Tear down this wall

Freedom-loving people worldwide celebrate 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

By Randy Hicks, President of Georgia Family Council

Next month, people worldwide will remember and celebrate the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, which took place on November 9th, 1989. It’s a moment worth remembering and important to commemorate. For the felling of the wall not only represented a new day in Germany, it also symbolically and substantively continued the process of bringing down the Iron Curtain – an ideological, tyrannical and militaristic barrier – that separated the free west from the oppressed communist east.

Quite simply, the tearing down of the wall represented the hope of freedom and signaled the weakening of totalitarian regimes (led by the Soviets) that had stifled the human spirit and inflicted suffering on untold millions worldwide.

A brief history of the Berlin Wall paints a vivid picture of its malevolent nature and enables us perhaps to climb into the shoes of those who suffered in its shadows and celebrated in its demise.

When World War II ended in 1945, a war of ideas – of worldviews – erupted between the United States and the Soviet Union. That war of ideas was most visible in Berlin where the Soviets took control of what was known as East Berlin, while the United States and her Allies took responsibility for West Berlin.

As the rebuilding of the city began, the Soviet-controlled East German government employed the same communist controls and economic planning as in the U.S.S.R. Radio and newspapers were censored and East Germans could only read and learn what the government wanted them to know.

Just a short distance away, the Allies were rebuilding West Germany and Berlin as a democracy, with a free press and a growing private sector. Spurred on by the Marshall Plan, West Germany (and West Berlin in particular) recovered at a rapid rate and, in what was hailed as an economic miracle, quickly became the biggest economy in Europe. In contrast, the planned economy of East Germany languished, leaving its people with a living standard that was roughly half that of West Germans.

As the Cold War escalated in the 1950s and the East German economy lagged far behind, people began leaving East Germany en masse. Close to 20,000 East Germans fled to West Germany every month. And while the Western media reported it and East Berliners knew about it, the state-controlled press in East Germany suppressed it.

The mass exodus of people embarrassed the Communist regime and raised concerns about a “brain drain.” So, on Aug. 13, 1961, the East German government threw up a 27-mile-long wall of barbed wire across the city, splitting East Berlin from West Berlin to "protect citizens from capitalism.” Telephone lines and mail service between East and West Germany were cut off, and East Berliners were barred from visiting family members or reporting for jobs in the West. East German guards were given standing orders to shoot to kill anyone who tried to escape.

What happened in the ensuing years testifies to the longing for freedom and opportunity harbored in the hearts of people everywhere.

Despite all the security measures and threats, over 10,000 escapes were attempted. People dug tunnels, developed pulley systems, escaped under the hoods of cars, and attempted all manner of death-defying escapes. Among the notable escapes was one involving two families who floated over the wall in a hot- air balloon.

Tragically, there were escape attempts that were brutally thwarted as well. During the nearly 38 years the wall was in place, 276 East Germans were slain while trying to flee. Perhaps the most famous was 18-year-old Peter Fletcher, whom East German guards opened fire on when he attempted to scale the wall. While he lay dying on the sidewalk, soldiers refused to allow anyone to come to his aid. West German and American soldiers reported hearing cries of “Help” for an hour, before finally fading away.

Pause for just a few moments. Do you ever find yourself wondering if the situation in communist countries was as bad as some people say it was? The answer to that question is found in the Berlin Wall, and in the efforts of those 10,000 people who were willing to risk their very lives to scale it in one way or another.

In the United States, there’s discussion of putting up fences and walls to control the number of people who come to (and desire to be in) our country. In the case of the Berlin Wall and the communist world, so many people wanted to leave that they put up barriers to keep them from doing so. In that sense, the Berlin Wall was just like a prison wall, put in place to keep people from escaping and finding freedom.

Just two years prior to the tearing down of the wall, at a time when most people could not have imagined such an occurrence, President Ronald Reagan gave one of his more memorable speeches. Standing outside Brandenburg Gate, and near the Berlin Wall, Reagan gave clarity to what was at stake and emboldened an already bold and brave resistance to persist in their demands for freedom.

“Freedom leads to prosperity,” Reagan said. “Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.”

He continued by saying, “We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

President Reagan’s words were stirring when he spoke them and they never fail to inspire me I read them now. His words are powerful because they get to a fundamental truth and the reason why we celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall. Liberty and the enlightened self-determination that it permits is a fundamental condition that allows people, and the societies they create, to flourish.

As Americans, we tend to take our freedom for granted, often assuming it can’t be lost. But it is paramount that as we celebrate this momentous historical milestone, that we remember that freedom is always hard won, it is always under attack, and can be easily lost. In celebrating Berlin’s freedom, let us consider and be thankful for the freedoms we also enjoy.

Georgia Family Council is a non-profit research and education organization committed to fostering conditions in which individuals, families and communities thrive. For more information, go to www.georgiafamily.org, (770) 242-0001, stephen.daniels@georgiafamily.org.