With the fact, that I will visit next year for one month the Philippines as a part of an development aid team, I decided to conduct my old friend: “The Internet”. I love it! It helps me to obtain first-hand information and supports me when I am doing a search on a topic. It gives me free, immediate and media-rich information from different source. The content mostly has pictures, video and hyperlinks. The old days where you had to go in a local library for to do a research are gone. Also, one nice thing is that you can easily compare content and different subject.
As a first start I decided to do a comparison between Germany and the Philippines. A good start is always Wikipedia, but Wikitravel, the CIA World Factbook, Google Maps, etc. Following a table of URLs that I normally use for my search. Maybe you are interested, too.
I’m not sure if you already know Guenter Schabowski. He was the East German Minister of Propaganda and storied after a misunderstanding. In a live broadcast international press conference he announced that effectively all rules for traveling abroad were lifted, in effect immediately. It was November 9, 1989and in that night, thousands of East Berliners gathered at the wall, celebrated the lift of the Berlin blockade and citizens begun tearing down the wall. At this time I was ten years old and had no idea what was going on, but I realized that it was the start of something big!This posting is about:
a Border between East and West Berlin which was 27 miles long.
a Border between West Berlin and East Germany which was 69 miles long.
66 miles of 3.6 meter high concrete wall.
41 miles of wire mesh fencing.
302 watch towers.
192 persons who were killed on the Berlin Wall.
But before I show you a video who describes this unique moment in history, allow me to recap the most important dates of the Berlin Wall.
May 8th 1945 World War II is over and Germany was divided into four sections.
June 30th 1946 The Soviets safeguard the demarcation line between East and West Germany.
May 26th 1952
Border between East and West Germany and between East Germany and West Berlin is closed. Only the border between East and West Berlin is still opened.
December 11, 1957 Leaving East Germany without permission is forbidden and violations are prosecuted with prison up to three years.
August 13, 1961 The Berlin sectorial border between East and West Berlin is closed, barriers are built.
June 12, 1987 President Ronald Reagan visits Berlin and urges Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
September 10, 1989
Hungarian government opens border for East German refugees.
November 9, 1989 A press conference is held announcing the lift of the blockade.
I did this posting, because in two days, Germany can celebrate the eighteens anniversary of a free, opened and reunited country.
For all of you who don’t understand the German song in the video, following the translation of it. The song was written by Marius Mueller-Westernhagen and is called Freiheit (Freedom).
The contracts were made
And there was a lot of laughter
And something sweet for dessert
Freedom, freedom
The band ‘rumtata
‘The pope has been there, too
And my neighbourt in the front
Freedom, freedom
Is the only thing, that’s missing Freedom, freedom
Is the only thing, that’s missing
Unfortunately the human isn’t naive
Regrettably the human is primitive Freedom, freedom
Has been canceled again
All those, who dream of freedom,
Shouldn’t miss to celebrate
Should also dance on graves Freedom, freedom
It’s the only thing what counts
Freedom, freedom
It’s the only thing what counts
There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
