20 Years Ago Today - The Berlin Wall is torn down!

On this date November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall fell!  Long viewed as a symbol of the Cold War the Berlin Wall separated the free West Germany from the Communist East Germany.  This event was the culmination of the 40 year old Cold War in which the free Western Countries waged a unrelenting battle against the Communism.  Hundreds of East Germans died trying to escape to the West and untold hundreds more were imprisoned or executed for trying.  This date should be a national holiday as it marked victory in our decades long struggle with The Soviet Union and Communism.



More than anyone else Ronald Reagan should be given credit for the wall coming down.  In 1987 he gave one of the most inspiring speeches of any US President at the Brandenburg gate in West Berlin:

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!

 

Germany's "Der Spiegel" has a interesting slideshow of The Wall Then and Now.