This time 25 years ago probably nobody knew what would happen that evening and night. I still remember my aunt calling from Berlin and telling us the exciting news. And I remember hiding behind the couch while my parents were glued to the TV as it was way behind my bedtime and I didn´t want to miss anything!
It´s already been an exciting summer: my grandparents lived in a little village in Burgenland, right next to the hungarian border. When visiting them I was used to wave at the hungarian soldiers in their lookout towers and be careful not to cross (or got too close to) the borders. This spring, summer I loved to hear the “tales” of all the (former east) germans secretly crossing the borders from Hungary to Austria, being found by the locals somewhere in the fields, the vineyards or in the city center looking for a way to get to Vienna and the (west) german embassy. And then there was the “Paneuropean Picnic” with open borders for some hours until Hungary finally opened their frontiers for good and lines of Trabbis made their way through Austria to (west) Germany.
25 years later 8000 glowing balloons recreate the route of the Berlin Wall. Unfortunately I won’t see the Lichtergrenze as I´m not in Berlin but I took a walk along Bernauer Straße on a sunday in October.
The wall ran along the street and it became “famous” for escapes from windows of apartment blocks in the eastern part of the city, down to the street, which was in the West until the buildings were first sealed up and later demolished.
In 1998 a memorial and documentation center was erected.
