I am just arrived in Berlin today for a round of meetings to advance Mike Reagan’s trip here in early July. Mike will be broadcasting his daily radio talk show from here. I am also on a secret mission, working on a project for Mike, which, if successful, will also be announced by him on his trip here.
The history of Berlin, particularly the more contemporary history, is both fascinating and heart-breaking. And Berliners really care about it. On a short walk this morning from Potsdamer Platz to Pariser Platz, the enormity of the confrontation between East and West that resulted in the creation in 1961 and destruction in 1989, of the Berlin Wall, is literally pushed into your face. Good for Berlin!
The street I walked along connecting the two traffic circles was itself literally ground zero of the Berlin Wall. At Potsdamer Bahnhof, where I started my walk, amidst a beautiful open-air shopping area, I encountered about 20 yards of the real wall, reconstructed as a monument to that grim time, for all to see. The Berlin Senate includes discriptive signs along with the pieces of the wall, and stories and pictures of its victims, and in one of them, the U.S. Armed Forces are lauded for a show of force at Check Point Charlie, the traditional crossing point between East and West. A picture of two U.S. Sherman Tanks is shown with the barrels pointed directly down the street, across the border, and at the communist East German guard station. This picture, next to the Wall monument, is a sharp dose of reality, and truth. Hundreds and hundreds died becauase of that Wall, the brainchild of East German Communists. Today, Berliners know who their friends were back then. And they aren’t afraid to say so. Bravo. For that reason, I am inclined to really like this place.
When I got down to Pariser Platz I was able to see the historic Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag Building. So much could be said about the history of this area of Berlin. But I will just mention one; once again, on a monument describing the Gate, the Berlin Senate states: "Here United States President Ronald Reagan called on President Gorbachev to ‘Open this Gate’" in 1987. By 1989, it was not only open, the Wall had come tumbling down.
I hope to post more as I spend time observing this most interesting city and the values of freedom and human dignity it has come to represent.