The Wall came down

November 9, 1989

Don't know much about history

Today is the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin wall. My home page on my web browser is the BBC, a news organization with a more global outlook than most American news source. The picture on the home page caught my attention. At that time I didn't know very much about the difference between East and West Germany. I don't claim to know much more now 20 years later. East Germany was a communist and oppressed country, that was the extent of my knowledge. Recently I watched a film, The Lives of Others

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It is a foreign film with subtitles. The setting was 1984 and it was an education in government activity of East Germany. The film was eye opening. It also carried the universal theme of the love of human beings for each other and the sadness of a life lacking in love. On the anniversary of this historic event, I recommend you watch the movie with your older teens. It is both moving and enlightening. And your kids will think it is much better than a textbook version of a look into the history of East/West Germany. It has real people, real drama a look into what really happened in that part of the world, not just some extracted facts, dates, and places. History is best told through a story by someone who lived through that time in history.