Fall of the Wall, 9 Nov. 1989.

[I Ratant]

On Christmas Day, 1991, our regular family get-together had been postponed because my cousin's ex-wife had his daughter for the day that year. So my mother and I watched, on live TV, the lowering of the Soviet flag over the Kremlin for the last time. My mother asked me, "Did you ever think you'd live to see this?"

I replied, "Only if I'd lived to be really old, or if we'd defeated them in a war."

I have to admit that I had mixed emotions as we watched, though. I was really happy for obvious reasons, but I also felt a bit sad for the demise of a former superpower.

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The almost certain threat of a world war goes away, and you felt sad??????

 

[Giz]

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The almost certain threat of a world war goes away, and you felt sad??????

Oh come on, who hasn't pined for the days of mutually assured destruction, one-party states and the gulag archipelago?

 

[MG1962]

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The almost certain threat of a world war goes away, and you felt sad??????

Compared to the crazies we have to deal with today. For all its faults at least you had a fair shot of knowing where you stood with the Soviet Union

 

[jhunter1163]

The Berlin Wall was the very symbol of communism; now it's a symbol of capitalism since you can buy pieces of it for fifty bucks on eBay.

 

[Pianoro]

I was amazed to learn about the luxury Honecker lived in. Gold taps? Who the heck needs gold taps? One day, I shall have unlimited power solely to find out whether a wish for gold taps suddenly comes over me.

Interesting, I remember being surprised when I first realized in what comparatively modest circumstances the leaders of East Germany lived.

Sure, compared to the rest of the population they enjoyed luxury, but that mostly consisted of a steady supply of bananas and pineapples as well as faucets (I suspect they may have been brass instead of gold) imported from West Germany. They had their own guard regiment and a large number of staff, but otherwise their lifestyle paled in comparison to even modestly well of people in the west. In November 1989 East German television was able to gain access to the previously sealed compound (called the 'Waldsiedlung Wandlitz') where the party leadership lived. And while the comparatively luxury shown in the report further stoked the anger of the population, I also read that many people in East Germany had expected the senior party members to live in much more lavish circumstances.

The Waldsiedlung Wandlitz was built in reaction to the 1956 uprising in Hungary. The East German leadership felt the need to lock themselves away from their own population behind walls and fences. The area was officially designated and signed as a 'wildlife research area'.

 

[anglolawyer]

Interesting, I remember being surprised when I first realized in what comparatively modest circumstances the leaders of East Germany lived.

Sure, compared to the rest of the population they enjoyed luxury, but that mostly consisted of a steady supply of bananas and pineapples as well as faucets (I suspect they may have been brass instead of gold) imported from West Germany. They had their own guard regiment and a large number of staff, but otherwise their lifestyle paled in comparison to even modestly well of people in the west. In November 1989 East German television was able to gain access to the previously sealed compound (called the 'Waldsiedlung Wandlitz') where the party leadership lived. And while the comparatively luxury shown in the report further stoked the anger of the population, I also read that many people in East Germany had expected the senior party members to live in much more lavish circumstances.

The Waldsiedlung Wandlitz was built in reaction to the 1956 uprising in Hungary. The East German leadership felt the need to lock themselves away from their own population behind walls and fences. The area was officially designated and signed as a 'wildlife research area'.

Ah, I didn't know all that. It was reported the DDR leaders had salted away large fortunes. Was there anything in that?

 

[Spindrift]

Ah, I didn't know all that. It was reported the DDR leaders had salted away large fortunes. Was there anything in that?

It was all in blue jeans.

 

[Pianoro]

Ah, I didn't know all that. It was reported the DDR leaders had salted away large fortunes. Was there anything in that?

I am not sure. The only high-profile case I know about is that of Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski. He was the head of a secret department in the Ministry for Foreign Trade called 'Kommerzielle Koordinierung' or 'KoKo' (a nondescript designation that translates straight into English). The department was in charge of obtaining foreign currency for the GDR. There was a world of shady deals going on there including secret arms and maybe drug trade. Schalck-Golodkowski was charged with the embezzlement of huge sums during his tenure at KoKo in the mid 1990s, but the case was eventually dropped. I don't know how much evidence there is for what was actually going on.

It was all in blue jeans.

This illustrates why maybe amassing huge personal fortunes was not that common with senior party members. Many of them (in contrast to selected people like Schalck-Golodkowski) would simply not had much access to foreign currencies (of actual value). That is not to say that power wasn't abused for personal gain in other ways.

After the GDR had ceased to exist, previously state owned commercial property was sold off. In this process, large sums of money were embezzled (or obtained by other illegal or semi-legal processes) by individuals. I would assume that some (many?) of those were probably former high-ranking party members.

 

[jimbob]

After the GDR had ceased to exist, previously state owned commercial property was sold off. In this process, large sums of money were embezzled (or obtained by other illegal or semi-legal processes) by individuals. I would assume that some (many?) of those were probably former high-ranking party members.

The nomenkultura did quite well in Russia after the dissolution of the USSR.

 

[Giz]

The nomenkultura did quite well in Russia after the dissolution of the USSR.

Yes. Russia went from Communism to Cronyism/Gangsterism without stopping at Capitalism and collecting $$$.

 

[jimbob]

Except I should probably have use the present continuous tense.

 

[Dr. Keith]

I was in Dortmund on business when the Berlin wall fell, so, not wanting to miss this world event I re booked my ticket, and, for the first time in my life flew British Airways first class to Tegel, Berlin

<snip>

It was the most amazing journey I had ever made.

What a fantastic opportunity. Well done taking advantage of it.

 

[FreshHat]

There was quite an effort made to show the East Germans why they should keep it up:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ5rIbnD_P4

Quoting Bart Simpson:

"As much as I hate that man right now, you gotta love that suit."

 

[newyorkguy]

You are right, this is probably a better assessment of the opinion many Russians hold. My sample is skewed, as I really only know second generation Russians (whose attachment to Russia seems mostly emotional) and people who did quite well for themselves in the 1990s. <snip>

Thanks. Most of the Russians I knew (worked with) emigrated in the late 1990s. They were very hopeful when the Soviet Union fell but events soon convinced them it was badly done. One Russian woman I knew, with a degree in analytic chemistry, had been a mid-level manager at a state-run factory whose business ended when the Soviet Union fell. They had been making something technical like aircraft gyroscopes. They tried to reinvent themselves as toy makers. Meanwhile the plant's managers were selling off the plant's equipment (and pocketing the money). She said the last winter she was there (around 1996) there was no heat in her lab the entire winter. She worked in an overcoat, often with gloves on. She recalled bitterly how the lab workers would sit shivering day after day while wondering if Mikhail was comfortable in his dacha. She said it became too much and she wound up battling extreme depression, almost distraught at times. Eventually her husband agreed they would emigrate to the west. She said they believed if they could stick it out better days were coming but she said it just became impossible to stay.

Another lab chemist I knew emigrated from Poland in 1992 at the age of about thirty-five. She said when she was a little girl she used to pray every night, literally on her knees by her bed with her hands folded, asking God to, "Please tell the United States to invade our country and throw out the Communists."

And welcome to the Forum!

 

[I Ratant]

The Berlin Wall was the very symbol of communism; now it's a symbol of capitalism since you can buy pieces of it for fifty bucks on eBay.

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Not too long in the future, there will be more pieces of the Berlin Wall than it had, like the fragments of the True Cross that could be reassembled into a forest of trees... there's so many of them!

 

[Pianoro]

And welcome to the Forum!

Thanks. And thanks for sharing those stories.

 

[FramerDave]

On Christmas Day, 1991, our regular family get-together had been postponed because my cousin's ex-wife had his daughter for the day that year. So my mother and I watched, on live TV, the lowering of the Soviet flag over the Kremlin for the last time. My mother asked me, "Did you ever think you'd live to see this?"

I replied, "Only if I'd lived to be really old, or if we'd defeated them in a war."

I have to admit that I had mixed emotions as we watched, though. I was really happy for obvious reasons, but I also felt a bit sad for the demise of a former superpower.

Wow, that is really strange how memories get distorted. Until I read this I had very clear memories of coming home New Year's Eve from my mother's funeral and watching the hammer and sickle being lowered. I had to look up the date to convince myself of the correct date.

 

[anglolawyer]

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Not too long in the future, there will be more pieces of the Berlin Wall than it had, like the fragments of the True Cross that could be reassembled into a forest of trees... there's so many of them!

I seriously doubt that. First there was far more wall than there was cross and, second, unless you know better, I doubt there is any market for pieces of the wall. I hope I'm wrong, because my piece will probably be worth something in about eight thousand years.

 

[crescent]

I seriously doubt that. First there was far more wall than there was cross and, second, unless you know better, I doubt there is any market for pieces of the wall. I hope I'm wrong, because my piece will probably be worth something in about eight thousand years.

The Checkpoint Charlie museum sells little bits and pieces of the wall, glued to little plaques or as refrigerator magnets. I've got one. It is a bit kitschy, but it seemed a good museum to contribute to. Granted, it was cheap, and I only spent the money as a way of giving the museum a bit of a donation.

I remember the first time I met someone from what had been East Germany. I met her about six or seven years after German reunification. She lived in Berlin and had the flu when the borders were opened up, she was in her early teens at the time. She was quite sick with a fever and watched it on the news for a bit before going to bed early. The fever broke in the night, and she felt much better in the morning, but was very weak.

She got up and went into the kitchen for breakfast. Her parents were there and she told them about the weird dreams she had when the fever was at its worst. She told them that she had dreamed that the news broadcasters had said that the wall had been breached in places and that the borders were opening up. Her parents told her "That wasn't a dream. Last night after you went to bed, we went over there. Your sister stayed here with you. They let us through, we managed to meet up with some cousins of ours who we had not seen in twenty years. They drove us all over the city, and we walked through a bunch of shops. We didn't sleep at all last night, we just got back an hour ago."

She thought her parents were joking and they had to turn on the TV again just to convince her that it really happened.

 

[Peter May]

What a fantastic opportunity. Well done taking advantage of it.

Yes, it was remarkable, you had to have been there to understand how wonderful it was.
Somewhere, I still have the receipt for the 25 DDR marks i exchanged at the border, my passport showing I had visited a country which today does not exist.