A Personal Story of a Day That Changed The World

Rene had an interesting personal story about the fall of the wall. He said that on the night it was torn down in 1989, he was leading a meeting in East Germany about school restructuring. At 10 a.m., his audience unexpectedly rose spontaneously and left the room, leaving him mystified, but what could he do. He closed his meeting, and went home. At 4 a.m., there was a loud knocking on the door of his apartment. He rose to find at his doorstep to his astonishment a friend who had previously fled over the wall to Hungary. The friend told him that the wall was down, and he must come and see for himself. On arrival at the site of the breached wall, Rene found a lonely East German major "guarding" the breach. He inquired, "If we cross, can we return?" The major wouldn't answer, even when the question was repeated several times. Finally, with a sweep of his hand and a shrug, he simply waived the gathered East Germans through.Thus it was that one small party of East Germans found themselves standing in the other half of their city for the first time in 40 years, not sure where to go and not sure what to do next. It was a uniquely personal glimpse of the exhileration of a people on a momentous night in the history not just of Germany but of the world.