Wall fall day
- Thread starter JohnD
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He threw a Farmfoods sausage roll at it.
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It would probably have opened up sooner or later, one way or another. The Soviet Union was collapsing and could no longer afford big armies of occupation. The Eastern nations were boiling with popular demonstrations and desire for change. Refugees were fleeing the East and decimating the workforce. In Germany the marchers were no longer chanting "let us out" but "we're staying here."
Mr Putin was in Berlin at the time as a KGB officer and has expressed regret that the crowds were not crushed by force. He has subsequently stamped out popular resistance in Russia.
But nobody on the spot would take responsibility to use machine guns and tanks. They might not have been lynched but they could well have been court-martialled if change continued.
Once the breach had occurred, the state forces lost confidence, and the citizens gained it. In some of the old photos you will see border guards looking stunned and dazed as they see their world crumbling around them. Eventually they opened gates themselves. As public servants they had a duty to prevent people being injured in the crush.
Mr Putin was in Berlin at the time as a KGB officer and has expressed regret that the crowds were not crushed by force. He has subsequently stamped out popular resistance in Russia.
But nobody on the spot would take responsibility to use machine guns and tanks. They might not have been lynched but they could well have been court-martialled if change continued.
Once the breach had occurred, the state forces lost confidence, and the citizens gained it. In some of the old photos you will see border guards looking stunned and dazed as they see their world crumbling around them. Eventually they opened gates themselves. As public servants they had a duty to prevent people being injured in the crush.
Incredible moment in history.
Sad to think the last person who died trying to escape East Berlin happened on March 1989 (hot air balloon).
I wonder if we will see the same thing happen in Korea in our lifetime?
Sad to think the last person who died trying to escape East Berlin happened on March 1989 (hot air balloon).
I wonder if we will see the same thing happen in Korea in our lifetime?
E
EddieM
Dunno, but wasn't it "relatively" recently i.e. quite some time after the end of WW2?
E
EddieM
ok, I cheated, Douglas Hurd apparently in 1990.
There were later deaths at the borders between Germany and other countries, details of these deaths were not made public.
19 year old Michael Weber was shot at close range on the border between East Germany and Bulgaria close to the Pirin mountains on or just before July 14th 1989. His parents were given information about his death and told not to reveal that their son had died while crossing the border.
If the authorities in the West had been unaware of an incident on the East-West borders then the East were likely to try and cover it up.
N
Newboy
Cobblers - concerns were also raised by François Mitterrand and even Helmut Kohl
No, it was when the treaty (above) came into effect.
Upon deposit of the last instrument of ratification, united Germany became fully sovereign on 15 March 1991.
The armies of occupation left in 1994.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Final_Settlement_with_Respect_to_Germany#Implementation
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