Re: [xmca] Berlin Wall

Interestingly, tonight I went to a seminar on the fall of the wall and what
has happened since with five German speakers. One, an interesting character
called Gerd Koenen related that he was working with an American NBC news
team. He said that when the news came that the border gates had been opened
in Berlin, the Americans instantly believed it, while the Germans were
extremely sceptical and their news teams didn't appear on the streets until
a bit later. He also spoke about the different attitudes, with the Americans
thinking something like 'Hurray, we knew we beat communism one day'. Several
of the speakers talked about how far apart the two lots of Germans had grown
over the 40 years of the GDR.

I was in Berlin at New Year 89-90 (as I was in 88-9 and 90-91) and managed
to get hauled up onto a bit of the wall just behind the Brandenburg Gate. I
also took a photo of a smiling young East German border guard looking
through a hole in the wall and talking to the people on the Western side.
There was also a clear presence of dissident slogans and organisations in
the exhibition area under the Fernsehturm on the Alexanderplatz. An amazing
atmosphere but also a feeling that nobody was really in control of what
would happen next, which led to the initiative falling to those who seemed
to provide the most immediate solution.

Bruce R

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Whitson" <twhitson@UDel.Edu>
To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 10:05 PM
Subject: Re: [xmca] Berlin Wall

>I just saw a brief TV clip, which got me wondering:
>
> I don't know this in any scientific way, but I would not be surprised if
> people in the USA are under an impression that the Berlin Wall came down
> because of Ronald Reagan.
>
> On Mon, 9 Nov 2009, David Preiss wrote:
>
>> Dear colleagues
>>
>> Does anybody know of a good poem to remember the (fall of the) Berlin
>> Wall?
>>
>> And / or the Stasi and the damage of / to the human soul?
>>
>> I was looking for some but was unable to find.
>>
>> 20 years is too early, maybe?
>>
>> Or, beyond the fireworks, did we already forget?
>>
>> David Preiss
>> ddpreiss@me.com
>> http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>
>
> Tony Whitson
> UD School of Education
> NEWARK DE 19716
>
> twhitson@udel.edu
> _______________________________
>
> "those who fail to reread
> are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
> -- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
> _______________________________________________
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> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
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Received on Mon Nov 9 16:50:49 2009