The Berlin Wall had a real impact on me. We lived in East Berlin for a summer in the mid-80s, as my dad, a German historian was granted access to the German historical archives, which were in the east. I saw the Wall from the east and it was terrifying. 1/
Now, I was very young, but the Wall made East Berlin feel like a prison. I remember crossing a street turning my head and there it was a few blocks away. A pristine monstrosity, with guards and barbed wire. 2/
When we were near it my dad would tense up and grab my arm making sure I didn’t get to close, as if we were near a ledge. 3/
But unlike the rest of those imprisoned in East Berlin, we could go back and forth b/w east and west. It felt like switching channels b/w black and white and color tv stations. Except when you switched channels you had to cross it, which I found terrifying. 4/
Now, I was a kid, I didn’t know anything but the wall simply seemed wrong. It was viscerally appalling. It screamed oppression of injustice. I c/d cross and get cool toys but the other kids in my kindergarten/daycare c/dn’t. 5/
JFK had a similar reaction when he went in 1963. The Wall had actually calmed the tension over Berlin which had threatened to spark WWIII. Kennedy was supposed to give a fairly tepid speech about building ties b/w east and west. Then he saw the wall... 6/ amazon.com/Berlin-Wall-Wo…
And... he went off script. And gave a speech that eviscerated communism. “Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us." 7/
McGeorge Bundy his National Security Advisor told him afterword that he “went too far.” But how could you not. 8/
