1000 Domino Fall

Now that the Angels over Berlin were done, and I had met up with my fellow photography group, we decided to head over to check out the dominoes after dark – and we got caught in a huge mass of people. I certainly was glad that I managed to pick out a great spot beforehand – especially as it started to rain. J, A, C, and I all paused for a nice hot gluwein (mulled hot wine) at one of the vendors, when I saw the TV screens were showing:

Festival of Freedom

Which made me happy, because it really was as much a festival to freedom, as it was about the effect that event had on all of our lives – even mine as a middle school aged American child at the time. You see, in the last few days, I had really been thinking about how my life has changed since 1989. You see, without the events of 1989, Russia’s government wouldn’t have changed. The cold war wouldn’t have ended. And me? Well, I wouldn’t have wound up in Russia as an Exchange Student. And, because I was an Exchange Student in Russia, that gave me the edge when I was offered the job with a move to Berlin, Germany, which naturally I took. And that job, well, 3.5 years on, is still here in Berlin. So, in effect, much like a set of dominoes, my life too wouldn’t have been nearly the same – if the Berlin Wall had stayed up.

Anyhow, the longer we were waiting, the colder and more rainy it got. I had chosen to stand up on the balcony – at the congressional library building across from the Reichstag. Being that I’d taken many evening photographs in the clear weather, I stayed up there waiting – while the others wandered. Around 7PM, John showed up, and then took off to go back to the Main Train station to go get McDonalds (Thanks John for that!) and also to get an umbrella. Meanwhile, with my coat held in my jacket (so as to keep it as dry as possible) I watched the tourist ships pass up and down the river,

and the crowds gather on both sides of the giant dominoes in the now persistent rain.

As Julie, Andie and Paul returned (Caroline left to go stand in the people wall, and John was still getting food), I snapped a couple photos for posterity (thank goodness for a tripod and 2 second timer)

and went back to waiting in between hearing reports of security getting tighter. Then, began the symphony, and Bon Jovi made a guest appearance singing too. Next were the speeches (I watched them later on Television because the TVs were facing the other direction from where we were) given by Hillary Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Angela Merkel, Nicholai Sarkosy, and Lech Walesa. Finally (an hour late, I might add), Lech Walesa stepped over in front of the Brandenburg gate and knocked over the first of the dominoes, to the applause and cheers of the crowd, and the popping of champaigne bottles around us.

From where we were standing, the dominoes went much too quickly – less than a minute from the Brandenburg gate to the corner of the Reichstag, down the river, around, over the bridge – and then in front and below where we were. Effectively, we went from This:

To this:

To this:

And it was done. The wall was done, gone, and the crowds roared. Now all that was to happen was the fireworks, but for me, I was finished. Soaked clean through, freezing cold, and very tired (I’d been out since 9am), I left and headed home – only stopping for a hot chocolate on the way. What a weekend!

* This is the last post in a series on the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – and my attempt to document the events of the weekend, where 20 years before, a peaceful revolution brought about a big change which helped to end the cold war, and bring about a new Europe. Many more of the events are in the full flickr set here. *

Fall of Berlin Wall – Commemoration Ceremony

Red Ballons, released at the end of the memorial ceremony

20th anniversary balloon

* This is part of a series on the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – and my attempt to document the events of the weekend, where 20 years before, a peaceful revolution brought about a big change which helped to end the cold war, and bring about a new Europe. Many more of the events are in the full flickr set here. *

November 9th was cold and cloudy. When I woke up, it was foggy near my house, and drizzling heavily. The entire day would wind up this way, and let’s just say by the end, I was miserable. The thing is that being who I am, I decided that it was worth it to get out anyhow – despite the miserable weather – and try to document the events on this, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

After showering, dressing in 3 layers and my gortex ski jacket, I headed up to Nordbahnhof. The station Nordbahnhof, is a part of what was formerly known as a “ghost station”. What’s a ghost station? Well, in 1961, the grounds around the train station were cleared and transformed into part of the border strip. The station building itself was torn down with only the entrance hall of the original suburban train station left behind – bricks blocking the windows and doors at both the top and bottom of the stairs. The stop “existed” and trans would run through it – but trains from West Berlin rattled past the underground platforms without stopping. Empty for years, after the fall of the Wall, the S-Bahn station Nordbahnhof was re-opened; and now operates as a stop along the S 1, S 2, and S 25 lines. The railway property around it, however, lay unused and inaccessible until around 2006 – when a contest was held by the city of Berlin for what to do with the land along Bernauer Strasse- which is now being developed as a memorial.

I admit that I’d never really been to this section of Berlin before, despite it’s history. When you first get out of the train station, you head to the east, and you see very quickly the effect that the wall had on Bernauer Str. One section has lovely old turn of the section buildings, and the other side is modern architecture apartments. In the middle, is a huge un-developed section, where the former no-man’s land laid, and where many buildings were removed. You can also see many sections of the wall in their former “glory”.

The Remains of the Wall at St. Sophia’s Cemetery – which was partly plowed under to make way for the wall

The first thing you pass is a 60 meter section of the old Berlin Wall (above), with a monument set up in front to one of the people – Ernst Mundt – who at 40 years old decided to try and jump through the section of wall to get to his elderly mother who lived in the west. Bound to end badly, two guards near the Nordbahnhof ghost station promptly shot him several times – once in the head.

As you continue to walk along, you realize that there used to be buildings here – including the church of the Reunification. Sometime in the 1980s, the church was blown up – with very little pieces of it (the bells from the tower and some of the internal art were saved by parishioners) remaining. After the fall of the wall, the congregation managed to get part of their land back – and built a very simple, smaller church – where the day’s commemoration ceremony was started at 10 am.

Modern Church of Reunification on Bernauer Str.

As the crowds mulled about, I found it rather interesting to notice the people around me – were mostly ex-patriots. Then, I realized that the church was broadcasting services outside in german at one end, and english at the other. The German area was filled with locals listening and reflecting to the service. Meanwhile, The English area was surrounded by tourist busses and people milling about the documentation put up about the history of the Berlin wall in the area. Getting frustrated, I decided to head up the street – and check out more of Bernauer strasse – where most of the people who actually tried to escape the Berlin Wall died.

I found many memorials with names listed:

Memorial stone for Victims of the Berlin Wall

memorial to Olga Segler, one who died trying to cross

And surprisingly, stories that I had seen the photographs for – which had been burned into my memory – made into statues – stickers, and history blocks along the street (GDR border guard Conrad Schumann Jumping the wall under construction):

Statue of GDR border guard Conrad Schumann jumping the wall

Art of GDR border guard Conrad Schumann jumping the wall

GDR border guard Conrad Schumann Jumping the wall

It was then that it really hit home – that yes, the Berlin Wall Really ran here.

More tomorrow – on the Roses at the wall.

1000 Domino Wall

Time for Change

Saturday, November 7. 2009. The best day of the weekend. Clear and cold, but so sunny that it made me happy to be outside. The perfect November day – and our photo group set out from Potsdamer Platz (where, believe it or not the Christmas market has already been set up). Amidst the “Christmas” revelers eating their fish sandwiches and shopping for gifts, it was a bit eerie to realize that all of this – the ENTIRE of Potsdamer Platz was once plowed under – flat – stuck between two walls, a guard tower, tank stops and barbed wire – a no-man’s land.

Potsdamer Platz in 1986 courtesy of Wikipedia.

It really hit home as you crossed from the Christmas market and started to walk down Ebertstrasse toward the Brandenburg Gate. Here, the street was closed to traffic, with a huge sign:

Marking the beginning of the 1000 domino route covering 1.1 kilometers between Potsdamer Platz,

past the Brandenburg Gate,

Around the back of the Reichstag (on the left – river at the end),

Up over the bridge over the River Spree, and back down in front of the two modern buildings of the Library of the German Congress.

Standing about 6 foot high, about 18 inches thick and about 2 foot across all the “dominos” were surrounded by metal gateing and security guards who let you know if you got too close.

Each domino was painted (or decorated) by school children, artists and businesses from around the world in various themes including (Click for larger images):

Freedom (Frieden in German)

The Falling of the Wall /memories of the GDR / DDR:

Bringing down the “still current” walls / no restrictions:

People who were/are “change makers”,

leaders of the world bringing down walls

(left to right – An San Su Kii, the jailed democratic leader in Burma; a collage of Mandela, MLK, and 2 I don’t know)

Peace

Unity,

Hope & Inspiration:

and other themes that we can all learn from.

While this “wall” wasn’t exactly the same as the one that had stood here previously, it was still a wall. At one Point, Paul noted that we couldn’t get across the street – and he wanted a starbucks coffee. I noted that there was plenty of other places to get coffee that weren’t starbucks, but you know – it’s not the same, because he wanted “that” coffee. Luckily we were able to walk around the wall – or through one of the “checkpoint” style openings – to then back track to where ever you wanted to go. Naturally, these openings were bottlenecks, and you had to fight the flow in whichever direction you wanted – but we still could travel freely – something many people still can’t do. And while this particular “wall” was only up for 3 days to celebrate a time of happiness born out of a time of tears – it gave me pause to think.

Am I glad that the Berlin Wall is gone? Yes. I guess, however, that the world should use it as an example – and work on removing ones that exist in many other ways — walls of the mind (religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) — physical walls (North and South Korea, China, the one being built between the USA and Mexico, to name a couple) — and try to avoid building new ones. Finally, for those walls that we can’t avoid – I propose we build a bridge…to reach the other side and find a way to reach a common ground – in the middle.

Bridge over the River Spree, with Domino wall illuminated in the background.

That’s it from me -where I hope that your “rose” grows, wherever you may plant it.

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1000 Domino Fall

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1000 Domino Wall