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A wall of silence… 13/11/09 - Mildura Weekly
www.sunraysiaonline.com.au
• From Page 13 In blinding rain I wobbled along, right at the back of the pack. The Dutch guy whizzed past me… he must have thought he was in the Tour de France. No one likes a showoff. I was praying for a puncture… for him, not me. The rain hadn’t eased up as we arrived at Checkpoint Charlie. The hot chocolate van beckoned. We made our way to one of the small sections of wall that still remain. It was protected by a fence. I thought that was interesting, if not ironic. The wall caused the destruction of 13,000 marriages overnight. Families were torn apart. The escape stories are legendary. We stood under a window where desperate families threw their kids from an office building in the hope they would be caught by other family members on the other side. Authorities soon fixed that… they bricked in all the windows. We heard the story of the four-year-old boy who drowned in the river as his family watched helplessly from the western side… while East German guards watch from their vantage point. No one could save him. If the guards went to help they would have been shot, and the family couldn’t leave the West to save him. Communism versus capitalism, equating to utter madness. “There was a bit of confusion when the border was to open,” our guide began. “The hierarchy gave a live press conference about the issuing of visas, and the bumbling politician was asked when the visas were going to be given out. In his confusion and unable to read his own notes he declared, ‘Immediately.’
Within minutes of this being broadcast, tens of thousands of East Berliners descended on the checkpoints, demanding to be let through. “The West Berliners on the other side began to chant. The guards had no idea as the West Berliners began to climb up onto the wall, demanding they be set free. They began an assault on the wall. The guards gave up and the East Berliners came marching into the West, to the cheers and de-
set on fire… most now believe it was organised by Goebbels, but at the time the official version (Hitler’s) was vastly different. Hitler declared that it was the work of terrorists out to destroy the country. He even paraded the ‘culprit,’ a poor, unfortunate and most likely innocent man, to confirm his version …it had the desired effect. Hitler promised to protect the people. The people listened… worse
• An open section of the infamous wall, and INSET, a ‘Check Point Charlie’ passport.
light of the huge crowd. It was a great day,” he declared, “A great day.” Our next stop was Hitler’s bunker. “It’s over there,” the guide said. “It’s where Goebbels killed himself, while his wife killed their six children before killing herself. He didn’t want the Russians to get his children.” We didn’t stay long. Arriving at the Reichstag (German Parliament building), we learned how Hitler managed to come to power. He didn’t have the support of all the people… in fact most opposed him, but this was to change quickly. Somehow the Reichstag was
broke down, as the emergency elevator needed six people to operate it. He never stayed the night… neither did anyone else. But there were plenty of visitors, and the guest list read like the who’s who of evil. I stood on the balcony where Hitler had stood all those years ago. I travelled in his elevator. I looked over the same landscapes of Germany and Austria that he did. The Eagle’s Nest was given to him for his 50th birthday by Martin Bormann. Japan gave him a big rug… Mussolini gave him the marble fireplace. All I could think of was what I was going to get for my 50th.
still, they believed him. I was eager to learn more about a man who had shown himself to be the epitome of evil. Having earlier visited his summer hideaway, known as the Eagle’s Nest, had convinced me that Hitler was paranoid. He wouldn’t travel in reverse in his car. The driver would take him through the tunnel to the elevator, let him out before going out of the tunnel to turn the car around, reversing back along the tunnel to collect him. And it’s a long tunnel. Hitler would always have six people in the elevator with him in case it
After a big lunch (where the beer flowed faster than the river Spree) we headed off again. Maybe it was the lunch …maybe it was the over-confidence, or maybe it wasn’t as simple as ‘riding a bike’. But outside the President’s home and in full view of everyone I came a cropper. I knew it was going to happen, but I was powerless to stop it. As I was falling ever so ungraciously to the ground, I was thankful for my travel insurance, and wondered if my airlift home would be in economy. I hoped not. Our guide came running towards me. I reassured him that it was only my pride that was hurt. The flying Dutchman came over to see what damage I had done. I assured him and everyone else that I was fine… I wasn’t to know the bruising would take a week to leave. “The President is home,” our guide announced, “his flag is showing.” The President might even have seen me fall. He certainly didn’t rush out to help. “David Hasselhoff is going to sing at the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the wall,” our guide announced. I thought to myself… Why are the Germans continuing to punish themselves? The guide stared at me… oops, I had actually said it out loud. “We are celebrating with dominoes to denote the wall coming down,” he continued. Desperate to make up for my earlier faux pas I smiled, and asked if David Hasselhoff was going to start it off. “Thank you… that’s a great idea,” he said. Sometimes I really should just stay quiet.
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