The Day Freedom Won: Remembering the Fall of the Berlin Wall 25 Years Later When I was 18 years old, I traveled across Europe with my older brother and we visited Berlin, a city divided between East and West by Soviet repression and an ominous, concrete barrier known as the Berlin Wall. During our visit to the busy and bustling streets of West Berlin, we made our way to the intersection of Zimmerstrasse and Freidrichstrasse, two streets that met at point in the wall known as Checkpoint Charlie, the American entrance to East Berlin. The black and white photo below depicts what it looked like on that day. Reflecting on the experience during my trip to Germany earlier this year at an Indiana reception just a block away from where the wall once stood, I said; The first time I came to Berlin was in 1977. Yours was a city divided. After spending the day in West Berlin, a city revived by Western investment from the Marshall Plan to the Berlin airlift, I made my way through Checkpoint Charlie into the grim reality of East Berlin. From the bright lights of West Berlin, I passed through the Berlin Wall into a city and people trapped in the stifling air of Soviet repression. Because of the resilience and courage of the people of this great city, and because of the relentless support of the American people for a free and unified Berlin, division has given way to unity and freedom has replaced tyranny. America stood with you through it all...one president came to the Brandenburg gate, right beside this hotel, and said Ich bin ein Berliner” and another came and said tear down this wall. And the wall came down and freedom prevailed in this great city and this great country. (Excerpt of Remarks at Indiana Reception in Berlin 2014) After the speech, I made a point to return to Checkpoint Charlie. What was once a lonely outpost on the border of freedom and tyranny is now a tourist attraction in the middle of a busy city street. I walked up to the building and peered into the window where as a young American my eyes met the suspicious glare of an East German guard. Now only an empty booth remains as a reminder of those dark times. On this 25th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we offer our heartfelt congratulations to our friends and allies in Germany and we renew our conviction that when freedom loving people stand together in the face of tyranny, freedom always wins. Governor Mike Pence November 9, 2014
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 19:50:56 +0000