Comments on: Looking back: Berlin before the wall

By: What We Have Been Reading Lately | The Planet D: Around the World Adventure Couple

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:04:17 +0000

[...] and Andy at 501 Places talks about his trip there in 1987 when he took a train to East Berlin at Looking Back: Berlin Before the Wall. How times have changed and how quickly it passes. It is an interesting post and the comments [...]

By: Yasmina

Yasmina — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:15:45 +0000

Hi, it’s been already 20 years! Not in Germany at that time, but I was in Moscow in 1991 when that coup happend. As we move on, our memory of every precious moment become priceless. 20 years. It flies too quick to reflect on.

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:03:24 +0000

Thanks Holy Lama and Saundrea for sharing your memories too. It’s one of those moments in history that will always be remembered and referred to; a victory of people power.

By: Saundra

Saundra — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:19:33 +0000

To think I almost didn’t read this article, what an eye opener. My only recollection of this time was as an American child in grade school hearing about the Berlin Wall and the Cold War on TV, and in school. Your article has resparked an impression on me as an *adult* of the reality of what happened back then, of someone’s first-hand accounts. Thank you for such a vivid picture.

By: The Holy Lama

The Holy Lama — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:44:54 +0000

I grew up reading some war novels and seeing war movies. The diference of the east and west Germany was very simple for us teenagers in India- one was with USSR and another with USA. India was non aligned and so were we. The jubiliation of the Germans when the wall came down was all over the media then and then I started to see the humans beyond the politics. I finally got to visit Berlin in 2005. Only a fragment of the wall was there. But we had friends in East and West part of Germany. As you said the architecture was different, but perhaps the rural areas were just as simple as before war. The difference I saw was only in urban population. And they were telling us that people from the west usually try to get a transfer asap if they were posted in the left. The unification is still going on. Maybe it will take a generation to equate. We all feel sorry for the pain that the Germans have gone through in post war period.They hate being asked about Nazis and yet they have to answer silly questions from people of other nations.

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:02:51 +0000

Thanks for sharing your story to Apryl. It must have been an exhilarating time to be in Germany. I wonder what is planned to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall next week?

By: Apryl

Apryl — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:15:41 +0000

I can’t believe it’s been 20 years! I lived in Munich 1990-92, and then Dresden 1998-2000, and will never forget the enormous changes in the fast & slow period of reunification.

My daughters asked me about it when we went to Berlin recently, and I can’t help but break into fresh sobs when I relive the tumultuous transformation. What a bizarre human experience!

Thanks for sharing your experience.

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:00:33 +0000

Hi Zoe,
Thanks for sharing your memories. It was a unique place, and while I’m glad it’s long gone, there’s no denying it provided a unique travel experience at the time. The paint on the trousers made me smile; a great example of the types of things that people were often picked up for. Anything and everything, depending on the mood of the officials.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:02:18 +0000

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By: Zoe Zolbrod

Zoe Zolbrod — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:51:13 +0000

Thank you for sharing your recollections. I was in East Berlin in 1988, and my memories are similar to yours. On our first attempt at crossing, we were turned away because my companion had paint on his trousers. We were able to get in at another entry point, and I, too, remember the tension at the border, the immediate change in mood and energy, the exchange of money that turned two beggared backpackers into obscenely wealthy high-rollers for a day. We tried to blow our cash at a fancy restaurant, our raggedy presence probably an insult to the few well-dressed people who were seated in the near-empty room. We gawked at the artillery holes still in the walls of some buildings and at the glum markets. Who knew then that the wall would come down just one year later.