20 years after the Berlin Wall fall
In December of 2001, I flew to Germany for the first time. My destination was Berlin. I was presenting a paper at the inaugural Berlin conference on global environmental governance, the first time I presented the results of my research on environmental non-governmental organizations. I arrived at night into the Tegel airport, feverish and unwell.
I’m not able to speak German, but luckily, the woman driver who picked me up spoke enough English to communicate with me and take me to my hotel. We had to drive back to the airport as I had forgotten one of the pieces of my luggage. As we drove back, we struck a conversation and I couldn’t help but ask about the Berlin wall. For me, growing up, having a wall that separated a city in two (well, technically two cities), within what I thought ought to be basically the same country (although Germany did not complete the re-unification until 1990) was a bit crazy. But for her, having lived through the process, she mentioned that the whole Iron Curtain era had been a very painful one, not only for her but for many, many Germans. I can’t even fathom the impact that this separation would have had on German society.
It’s amazing how much we take for granted our liberties and freedoms when we have them.
During my stay in Berlin I went for frequent walks around the city. I walked through the embassies row. I put one of my feet on the Western side and one on where it should have been the Eastern side. I touched the remains of the Wall (a vast majority of it has been removed by souvenir collectors). I tried to absorb the history of the place. Berlin still mesmerizes, and I have a soft spot for Germans in general.
Yes, I admit that I did get my own little piece of the wall as a memento. Though I can’t really help but think that keeping a piece of the wall seems also a bit like keeping with me a small part of the pain that this wall caused on German people. And I don’t feel too happy about it.
Several of my closest friends (including CS, my best friend HZ’s partner) are German, or descendants of Germans, and Berlin still remains one of the most amazing cities I’ve visited. I have several research partners in Berlin (and heck, I even had Mexican food there!)
Hopefully the inscription above will sometime become true. No more wars, no more walls.
Related posts:
- Roxette’s comeback in the fall of 2009
- The painful process of writing academic book chapters/articles
- In the grand scheme of things
- Congratulations Miss604 on your 4 years!
- Is this fall, winter or what?
