I dont know if this means much to younger TAs. But i remember exactly where i was on this day in 1989. I had just finished school and breaking news was live from Germany where people were dancing on top of the Berlin Wall.

Growing up as a kid in the 80s there was a real fear of the cold war. The idea that at any moment, the two most powerful nations of the world who were technically at war could destroy each other within minutes. The wall was the symbol of all that was wrong with the aftermath of world war 2. Families separated for 40 years, barbed wire and machine guns keeping people from leaving East Germany.

Watching this wall come down and the fall of communism in Europe was as spectacular and ubelievable (in a good way) as todays generation watching Sept 11. And the changes to the world from the fall of the berlin wall were even more profound.

I think growing up in the 80s and watching the struggles of those in the Eastern Bloc is part of the reason why i am such a capitalist as opposed to a socialist.

quote:

Berlin marks 20th anniversary of wall's fall By ABC correspondent Scott Bevan Posted Mon Nov 9, 2009 7:42am AEDT Updated Mon Nov 9, 2009 9:33am AEDT Young West Berliners perched on top of the wall in 1989. Berlin is today commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall that divided both the city and Europe. World leaders from then and now are gathering in the German capital to remember an event seen as a turning point in ending the Cold War. Among them are British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the presidents of France and Russia, Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In what is being called a festival of freedom, Berlin is marking November 9, 1989, when the Communist East German government relented to months of growing public pressure and opened its borders to the West. Just as that historic moment encouraged hundreds of thousands out onto the streets and to cross through the opened Berlin wall, organisers are hoping for big crowds at the commemorative events, which include a concert at the Brandenburg Gate. A symbolic barrier consisting of a thousand dominoes will also tumble, being pushed by leading players in the events of 1989, including the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former Solidarity leader and Polish President, Lech Walesa. Berlin's Mayor, Klaus Wowereit, says today's events will also highlight how far the reunified city has come. "We're very proud of what's happened in the past 20 years," he said. Memories The ABC's foreign affairs editor, Peter Cave, was in Berlin at the time of the wall's demise, covering the mass demonstrations in East Berlin. He remembers standing on the wall itself as protesters chipped away during the night. "I delivered a line down the phone to the ABC - the sound you can hear behind me is the sound of people chipping away at the Berlin Wall," he said. Meanwhile Vladimir Kulagin, a senior foreign ministry official in the Soviet Union at the time the wall fell, remembers thinking the event would lead to the end of the Warsaw Pact and ultimately the dismantling of the Soviet Union. "The collapse of the Berlin Wall, I believe, is the number one event of the 20th century, because the Communist experiment which Russians decided to take on themselves failed," he said.