Germans Want the Berlin Wall Back – 20 Years on

VLADIVOSTOK. November 9. VOSTOK-MEDIA – Today is the 20th anniversary of the breaching of the Berlin Wall.

The construction of the wall, which divided Berlin into two geographically separate sectors, began on August 13, 1961, at the initiative of the GDR. The barrier was aimed at “shielding citizens from Western influence”. The Berlin Wall stretched over 155 km wide and included 302 guard towers and trenches. It was also lined with electric fences, barbed wire and other defenses. According to different sources the number of people who died trying to cross the wall ranged from 192 to 1,245.

On November 9, 1989, after mass rallies which led to the fall of the Erich Honecker regime, the GDR officials decreed to issue proper permissions to those wishing to visit the West. On the same evening the cheering crowds broke the wall – West and East Berliners were standing on top of the wall. They were hugging, exchanging drinks and fraternizing. The event was broadcasted around the world. On October 3, 1990, the GDR ceased to exist.

“On November 3, 1989, we all thought that from now on we are one nation,” lamented professor Heinrich Mittel from Dusseldorf. “Everyone expected that there would be some minor frictions but after a while everything would be all right. But our expectations fell short. East Germans tell their children tales of a happy life under Honecker. As a result, the young generation of Germans, which has not seen the GDR, thinks of that country as a "promised land".

East and West Germans dislike each other, Argumenty I Facty daily wrote. “East Germans can’t stand working,” says taxi driver Michael angrily. “All they care about is some freeloading!..”

“When I receive my utility bill, I involuntarily start being nostalgic about the old days,” says an elderly woman, who was born in GDR. “Under Honecker everything was very cheap and everyone had a job. The physical Berlin Wall may have fallen, but the "Berlin Wall of the mind" persists”.

The recent poll showed that 25% of West Germans and 12% of East ones were in favor of restoring the wall.

… Friedrich Heinzel runs a curio store located on the place where the Berlin Wall once stood. His house is in the West Berlin, in two meters from the border. He still remembers how people were throwing ropes over to the other side of the wall and fleeing to the West. “The Germans thought that the fall of the Berlin Wall was a road to nirvana,” – he explained. “When they did not get what they were looking for they were deeply disappointed. East Germans commend: “Honecker was a jolly good fellow”. West Germans counter “we had some better ways of putting our money”. It may sound funny, but 20 years ago we understood each other better.”

The door bangs open and Heinzel excuses himself breaking off his story .Some customers have dropped in the store and are eying the T-shorts bearing the letters "Born in GDR". Lately those have become increasingly popular...