The Berlin Wall

One of my favorite parts about the trip was seeing the piece of the Berlin Wall. It would be cool to me to see as many pieces of the Berlin Wall that I could.

The first is at the Nixon Presidential Library. The side with the graffiti was on the west side of Berlin. (The side controlled by the United States, Britain and France.) The other side is completely blank. (From the side of Berlin that was controlled by the Soviet Union.)

The second is at the Reagan Presidential Library. The other side is also completely blank. (Except for a marking that was made to mark which piece of the wall it is after the fact.)

One of the main reasons the wall was built was to stop emigration from East Berlin. I guess when people have a choice between oppression and non-oppression they will choose the first.

Several people who killed or put in prison for trying to cross the wall. However, there were several success stories. Some found ways to dig tunnels, ride a hot air balloon over, or take a zipline over.

The Berlin wall fell when I was only 4 years old. So my students definitely do not have a appreciation for the events surrounding it and the world it was constructed in. Listening to speeches and learning more about the Berlin Wall this past week has been a good way for me to understand, so I can pass that on to my students.