The fall of the Berlin Wall in context

Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the major steps in the fall of the Communist tyrannies of Easter Europe. You can read all you want about the events of 1989 in the papers and no doubt see many histories on the TV as well, however I want to tell you one story.

It's a story that touched me and was told to me by a woman whose parents and her escaped from East Germany to West Germany in 1955. Her parents packed what possessions they could into their car, much of it hidden inside the bodywork and upholstery, and travelled on a visa to attend a family wedding. The tale of the hour long search at the border post and the suspicion of the guards and the relief at being eventually let through really hit home. So did her tales of life in West Germany as a outsider and how parents struggled to make a new life in the west away from their friends and family in the east.

So when you read about the fall of the Berlin Wall remember that it affected real people and that many who escaped over the preceding 30 odd years also have tales to tell.

Also do remember those who were murdered by East German border guards as they tried to escape to freedom in the west. Thanks to Donal Blaney we have a list:

"1961
Siekmann, Ida
Litfin, Günter
Hoff, Roland
Urban, Rudolf
Segler, Olga
Lünser, Bernd
Düllick, Udo
Probst, Werner
Lehmann, Lothar
Wohlfahrt, Dieter
Krüger, Ingo
Feldhahn, Georg

1962
Schmiel, Dorit
Jercha, Heinz
Held, Philipp
Schmidtchen, Jörgen (Border Guard)
Böhme, Peter
Brueske, Klaus
Frank, Horst
Göring, Peter (Border Guard)
Haberlandt, Lutz
Hannemann, Axel
Glöde, Wolfgang
Kelm, Erna
Huhn, Reinhold (Border Guard)
Noffke, Siegfried
Fechter, Peter
Wesa, Hans-Dieter
Mundt, Ernst
Seling, Günter (Border Guard)
Walzer, Anton
Plischke, Horst
Reck, Ottfried
Wiedenhöft, Günter

1963
Räwel, Hans
Kutscher, Horst
Kreitlow, Peter
Muszynski, Wolf-Olaf
Mädler, Peter
Widera, Siegfried (Border Guard)
Schröter, Klaus
Schulz, Dietmar
Berger, Dieter
Schultz, Paul

1964
Hayn, Walter
Philipp, Adolf
Heike, Walter
Gneiser, Rainer
Wolscht, Norbert
Trabant, Hildegard
Mispelhorn, Wernhard
Schultz, Egon (Border Guard)
Wolf, Hans-Joachim
Mehr, Joachim

1965
Unknown (N.N.)
Buttkus, Christian
Krzemien, Ulrich
Hauptmann, Hans-Peter
Döbler, Hermann
Kratzel, Klaus
Garten, Klaus
Kittel, Walter
Cyrius, Heinz
Sokolowski, Heinz
Kühn, Erich
Schöneberger, Heinz

1966
Brandes, Dieter
Block, Willi
Schleusener, Lothar
Hartmann, Jörg
Marzahn, Willi
Schulze, Eberhard
Kollender, Michael
Stretz, Paul
Wroblewski, Eduard
Schmidt, Heinz
Senk, Andreas
Kube, Karl-Heinz

1967
Sahmland, Max Willi
Piesik, Franciszek

1968
Weckeiser, Elke
Weckeiser, Dieter
Mende, Herbert
Lehmann, Bernd
Krug, Siegfried
Körner, Horst
Henninger, Rolf (Border Guard)

1969
Lange, Johannes
Kluge, Klaus-Jürgen
Lis, Leo

1970
Wehhage, Eckhardt
Wehhage, Christel
Müller, Heinz
Born, Willi
Ehrlich, Friedhelm
Thiem, Gerald
Kliem, Helmut
Friese, Christian-Peter

1971
Kabelitz, Rolf-Dieter
Hoffmann, Wolfgang
Kühl, Werner
Beilig, Dieter

1972
Kullack, Horst
Weylandt, Manfred
Schulze, Klaus
Katranci, Cengaver

1973
H., Holger
Frommann, Volker
Einsiedel, Horst
Gertzki, Manfred
Krobot, Siegfried

1974
Niering, Burkhard
Sprenger, Johannes
Savoca, Guiseppe

1975
Halli, Herbert
Mert, Cetin
Kiebler, Herbert
Hennig, Lothar

1976
n/a

1977
Schwietzer, Dietmar
Weise, Henri

1978 and 1979
n/a

1980
Steinhauer, Ulrich (Border Guard)
Jirkowski, Marinetta

1981
Muschol, Dr. Johannes
Starrost, Hans-Jürgen
Taubmann, Thomas

1982
Freie, Lothar Fritz

1983
Proksch, Silvio

1984
Schmidt, Michael-Horst

1985
n/a

1986
Liebeke, Rainer
Groß, René
Mäder, Manfred
Bittner, Michael

1987
Schmidt, Lutz

1988
n/a

1989
Diederichs, Ingolf
Freudenberg, Winfried
Gueffroy, Chris"