Cold War barrier to look at five significant locations then and now.
On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall crumbled. It was the climax of peaceful revolutions across Eastern Europe that would pave the way for German reunification and the spread of democracy across the continent.
The abrupt end to Berlin's three decades of physical division triggered great upheaval and the German capital continues to undergo change because of it to this day.
Click here for a photo gallery of the Berlin Wall then and now.
Many traces of the Wall were quickly destroyed, though some sections do still remain as poignant reminders of this painful period in German history. Watchtowers still stand at the corner of some quiet streets, parts of the Wall sit in apartment courtyards and memorials across the city remember the victims of the most tangible part of the Iron Curtain.
The Local explores five significance sites during Berlin's years of division.
Checkpoint Charlie
Bornholmerstrasse
Friedrichstrasse Station
Glienicke Bridge
The Brandenburg Gate
Anna Croall (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
Like others studying history, or visiting long after the fact, I sometimes wish it was still there...so I could see things as they really were. That's a selfish viewpoint, and I readily admit it. It would make my life easier, while doing exactly the opposite for far too many.
Fortunately, there are enough pictures, films, and other things left that I can piece together what I need, and I'm happy to see that so many Germans have been able to move on from those times. I wish everyone could, but I understand well the scars that remain.