After the erection of the Berlin wall in 1961, the American President John F. Kennedy stood up against the encroachments of the communist Soviet Union. Sometimes American tanks and Soviet tanks faced each other at Checkpoint Charlie, the crossing for the allies from west to east at Berlin’s Friedrich Street. Today there is a museum at Checkpoint Charlie—the Wall Museum. That museum will host an important forum about another wall, the Red Wall that encloses Chinese tyranny.
The history of the Berlin Wall provides inspiration for that forum.
On June 12, 1987, US President Ronald Reagan, while standing on a wooden scaffolding erected in front of the prohibited area of the Berlin wall at the Brandenburg gate, gave a speech in which he challenged the Soviet ruler Gorbachev: “Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” At the time, leading German politicians took the DDR (German Democratic Republic) as a given and assumed that a German reunion was rather unrealistic.
29 months after Reagan’s speech, which some laughed at, the Berlin wall fell during the night of Nov. 9 and the day of Nov. 10, and the entire Soviet communist-ruled east bloc disintegrated just like a rotten ghost.
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Today, at the house at Checkpoint Charlie the Wall Museum—with its extensive collection and depiction—serves as a reminder about life with and against the wall. Moving pictures and texts about tunnels under the wall, about people who were saved and those who were not, about hot air balloons and rubber dinghies, about heroic actions, betrayal, and triumph—all these protect the memory of the many who helped those seeking to escape and the ones thirsting for freedom.
Director Alexandra Hildebrandt, who continues the life work of her deceased husband, the historian Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt, says about her engagement: “It is for Justice.” The petite woman from the Ukraine is talking about a justice that she would like to hold in her innermost feelings. For the sake of those people who only wanted to live in freedom, one should be just, should not forget them and should not suppress the circumstances of those days.
“Only when I can be just to my innermost feeling with heart and mind, can I find freedom in my life and then I can also be just towards others. To follow one’s feelings leads to action. That is the force that carries me.”
On Nov. 9 the Wall Museum will host a panel discussion sponsored by The Epoch Times: “About the 16th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. When does the red wall in China fall?”
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