The Fall of the Wall

wall for sale, 2014                                                 AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

It was 25 years ago on Nov. 9 that the infamous Berlin Wall, then the world's saddest symbol of enforced separation and loss of freedom (there are more now), was finally dismantled. The order to do so was given by East German border guard Lt. Col. Harald Jager. It was a lonely moment, he recalls. Crowds were gathering, the guards under him were waiting for orders and none were coming from higher up. "It wasn't me who opened the wall," he now says. "It was the East German citizens who gathered that evening. The only thing that I can be credited with is that it happened without any blood being spilled" (story, videos, great pictures): http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/11/07/the-communist-guard-who-opened-the-berlin-wall-my-world-was-collapsing-and-i-felt-like-i-was-left-alone/
   This weekend, Berlin will celebrate the moment their city ~ and country ~ was made whole again. An art installation of 8,000 lights following the path of the old Wall is readied in anticipation (story, video): http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/berlin-wall-anniversary/berlin-wall-lit-8-000-luminous-balloons-25th-anniversary-n243421
   Twenty-five sobering and fascinating facts about the Wall (including why David Hasselhoff's name comes up in any search about it) (story, pictures, videos): http://rt.com/news/201255-berlin-wall-anniversary-25/