November 9 1989. Twnety years ago today The Berlin Wall came down. I was only 14 years old but I remember that day quite well. I'm a bit surprised that no one posted anything about it.
Die Mauer came down because in 1989 a Hungarian border guard refused to shoot East Germans trying to cross into Austria. Three people crossed, then fifty, then the Hungarians issued an offical no-shoot order and on May 2nd started taking down the fence. Then the dominos started falling. One of these days even Cuba will get the message. North Korea and Vietnam, never. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7906661.stm Of course when I say "because", I'm referring to one event and not mentioning a thousand others. Eric Honecker had something to do with it. So did Khruschev and his friends. So did Mikhail Gorbachev. Brezhnev loving Honecker Caption: "God help me survive this fatal love."
