Private travel into foreign countries can be requested without conditions […]. Permission will be granted instantly. Permanent relocations can be done through all border checkpoints between the GDR into the FRG or Berlin (West). — Günter Schabowski, November 9th, 1989
A wall came down in Berlin. I vividly remember watching it on TV. Throughout the 70's and 80's I had grown up hearing about the evil communist state of the USSR and how it threatened our lives. We were told there were enough nuclear weapons to blow the world off of its' axis if both sides let rip at the same time(there still is), they could invade at any moment. The reality was very different.
The USSR was almost bankrupt, oil prices had fallen drastically and they simply didn't have the income to compete with the US military machine. Reagan knew this and as soon as Gorbachev was elected he pressed him. Thank god for Gorbachev and his sanity and lack of vanity. He took one on the chin and the wall came down. Some still wish it was up.
Okay, thehistory lesson ends here, albeit the abridged history of 'communism and the fall of the Berlin wall', but it is what it is. There are some great pics in this flickr group of life in Berlin between 1961 and 1989 if you're interested.
The USSR was almost bankrupt, oil prices had fallen drastically and they simply didn't have the income to compete with the US military machine. Reagan knew this and as soon as Gorbachev was elected he pressed him. Thank god for Gorbachev and his sanity and lack of vanity. He took one on the chin and the wall came down. Some still wish it was up.
Okay, thehistory lesson ends here, albeit the abridged history of 'communism and the fall of the Berlin wall', but it is what it is. There are some great pics in this flickr group of life in Berlin between 1961 and 1989 if you're interested.
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