In 1949, following the defeat of Nazi Germany in WW II and the re-organization of Europe, the
nation of Germany was divided into East & West. In the East a communist government was set up
under the influence of the Soviet Union. In the West a free, democratic government was set up and
benefitted greatly from the Marshall Plan & the economics of free enterprise. Life became much better
in the West for German citizens. The city of Berlin became a crucible where these divided philosophies
would literally divide the city. Fearful of losing many of its citizens, East Germany closed the border
between the two states in 1952. But that didn’t keep an estimated 2.5 million East Germans from
fleeing to West Germany between 1949 -1961. So, in 1961 the East German government built the
Berlin Wall and strictly enforcing such defections. The wall stood for almost 30 years as a very real and
symbolic divide between the East & the West.
I still remember a speech given by President Reagan in 1987 at the Brandenburg Gate- a section of the
Berlin Wall in West Berlin. At the height of the Cold War, the President used the opportunity to
encourage freedom and a new peace. As he spoke about the wall behind him which separated West
Berlin from East Berlin for decades, I still remember his words, “Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!”
I can’t help in hearing those words, from recalling images we saw just a few short years later when the
wall was quite literally torn down. In
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