Sunday, An Historic Event....

[Lost Cause]

"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!" -President Ronald Reagan

Sunday, November 10, 1989, at 11 p.m. (Berlin time), the Brandenburg Gate opened with no conditions, creating the tide to freedom and the destruction of the wall that was created to keep millions isolated, and contained in the East.
Looking back, was this a good thing for Europe, or did it saturate the economy with refugees that did not understand the capitalist system?

I would appreciate any views from people that lived closer to the event. Did you cry? Dance for joy? Curse the West? Were you indifferent?

 

[Rex1960]

Thanks Ronnie, thanks LC

I watched the tv coverage of our parliament's session that 11/10/89. Suddenly the speaker declared what happened in Berlin, all our representatives stood up and sang our national enthym. One of these goosebump moments in my life. This German cried.

 

[QuickDuck]

Not in europe, but i remember watching it on tv and continually thinking "wow".

 

[teddybear4play]

I was 9 years old, and while I didn't really understand it all, I knew I was watching history unfold.

In terms of years in which watershed moments of history took place, I would probably rank 1989 (Berlin Wall, Tiananmen Square, Gorbachev's resignation) second only to 1945 as the most momentous year in the 20th Century.

TB4p

 

[Guest]

I must have been either asleep or playing soccer.

 

[Lost Cause]

This American cried for all the Germans...

And all the countries contained by the wall. After decades of seeing people shot for trying to escape, families separated, and the waste of military resouces to keep the Soviets from taking France and Europe. It was like I couldn't believe it, like Independence Day, Bastille Day, V-E Day, V-J Day, and New Year's Day all in one! The one thing I remember most was the W. Germans and the Eastern Border guards hugging, and exchanging flowers.

 

[Daedalus77]

I was in the US but it still meant a lot to me. I was watching live tv and thinking that the world had really changed and I was there watching it. I know it didn't end all wars but for the first time in my life the thought of the world ending (MAD) let go. I have a piece of the wall and it's part of my treasures.

 

[Lost Cause]

Geez, this happened and the USMC birthday! Coincidence?

*Anyway, a good day in history!