Platz des 9. November 1989

Platz des 9. November 1989

Bösebrücke, on Bonholmerstrasße, was the bridge that served as a border crossing between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. Situated outside the central district of Berlin, it crosses only railroad tracks rather than water, and is one of the last places you can still see the Berlin Wall in its original form. The crossing facilitated a passage from the Soviet into the French occupation sector and was the first place where the wall was opened on 9 November 1989. After the premature announcement from the East German government that private travel would be allowed to the West, people began to clamor at Bösebrücke to make their first foray into West Berlin. At 9:20 PM, to relieve the pressure of people crowding the gate seeking exit from East Berlin, a few people were allowed to cross into West Berlin. Their passports were stamped invalid. Three hours later, the East German border guards reported that 20,000 people had crossed the border. 

Barbed wire still attached to the wall

It has been nearly thirty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. I watch a group of school kids participating in a school exercise, taking notes listening to a woman, about my age, discussing the events that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of East Germany. The kids were unimpressed, teasing each other just out of the sight of the teacher, giving each other piggyback rides, and generally more interested in the traffic that transited the bridge than in the remains of the wall. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a seminal event in my life, both personally and academically; yet for these kids it is ancient history. When I was about their age, the Second World War had been over for about thirty years. The end of World War II, the death of Hitler and the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, seemed far removed from my life. It still does. It is only natural for these students to have the same feeling.

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