Thundering Fall

Loud crowds and people young to old gather at the wall, The Berlin Wall. The government is now weak. One day, the wall was under strong surveillance, the next day, none---triggering a thundering fall of the East German government.


Question #1: So Dad, where were you when the wall fell?
Answer: “I was in my junior year at Iowa State University watching T.V. in a student lounge.”

Question #2: How did you feel when the wall started to fall? Why did you feel that way?
Answer: “I was shocked and I didn’t think it would ever happen because the division had been there so long. It didn’t seem possible for it to go away any time soon.”

Question #3: Why was the wall so important to you?
Answer: “Because I had visited the wall in the summer of 1987, and I went to Check Point Charley and watched others cross the border into East Berlin.”

Question #4: What did you do after you heard about the fall of the wall?
Answer: “I watched T.V. well into the morning."

Question #5: Do you know anybody that was affected by the fall? If so, how were they affected by the fall?
Answer: “I did not personally know anyone directly affected by the wall. Indirectly, I’m sure my German brother who was in the West German Military at the time saw reduced tension on the East and West German border.”

Question #6: Do you think it was dangerous for the Germans?
Answer: “Potentially. The risk was in what the Soviet Union would do in response. East Germany was a puppet state and it ran the risk of provoking the Soviet Union to send troops to stop the fall of the wall.”

Question #7: I hear it was on your birthday when it fell. How were you celebrating your birthday?
Answer: “I was watching T.V. on November 9, my 22nd birthday.”

Question #8: Why T.V.?
Answer: “It was before the internet and every major news channel was covering this event live.”

Question #9: Did you want to be there at the moment?
Answer: “Yes, it would have been a chance to be part of a Where Were You When... moment.”

Question #10: Do you have any thing else to add?
Answer: When I was in Berlin, Check Point Charley was the main U.S. border crossing into East Berlin. Every afternoon, an East German armed personnel carrier would drive to the West Berlin side of the border and the solders would sit on the car and smoke. Why? Because they could.


My prospective changed because I never knew there was so much involved in this event. At first, I thought that someone hit the wall with a wrecking ball. I now know that the East German government collapsed.