Do you remember where you was when the Berlin wall came down?

[icymist]

It was twenty years ago today. I was working in a bakery all night long listening to the event being reported on the radio.

'Let the People Out' -- The Night the Wall Fell as Witnessed by SPIEGEL
By SPIEGEL Staff

Crying policemen. Stinking traffic jams of East German Trabis on the posh streets of West Berlin. Strangers falling into each others' arms. The night of Nov. 9, 1989 was unforgettable. A look into the SPIEGEL archives brings the historic day to life.

More

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[ronnykmarshall]

1. My brother was dying.

We were at his apt at his bedside.

Watching the events in Berlin took my mind off it for a while.

[Taverner]

2. In college, taking a class on Soviet Communism of all things

Talk about a mid-term game-changer!

[PVnRT]

5. What was the lesson plan the next day?

"So, um......oh, just fuck it!"

[Lefty48197]

3. I remember where I wish I WAS at that time

and that was on the streets of Berlin celebrating with everybody else!

[crim son]

4. I think I was watching "21 Jump Street" when I heard the news,

in my neat apartment in Jamaica Plain.

[PVnRT]

6. Watching it on the CBS evening news

I very clearly remember Dan Rather pretty much narrating it.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. I remember roughly where I was,

but my personal life was a shambles at the time and I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to global matters.

[meegbear]

8. I was GETTING STONED!!!

Really ... we were toking and watching TV when the reports came on.

[Ozymanithrax]

9. I was serving aboard the U. S. S. Enterprise...

repairing an F14 Tomcat.

[LeftinOH]

10. Watching it on TV and selfishly thinking: 'Now l'll *never* get to see the Berlin Wall'.

[Warpy]

11. I got home at midnight and tuned in the late-late news

and saw the jubilant people with sledgehammers whacking away at that wall and wondered what would have happened if they'd all just decided to unite and do it 20 years earlier.

I very slightly regretted the loss of some of the art on the western sector side of the wall.

Still, it was just more proof that despots can rule only with our consent and that once they lose it, the walls they erect to block our progress will fall overnight.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

12. I was roasting coffee

Just a week or so later, a piece of spray-painted concrete appeared on a table in our cafe. Near as we could tell, it was either a hunk of the Berlin Wall (owner had just returned from Europe trip) or a piece of Candlestick Park from SF's World Series game, interrupted by the Loma Prieta earthquake (manager was at the game).

[treestar]

13. I was in an extremely apolitical phase

I had a cool job and paid attention only to it!

I actually don't remember it. In fact, Poppy was President already? So I guess Mr. Gorbachev did not tear that wall down at Ronnie's request.

[MineralMan]

14. I was studying Alzheimer's Disease to try to figure out

what was wrong with Reagan.

[GermanDem]

15. I was right there, in Berlin!

I was in college at the time, and had to give a big presentation late in the afternoon on that day, so I didn't really pay attention. When I came home that night, my boyfriend (now husband) had already arrived (he was visiting from a town in West-Germany where he lived), and he and my roommate had dinner, when suddenly the phone rang, and a friend of ours asked "Are there any Ossis (the nickname for people from East Germany) there yet?" We had no clue what was going on!!! So we turned on the TV, and watched in awe what was happening. The next day we went to see friends in East Berlin, and it looked like we were the only ones going from the west over to the east! We watched with excitement the crowds who went the other direction, from east to west. It was wonderful to see all the happy faces of all these people, finally getting the freedom they deserved!

[Arugula Latte]

18. Very cool!

You saw history. :hi:

[tuckessee]

16. Grammar class working on verb conjugation. n/t

[icymist]

19. Made you wince, huh?

Didn't realize the bad grammar until it was too late. Sorry.

[Arugula Latte]

17. In my San Francisco apartment, watching open-mouthed.

on edit: Can you imagine if we'd had the tubes of the Internet then? That would have been an incredible experience to share online.

[Spoonman]

20. I was there!

In uniform, and helped a group of civilians with pick axes when they got too tired to swing!

There were six of us from my unit, and we all went to a bar with a group of germans after a few hours of tearing it down.
We spent close to $1000 dollars between us buying rounds of beer for everyone in the bar.
I don't remember that night! I think her name was........

[closeupready]

21. Yes, I was working at a home furnishings design showroom in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

It was a fascinating time. I actually ended up visiting Germany and Poland and (then) Czechoslovakia about three years later.

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. At work.

I honestly don't remember, but seeing as how I was putting in 80+ hours between three jobs at that time, I can pretty well guarantee I was at work. Didn't have much time for anything else, or to pay attention to anything else.