The Fall of the Berlin Wall
 

Wow, I can't believe it's been that long. It makes me feel kind of old.

I was in graduate school and substitute-teaching part time. I remember I had a short-term assignment teaching college-bound Calculus. One day, we put the math books down, got the newspapers out and started discussing the situation.

Does anyone remember when Nadia Comaneci defected to the United States?

I was 4, and so I was probably making one of those hand turkey things in pre-kinder in preparation for Thanksgiving.

I was in fifth grade.... I remember it, but I wasn't clear on the significance.

Yes, although I hesitate to admit it. It is a vague memory--now I have to look up the details.

because I was four as well...
 

I remember it. My father was in the Navy (officer on a nuclear submarine). He made both my brother and I sit down and watch the coverage. He had tears in his eyes. Now that I am older, I have a better grasp as to why it was so important. I can't believe it has been 19 years.

A family friend, Elliott Jacobson, was working for the AP, and assigned to cover the Velvet Revolution happening in Eastern Europe during 1989. He was in West Berlin on November 9th, and couldn't get a flight to Prague, where he was to interview Vaclav Havel. He called into the AP office, where they said something like "Forget Czechoslovakia! The story of the century is happening at your feet!" He ended up having a hand in any of the AP coverage of the Wall falling, and becoming a friend of Vaclav Havel.

I would love to have gotten a piece of the Wall, but such is life.

I remember it very well and all those saying they were in preschool or were too young to understand the significance are making me feel like I need to go find a walker...

Vague Memories-Nadia Comanechi's defection (1989), according to my recent research.

Thoughts/recollections on the fall of the Berlin Wall 19 years ago- I remember that at the time it seemed like it was a really big momentous occasion. The breaking down of the Wall meant that the Communists were attempting to pursue capitalism. A unified Germany meant that the country as a whole could be a part of capitalist culture. Now it seems that it symbolizes the larger global community and economy, with the US still acting like "Big Brother."

Me too.

Does anybody remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaYKXNJxNgg

I loved that episode..... Actually - I thought that episode came out before the wall actually fell. I was only 8, so I dont remember for certain. For some reason I thought that the concert was in Alvin's dream while he was on a plane to go play in Berlin, but he woke up just before landing and the wall was still there. Does anybody remember?

If you go to Berlin, you can still buy a piece...It's like 5 bucks for a piece the size of a quarter.

and for like 4000$ you can buy like a two foot by two foot piece. It's sort of ridiculous.

After living in Berlin awhile, I can't tell you what kind of impact that wall had on life. I lived in the East and it was a whole 'nother world from the West.

I was one year old