BBC NEWS | Europe | Berlin celebrates demise of Wall Was anybody there when it came down ? It was a Thursday so I must have been at work.
My next door neighbour's son in law was and brought home a chunk of the wall. My neighbour asked me to cut it in four, which I did, and then mounted the pieces. He gave me a chunk which still hangs on my wall. It's at the top of this pic with the underline. cheers, phil
Lad I worked with was with a detachment of 2LI.The night the wall came down he and a Sgt got a sledge hammer each with the intention of knocking off a few pieces of the wall to sell to the Americans , who were stationed nearby,as souvenirs.After hammering away for over an hour without making much impression they returned to barracks ,demolished part of an old toilet block added some spraypaint and sold them off as genuine pieces of the Berlin Wall .Wonder how many people have pieces of the barrack toilet block proudly displayed ? Verrieres
Lad I worked with was with a detachment of 2LI.The night the wall came down he and a Sgt got a sledge hammer each with the intention of knocking off a few pieces of the wall to sell to the Americans , who were stationed nearby,as souvenirs.After hammering away for over an hour without making much impression they returned to barracks ,demolished part of an old toilet block added some spraypaint and sold them off as genuine pieces of the Berlin Wall .Wonder how many people have pieces of the barrack toilet block proudly displayed ? Verrieres I'm sure that plenty of people did the same thing - and made a few quid from it!!
I went to Berlin about 10 years ago and they were still flogging bits of 'the wall' then... probably still are now. I reckon if you put together all the pieces that are supposedly of the wall they would go round Germany, let alone Berlin.
So my moon rock could be fake then?? I remember it well.. someone shouted to me ....THE BERLIN WALLS GONE...been there mate...theyll nick anything there...
It is brilliant!!!!! my favourite city, its got a bit of everything... ancient history on Museum Island, Prussian history with all the Frederick the Great stuff and Sansoucci, then all through 20th century. It really is Europe under a microscope
I've only been to Berlin the once back in 1992. You could feel the history oozing from the place. Lots of Trabbies still on the roads back then. Food in the resturants in the old East Berlin was still grim compared to the West. I'll always associate Berlin with U2's album Achtung Baby! One & Zoo Station bring back memories.
I'll always associate Berlin with U2's album Achtung Baby! One & Zoo Station bring back memories. I went to Zoo Station simply for that reason! walking through the Tiergarten at night was quite something, then under the Brandenburg Gate and down into the East... i must go back sometime soon
Just had a giggle at the news, they said there was a joke 20 years ago, 'The reunification of Germany is a bit like the Beatles reforming, let's hope they don't do another world tour.'
So my moon rock could be fake then?? I remember it well.. someone shouted to me ....THE BERLIN WALLS GONE...been there mate...theyll nick anything there... The selling of items purported to be the guinuine item reminds of a verbal exchange in an old WW2 era movie, "Hail the Conquering Hero." The scene in the movie has a group of Marines on leave in the US, back from Guadalcanal and a little short on cash after losing on a "sure thing" bet in town. They are in a bar in California. Sgt. Heppelfinger: We're just a little bit short of cash, see... Cafe Owner: Uh, uh. Sgt. Heppelfinger: ...or I'd never make you this proposition. Cafe Owner: Ho, ho. Sgt. Heppelfinger: I was going to save it for the museum, see, but when you're out on a limb you gotta make sacrifices, that's all. You follow me? Cafe Owner: I'm ahead of you. Sgt. Heppelfinger: I'm gonna let you in on the ground floor of something very, very rare. You remember when General Yamatoho committed hari-kari? Cafe Owner: Possibly. Sgt. Heppelfinger: I happened to be very close by, see. [winks, indicates he pulled out one of Yamatoho's teeth and shows the very large elk's tooth he got from one of the other Marines] Cafe Owner: Big man, wasn't he? Sgt. Heppelfinger: Immense! This is one of the rarest mementos... Cafe Owner: [as he pulls a large Japanese flag out of his coat] You wouldn't like to buy the flag they buried him in, would you? I could let you have it very reasonable. [pulls out another flag] Cafe Owner: I have it in several sizes. [begins to pull other items out of his coat pockets] Cafe Owner: MacArthur's suspenders! The first bullet that landed in Pearl Harbor... you can take your pick. A piece of a Japanese submarine. [turns the piece of metal over] Cafe Owner: If you look at it this way it becomes a German submarine. [turns the piece again] Cafe Owner: And this way it's a piece of a shell that just missed Montgomery! Here we have the seat of Rommel's pants. And last, but not least, we have a button from Hitler's coat... although that one I don't personally believe. Sgt. Heppelfinger: Wise guy. Some things never change....
Germany is marking 50 years since the building of the Berlin Wall when the communist East closed its border, dividing the city for 28 years. Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit told a ceremony on Bernauer Street: "The Wall is history but we must not forget it." BBC News - Germany marks 50 years since Berlin Wall
A minutes silence was held at Noon in honour of all those who were killed whilst trying to flee to the west. Lots of press and TV coverage this week. Regards Tom
BBC News - David Hasselhoff joins Berlin Wall demonstration David Hasselhoff has joined a campaign to stop bulldozers breaching the longest surviving remnant of the Berlin Wall. The actor, who has a wide fan base in Germany, joined a protest against developers who want to build apartments there. From a van at the site he sang Looking for Freedom, the song he performed at the Brandenburg Gate on New Year's Eve 1989. His appearance then came shortly after the wall dividing the former East and West Germany came down.
Another bit of the wall has gone. BBC News - Historic Berlin Wall section removed amid protests A German property developing firm has removed parts of a historic stretch of the Berlin Wall despite weeks of protests. Builders removed four segments of the so-called East Side Gallery stretch before dawn on Wednesday. More than 200 police officers were deployed to monitor the site. Protesters say the landmark, which divided communist-run East Berlin from West Berlin until 1990, should be left as a monument to freedom.