It's Been 20 Years!

Twenty years ago today, the Berlin Wall came down! I remember when it went up, I remember the events and separation of our family, on my mom's side, and I remember rejoicing when it came down! While it was up, it was a very ugly time in world history, and a very sad time in our family history.

See the area between both 'walls'? This area was called the Death Strip.

On Christmas Eve, when I was a little girl, we would put in a telephone call to East Germany to our relatives to wish them a happy holiday and send our love. I would sing German songs to them over the phone. It was very expensive to call and the tone was mixed with joy--at the connection--and sadness--for the separation and their captivity.

The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier put up by the East Germans that completely encircled the city of West Berlin separating it from all of east Germany and also East Berlin. The wall had guard towers on it to keep people in and to keep people out. It started out slowly after WWII, and eventually evolved to a system of 'passes' in order to cross over into the borders. Isn't that the way with all things diabolical and Lucifer-ish? Suck 'em in slowly, until you've got 'em! By 1961 they finally erected a permanent wall with another wall several yards beyond it circling around the first one. The area in the middle became know as the 'death strip' because if you were caught trying to escape you were killed, or wounded and left to die however long it took, because those who might have been waiting on the west side didn't dare to cross over to rescue you for fear of being killed themselves. This area had beds of nails, anti-vehicle trenches, and many other deterrants. Can you even imagine?


Cousin Manfred has many stories of being blessed by God in helping with escapes with people in his car trunk where a sudden and fierce rain storm came up and they just waved him through the border crossing. This era was a dark and terrible time.

President Reagan demanded for Gorbachev to 'tear down this wall!' Finally, on November 9, 1989, it began!

Oh, the long awaited freedom, happiness, and families being reunited!

I got these pictures off the internet so you can get the feel of what this must have been like. We have several family members who kept the church going in East Germany during this time. You can read about them in a book titled, Behind The Iron Curtain. They are my grandfather's sister's sons, Joachim, Burkhardt, and Bodo. I met them a few years ago when they came to America and we had a reunion in Utah. They are my mother's first cousins.

In 1973, I went to Germany with my grandmother who was looking to be reunited with her family after 43 years of being apart. My grandfather had just passed away and she wanted a traveling companion. This is a whole other story that I need to post, but for now, we met up with my grandfather's sister, Hilla, who had worked for quite a while to get a 'pass' to come to Frankfurt to see us. We met up at Otto Domnig's butcher shop and home (which was above the butcher shop) and it was quite a reunion. So many hugs, kisses, and tears.

So. Happy Day today, for the Lord's hand in the destruction of this wretched wall. It truly was a miracle!

Celebrating!