Monday, which marks a momentous day for democracy, when 20 years ago, one of the last remnants of the of Cold War: the East vs. West division, separated by the Berlin Wall was thrown open.
Anniversary celebrations, testimonials, and reflections on what the crushing of the Wall meant to the world will be coming thick and fast from television networks, newspapers and websites throughout the week.
While doing a little reflecting myself; I wondered how difficult it must have been for international correspondents to file their stories for major news organizations around the globe.
After all, 20 years ago, we never heard of twittering, Google, Facebook, emails, texting, or even laptops.
Craig R. Whitney, assistant managing editor for journalistic standards at The New York Times, who was a correspondent in Berlin 20 years ago, tells me most of the dispatches were communicated to editors by phone or dictating them to a recording room that the Times’ has set up at its Manhattan office.
Mr. Whitney additionally informs me while laptops didn’t come to the Times’ until after 1990, he does recall being able to file short stories on a portable laptop through an acoustic modem.
So as we celebrate the democratic wave that swept the Eastern bloc 20 years ago, journalists and international correspondents, too, will be celebrating the electronic advances that have made their jobs a little easier.
In commemoration of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, The Morning Delivery compiled a few historic facts about the significant events that took place 20 years ago.
Berlin Wall Fast Facts:
• August 13, 1961 the Berlin Wall is erected.
• The Wall was 12 feet high and 103 miles long.
• The Wall consisted of 18, 200 concrete posts; 150 tons of barbed wire; five tons of building wire; and two tons of staples.
• The Wall cut through 197 streets, 97 of which led to East Berlin.
• On June 12, 1987, in a speech at the Brandenburg Gate commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin, Ronald Reagan expressed the following statement: `` ''Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.''
• 5,000 successfully made it over the Wall between 1961-1989; while 4,000 other attempts failed. Those captured, were held in East German jails. After the Berlin Wall came down, most of the prisoners were pardoned and subsequently released.
• February 6, 1989: Chris Gueffroy, 20, was the last known casualty at the Berlin Wall. The New York Times estimated 191 people died in attempts to escape between 1961 and 1989.
• A little before 7 p.m. on November 9, 1989, Gunter Schabowski, a member of the Politburo, made the following statement during a press conference. ``Today the decision was taken that makes it possible for all citizens to leave the country through East German crossing points.''. By 9: 30 p.m, the first border crossing had occurred.
• By November 13, 1989, two million East Berliner’s had crossed into West Berlin.
• By December 25, 1989, a two-ounce piece of the Wall was selling at Boston’s Filere’s Basement for $12.95.
• March 18, 1990: The first and only democratic election is held in East Germany.
• July 1, 1990: The German mark becomes the official currency of both East and West Germany.
• On July 21, 1990, Roger Waters, co-founder of the rock group ``Pink Floyd’’, along with Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Albert Finney, Cyndi Lauper, Marianne Faithfull, Sinead O'Connor, Bryan Adams, Thomas Dolby and Phil Collins performed in front of 150, 000 rapturous German fans near the stretch of land that once divided East and West Berlin, in area once known as Potsdamer Platz before its destruction in 1961.
• On October 3, 1990, Germany is formally reunited.
• 2.5 million people fled Germany from 1949 to 1961.
• Six million German families were reported to have chunks of the Wall in their homes.
-Bill Lucey
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