Remembering Unity

Brick stones marks the route of the wall

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9 November 1989. This very day twenty years ago marked the beginning of an end. For twenty eight years the people of Berlin have lived divided as Eastern and Western Berliners. In the beginning this wall represented the ideological difference of the East and West. But as the years went by (and especially near its fall), the wall became a symbol of resistance of the people, and their desire to reunite with loved ones beyond the border.

The famous Checkpoint Charlie, now a tourist attraction

Although the wall is only confined to Berlin, it represented the reality at a larger scale. The world that was divided in two, as though there was an invisible wall that separates countries, and death strips that prevented people of either sides from coming over. The fall of the Berlin wall signified the end of that invisible barrier as well, for the Eastern Bloc would cease to exist not long after.

A temporary exhibit, memorial to those who perished trying to cross the wall

If there is one thing I admire most about the Germans is that they have no fear to face their past. The last century of German history is undoubtedly filled with grim events. Two World Wars, the Holocaust, and the Berlin wall are perhaps more than enough of ‘bad history’ for any country. But unlike some who try to cover up or white-wash their past, the Germans go all out to remind themselves of the past, both glorious and grisly.

Sections of the old Berlin wall still standing today

A walk through Berlin will reveal this. The Reichstag (parliament building), silent witness to World War 2, still has its walls riddled with bullet (despite sporting a new glass dome). The pedestrian crossings in East Berlin are maintained to their old Soviet-era style. There is a Holocaust memorial in downtown Berlin. And of the Berlin wall; the Berliners kept several sections standing, and drew a path along the old wall location with brick stones. Sniper guard towers still stand tall along what used to be parts of the ‘death strip’. All these reminders, I hope, will continue to open our eyes to the horrors of conflict, and the power of unity.

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A sentry tower, still standing tall