Archive for the ‘1989’ tag
20 years of the Berlin Wall
It’s the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
I have been there (1995).
It looks just like an ordinary stone weighing about 2 kilos resting on my mantelpiece in pride of place. But it is special. Not just because I carried it in my rucksack for 1000 miles by train, bus, and on foot. Not just because I “stole” it and only I know that.
It is special because it was part of the infrastructure of the Berlin Wall, still lying on the ground, six years after it was torn down by joyous East and West Berliners. And I searched and found it, determined to own part of what had been and now, no more. Once, guards had trodden it, fired from it, killed from it.
I stole a little piece of history, and called it my own.
Contributed by Barbara Turner
