American Ex-Pat View Of The Fall of the Wall

Michael Haltman | November 9, 2009 



Below is a note sent to me today by Bill Dawson, one of my regular readers in Vienna, Austria. He is the author of the German History Blog, and offered this picture, note and other resources dedicated to this anniversary of an extraordinary day 20 years ago. The fall of the Berlin Wall. As he mentions below, it is unfortunate that the leader of the free world does not seem to deem it as significant as say...staying on Capitol Hill twisting arms on his healthcare monstrosity or jetting off to pitch the Chicago Olympic Games. Interesting priorities.

Dear Michael,

First I want to say "Happy Anniversary" because I know that to freedom lovers such as yourselves and your readers, the 20th anniversary of the seminal event marking the end of communism in Europe is something to be celebrated.  (Even if just one of the heads of state of the former four-power occupiers, our own President Barack Obama, doesn't find the occasion important enough to join the other three in Berlin.)

I want to also suggest that, while we celebrate, we also remember the victims.  Because of my focus area, German History, the German victims of communism are of course most interesting to me.  So on 9 November I will be sure to take a moment to think of people like Ida Siekmann, the Wall's first victim.  I'll also be thinking about former political prisoners such as Wolfgang Welsch, who spent seven years in Stasi prisons until he was sold -- yes, sold -- to West Germany.  In Mr. Welsch's case, I'm pleased to report that he is still with us today -- despite three attempts on his life by Stasi agents after he left East Germany -- working tirelessly within Germany to remind and educate people of the nature of the second German dictatorship.

In case your readers are interested in immersing themselves in this extremely important anniversary, I've put up a resources page concerning the Fall of the Berlin Wall, in addition to the several blog posts I've made over the last four weeks or so in preparation for the November 9 anniversary.  If I could share a direct link to one of my favorite recents posts, it would be the one wherein I quote a few letters from an East German penpal writing to my wife in 1988 and 1989.  I think you and your readers will find the words of this young man quite stirring.

Thank you for celebrating this important anniversary.

Best regards,
Bill Dawson
German History Blog



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