Mein 9. November – My personal Nov. 9th
Deutsch The Day the Berlin Wall fell I always thought, that saying the Wall “fell” sounds a bit like it crumbled and just died of old age, while in truth thousands and thousands risked their careers, their freedom and ultimately their life pushing against it. On Novemer 9th this pushing became quite literally what opened…
26/04/89: Honecker about Hungary/über Ungarn
Text auf deutsch Honecker loosing his grip on reality Erich Honecker (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R0518-182 / CC-BY-SA) Just days before the border between Austria and Hungary is opened, Erich Honecker, chairman of the Zentralkomitee (Central Committee) of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) is worried about the situation with his neighbours. Using a language that’s equally stinted…
05/04/89 30 Years Later: Runder Tisch/Round Table in Polen
Text auf deutsch A new form of political dialogue At the end of the 1980s, a rather new approach was making its first appearances on the stage of international high-stakes policy-making: the Round Table. The basic idea today seems so simple, yet nobody really understood the terminology: get all stake-holders together and sit them at…
03/04/89 30 Years Later: No more shooting/Aufhebung des Schießbefehls
Text auf deutsch The order that never was The legal processing of the order to shoot at the Berlin Wall, has been a breaking test for the unified society that was just about to emerge. A lot has been left unsaid and buried deep in some archive. Bit by bit proof and details regarding the…
21/03/89 The soviet army shrinks/Truppenreduzierung der Sowjets
A step towards independence A key factor leading to the revolution in 1989 is Michail Gorbatschow’s doctrine, that the “brother states” of the Warzsaw Pact will be responsible for their own destiny. Mikhai Gorbachev (Yuryi Abramochkin,RIA Novosti archive, image #359290) This means that a) the Soviet Union won’t stand in the way of national reforms,…
08/03/89 Winfried Freudenberg the last victim/das letzte Opfer
Deutsch Flight and Crash with a DIY balloon The story of Winfried Freudenberg‘s life, flight and death is a tragic example of East-German ingenuity. Born in 1956 he later studies electrical engineering in Illmenau where he meets his future wife Sabine, a chemist. Even though thoroughly rooted in their community they had difficulties accepting, that…
05/02/89 Chris Gueffroy: der letzte Erschossene/the last one shot
Deutsch Chris Gueffroy: The last victim of the “shooting order” On February 5th 1989 Chris Gueffroy was shot at the Berlin Wall. He was the last victim of the “shooting order” and the overall penultimate victim that lost his life trying to leave the GDR to find a better life for himself. Chris was a…
18. Januar ’89: “The wall will still be standing in a 50 and 100 years”
Deutsch Honecker’s prophesy Erich Honecker was the most powerful politician in the GDR for nearly 20 years. What many people don’t know, even before he became 1st secretary of the Central Commitee of the ruling Socialist Party – SED – he shaped the history of his country. After spending more than two years in Moscow…
The Berlin Cathedral
The emperor’s church The MR although you couldn’t tell by just looking at it. Visitors often mistake it for a catholic place of worship due to the overabundance of decorative elements. The other common misconception considers its age. On our Sightseeing tours, like Berlin’s Best we sometimes ask what our guests think from which period…