Anniversary of the opening of theBerlin Wall

("Girl from East Berlin) is Udo Lindenberg's song about life with the Wall.

The singer tells a story of meeting a woman on the other side of the Wall. He must return to his own side at the end of the day. He dreams of a day when another generation makes things right and couples in love are no longer kept apart. The refrain is "Wir wollen doch nur einfach zusammen sein". It means "We simply want to be together." Here are the lyrics of "Mädchen aus Ost Berlin."

This video recording of the events of the night of November 9, 1989 puts us there. Look for the reunion and embrace near the end. Perhaps this is the picture that Lindenberg imagined. Listen for the words "Möglichkeit" (possibility---at the start of recording, policemen insist that crossing the border is not possible) and "Freiheit" (freedom---we hear that "freedom requires no papers").

Finally, here is

, a sharp-eyed, poignant, and humorous German film that tells us how big the change that followed was. The film is in our college's library.

A German language site describes the history and the memorial.

The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle has published many video stories about the Wall on its Web site for the anniversary.

We live in a wonderful age. We can easily experience images and sounds from faraway places. Even if you do not possess a facility with a foreign language, you can capture some of the feelings and points of view of people in foreign lands.

Questions:

• Before the reunification of Germany, West Berlin was an exclave. Kaliningrad, Russia is also an exclave. The Northwest Angle in Minnesota and Campobello Island in New Brunswick are also exclaves, although in these cases the word applies only in a restricted sense. What is an exclave?
• Before the Berlin Wall, there was the Berlin Airlift. Learn a little about it: who? what? when? why?