an ugly scar that divided one of Europe's great cities for a few decades. After WWII Berlin was divided into the communist east side and the non-communist west side. People from the east side were going to work at the west side, as well as defect to
West Berlin, which was considered a part of West Germany. One day in 1961 all exits to the west side were closed and cut off.
The Berlin Wall was erected, primarily to halt the flow of defectors from East Berlin. The Wall was armed with landmines and there were "security" towers manned with guards who shot escape hopefuls on site. Many people who attempted defection were killed by the
Stasi, guards, but a few lucky ones managed to escape - even though it was extremely difficult. With the Iron Curtain coming down during the autumn of 1989,
the Berlin Wall was opened up by Communist East Germans on November 8. Soon there was celebration, dancing and the use of tools to chip away at the wall. The communist regime of East Germany resigned and the Wall was completely torn down sometime in early 1990. A historical and exciting time that was.
1. In 1990 Pink Floyd alumnus Roger Waters organized and set up a rock'n'roll and theatrical extravaganza performance of the 1979 classic album "The Wall" featuring a wide diversity of stars such as the Grateful Dead, Bryan Adams, the Scorpions, Cyndi Lauper,
Sinead O'Connor, the Soviet Red Army military band, and much more, at the site where
the Berlin Wall once stood. A temporary "wall" was erected and torn down at the command near the end of the concert: TEAR DOWN THE WALL!.
Last year Roger got busted in the Holy Land for
spraypainting "TEAR DOWN THE WALL!" and "NO THOUGHT CONTROL" at the barrier wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians. This was a few hours before he gave a show in the area. He said that we managed to tear down the wall in Berlin and we're gonna tear this wall down too. Rock on, Roger!