Joe's Random Ramblings

The world today is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall.
Here is some news coverage from the BBC and CNN.
All this brings back memories, since I was right there, in the middle of it. I went with a couple of friends to Checkpoint Charlie, the border checkpoint for foreigners, and watched the situation develop there.
Unlike what the current French President, Mr. Sarkozy, seems to indicate, there was no chipping at the wall going on at that day. That came in the following days. Also, this whole thing was in the evening, so he couldn't possibly have seen cheering crowds on the morning of Nov. 9.
I actually still have a piece of the Wall that I chipped off in the days after Nov. 9.
In the months to come, I also was able to drive through the Brandenburg Gate, like my grandfather did in the early 1930s. The Brandenburg Gate is nowadays closed to private traffic.

Of course, with all the celebrations about the fall of the Berlin Wall, we also should not forget the other, somber anniversary: The anti-jewish progroms in Nazi Germany on Nov. 9, 1938.
Germany has it with this particular date: After World War 1, the German Republic was declared on Nov. 9, 1918.