Tear Down This Wall...Again

Today, November 9th marks two important dates in German history, one tragic and one triumphant. The tragic occured 71 years ago; the Nazis' Kristallnacht, or Night of the Broken Glass, an anti-Semantic tirade that caused the deaths of at least 91 German Jews, the destruction of hundreds of synagogues and vandalizing and looting of thousands of Jewish businesses in the state-sanctioned riots that night.

But November 9th also stands for hope, the day that the Berlin Wall was demolished, unifying East and West Germany into one again. To mark the 20th anniversary of the end of divided Germany, the country put up a fake "wall" (giant domino pieces installed along a stretch of the Berlin Wall's original path) at Brandenburg Gate and "tore" the wall down again. Reporting for NBC News was Tom Brokaw, the only anchor who reported live while the Berlin Wall was torn down the first time (link to his report from today). Brokaw shared some of his memories from 1989 and reported on the current events in Berlin. It was really cool to see Brokaw's 1989 broadcast next to his reporting that he did today. Brokaw's been around for a very long time.

I wasn't quite born when the Berlin Wall first went down (two weeks late!) Although I wasn't born, I know that this was a major event. It was the end of the Soviet Union and the end of the division of Germany. The United States saw it as much a win for them as they did for the Germans. My parents remember this day and they've lived in America their whole life. I can't imagine what it must have been like for the Germans who saw that wall torn down. I've heard stories where family members were separated by the wall. What would that have been like to finally see, say, your sister or your father after years of having a bit of wall separating you?

If you are old enough, do you remember when the Berlin Wall was torn down? How did you feel? What images do you remember the most? Did you see Tom Brokaw's broadcast from Berlin in 1989? How do you feel about the Berlin Wall in general? Do you think the Berlin Wall stood for something more than just a separated country?