Today is the 20th anniversary of the breaching of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. The fascist East German authorities calling themselves communists had sealed the border on August 21, 1961. The Berlin Wall was built to prevent contacts between East and West Berliners. It also kept East Germans from fleeing their communist-ruled country into democratic West Berlin, a part of West Germany.

Twelve-foot high, the concrete wall extended for a hundred miles, surrounding West Berlin. It had electrified fences, sentry boxes and checkpoints. It was an ugly symbol of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The meaning of the fall of the Berlin Wall depends on the perspective of the beholder. It led to the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)—the Soviet Empire, which to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century. But the introduction of human rights, the market economy and democracy in the Soviet Union’s member states was certainly not a catastrophe but a blessing to most of the citizens of the republics ensnared in the USSR and in the so-called Iron Curtain.

Speeches, music and revelry

Beginning Monday morning November 9 in Berlin (evening in Manila) a program of speeches, music (operatic, symphonic and pop) and revelry will mark United Germany’s celebration of this event. Had the wall not been breached, West Germany (capitalist, democratic and rich) and East Germany (communist, fascist dictatorship and poor) would not have been reunited to become the most stable and successful economy in Europe today.

Political, economic and financial leaders, as well as some of the world’s most famous entertainers, will gather at the Brandenburg Gate. The huge audience will recall how 20 years ago, the East German communist rulers officially opened the border but only after impatient Berliners, sensing communist rule was about to die, had breached the wall, at the risk being shot by guards. Even before the Berlin Wall was declared open, joyfully weeping East Germans had rushed checkpoints and ignored the border guards to run to the arms of West Germans welcoming them to West Berlin—and freedom.

That night marked the visible end of the Cold War. But it had actually ended weeks before, after two years of backroom talks involving the then Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II and US President Ronald Reagan.



East Berlin-like journalism

For more than a week now, the wire services and online publications have been releasing feature stories about the fall of the Berlin Wall. There were news stories too about Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, her mentor former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, then British PM Dame Margaret Thatcher and then French President Francois Mitterrand. But the late President Reagan’s name has unjustly been left unmentioned.

Is true that the “liberal news and entertainment media”—like East Berlin’s communist censors—rigorously blank out the names and memories of key conservative leaders?

Some articles have appeared quoting the late President John Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner [I am a Berliner]” speech. He gave the speech in West Berlin on June 26, 1963 to boost the morale of America’s German allies.

The East Berliners were always in need of food, medicines and basic household things (much like ordinary North Koreans in relation to their South Korean cousins). Before the Berlin Wall was built, West Berliners could visit and give their East Berlin relatives food and basic-needs relief. With the wall standing, West Germans and Americans flew relief missions and dropped food and other goods to the East. The East German communist officials threatened to shoot down the relief-goods planes.

‘Tear down this wall’

On June 12, 1987—24 years after President Kennedy’s speech in Berlin and two years before the Berlin
Wall fell—President Reagan gave a speech in Berlin that is held to be as important to world politics of the time as Kennedy’s speech was in his. It paved the way for the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Here are the final paragraphs of that Reagan speech:

“And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.

“Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

“General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”