Wenn Mauern fallen...

In November 1989, at home in Wales, we watched events in Berlin on TV with awe and wonder. My friend and I flew to Berlin to witness the historic events for ourselves. We watched the steady stream of Trabis and people bumping across the new Potsdamerplatz border crossing. We joined a small, good-natured crowd gathered on the west side of the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate. There were TV crews set up with their floodlights, in eager anticipation of a new breakthrough. Whenever a border guard popped his head over the Wall, the crowd roared at him. The thing I remember most is that my friend and I (who speak no German!) joined in the chant, "Mauer muss weg!". Although we had to come home before anything happened there, when a crossing opened there in December 1989, we felt that in a small way, we had helped to bring this progress about.