The Berlin Wall did not fall in 1989

In My Humble Opinion
1

I think people get this confused. While the border crossings were opened in November 1989, aside from some symbolic chipping the wall itself was still technically operational until June 1990 when its demolition officially started. Checkpoint Charlie was still operational until November 1990 and there were actually large sections of the wall standing as late as 1992.

I’m not saying the events that happened 25 years ago to this day weren’t significant of course, but the fact is there was still an intact Berlin Wall for about seven months to a year after that.

What 9 November 1989 marked was the beginning of free travel through the Berlin Wall for East Germans, not the actual destruction of the wall which began the following year. There was a possibility well into 1990 that the wall could have been closed again, had the reunification not have gone as smoothly as it did due to East Germany being so desperate for aid.

Of course to many people the “Berlin Wall” was more of a metaphysical structure than it was the wall itself so this might seem a moot point. I just think it’s interesting that one could actually go and see the Wall well after it “fell”.

2

There’s a pedant in every group!

:smiley:

3

It was the opening of the border that was the important event. The actual physical demolition of the border fortifications was just an epilogue.

4

The formal demolition wasn’t completed until a few months later, but people started physically demolishing the wall pretty much immediately; everything from guys with sledgehammers bashing away at it to entire sections being taken down by the East German border guards themselves.

5

Try a few years.

6

Oh for fuck’s sake. :rolleyes:

7

Selective hyperliteralism.

8

I don’t think anybody was actually confused about this.

9

Even if the wall was still physically standing today, the moment free access was allowed through it, it fell.

10

Aren’t there a few pieces still left here and there, as memorials?

ETA: regardless, the wall fell in 1989. The rest was cleanup.

11

Huge sections were already gone when I was there in July 1990. I rented a hammer and chisel from a guy and spent about 10-15 minutes collecting pieces of the wall. I still have them.

12

And That is why Capitalism won!:wink:

  1. The wall is declared open.
  2. People are hacking at the wall.
  3. Profit!
13

The United States did not actually become an independent nation on July 4, 1776; the war had started long before and would not be decided for long after, and the country was not organized in its permanent fashion until years afterwards.

But you have to pick a starting point.

14

I was in (the former) East Germany 3 days after unification, and although I was not in Berlin, we stopped by the side of the road at the crossing from West to East in order to gather some remnants of the barrier there. I still have those, too.

The whole visit was quite surreal-- one that I will never forget.

15

You’re probably one of those people who refused to celebrate the end of the 20th century at the end of 1999, hmm? :dubious:

16

As already mentioned, everybody and his dog was bringing home pieces of the wall home long before the official demolition started.

The first images of the fall of the Berlin wall were of it actually falling, demolished by the crowd.
Not going there at the time is one of my (many) regrets.

17

Who was in charge of the demolition and removal of the Iron Curtain?

18

There were actually two walls - an “inner” wall and an “outer” wall. I believe the outer wall was the one people chipped away at and the inner one came out later?

That wouldn’t surprise me since the demolition officially began the month prior to that.

19

Technically it did end in 2001 yes :smiley: But I celebrated both.

20

Technically the Berlin Wall didn’t fall at all. Falling implies it was raised to a height and dropped downwards due to the force of gravity. This did not happen. The wall was demolished in place.