The other side......
When the Central Committee member had one vodka too many, nobody imagined what far reaching consequences this would have - for the world!http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wall
Of course, today, as we celebrate the opening of the Berlin wall, we have a tendency to forget there are still quite a few still 'UNOPENED' - http://socks-studio.com/2013/04/14/peace-lines-a-selection-of-walls-dividing-regions/
Mainly religious or political in reason, they are, nonetheless, dividers between peoples.
I spent 2 periods of duty in the West City, one of my jobs being to drive around this wall for 'security' reasons, and this, I assure you, did NOT exist.....
There was an enormormous amount of 'grafitti', but outside the central area, mainly wooded, which we had to patrol, there was nothing but trees - overgrown areas and posters warning people they were 'leaving West Berlin Territory'- uninteresting for the Tourists and in fact uninteresting for us too, because even if somebody did get over the wall here, there was nothing we could do to help them. We were not allowed to cross that invisible line. We circulated in our Landrovers and submitted 'reports - that was it! On my final visit to the City, as a civilian, I was able to profit from the Western part as a vibrating World Metropole, and loved it!
modern, historically profound, and world history making I worked at Berlin Tegel
which gave me access to the world as whole, although the 'road corridor' was still in place with its blockages and tricks, by air it was fine.......
and the world entirely was opened to us! Often we stayed in Berlin for holidays, because we had everything and then more 'in place' - From Golf courses to World food (including French baguettes flown in daily.......) Opera houses, theatres cafes and thousands of bars of all types!Buses - called 'Grosse Gelbes'
Why should we want to go elsewhere, although now and then we did......!
Comments