Hat: Admin, Steel & Kevlar.

I deem this an acceptable topic for discussion within the context in
which it was posted.
I'd be most interested in comments,
BUT PLEASE  do not stray into general-war / hate / government /
politics / religion /  economics / ...   anything else that may awake
the bad-cop.
Description of possible consequences deleted - you know the drill.

> http://www.thelocal.de/society/20111027-38499.html

_____________

It's interesting to note historically that the Soviet premier of the
day was previously  one of the heroes of the WW2 Soviet Stalingrad
holdout against all odds.

_____________________________

Such things as the above event serve to make a nation stronger if survived.
The miraculously reunified Germany has learned much from such sad times.

______________

It was a stunningly hot Berlin midsummer day - about the hottest since
records have been kept. Mid 2003.
Young people sat at tables in the shadow of the arch drinking coffee
and talking with no apparent awareness of the awesomeness of their
location. How quickly memories of such things fade. Nearby hundreds of
other young and not so young  roller-bladed past and out into the
Tiergarten preparing for a big skate-in protest about the restriction
of skaters'  'rights' to skate anywhere they wanted in the city.

Coming closer the gentle thunder of about a dozen  BMW large capacity
motorcyles emblazoned with the emblems of state. But where in another
age another symbol would once have been and black would have been the
color of choice, these simply proclaimed their riders policeman-ship
and sported a pleasant limish green and white color scheme. Not the
sort of colors that most riders would paint a BMW. They arrived and
parked their bikes in unison. Impressive police presence, keepers of
law and order, here to oversee the protest, full leathers (green and
white) and semi opaque full face visored helmets. Impressive.

They quickly and very purposefully set to work destroying that image.
Off with helmets, off with leathers. 12 or so jovial, mostly middle
aged, mostly somewhat rolly-polly German teddy bears - in  looks and
attitude. German policemen still, but very very much intent at
maintaining  the lowest of low key presences that they could manage.
Also impressive.

I left the skaters and policemen and coffee drinkers for a few moments
and tried to find a little of a world thankfully now gone almost
without trace. Alas there were roadworks of sorts in the mouth of the
Brandenburger Gate and you had to detour round them . A straight walk
was not possible. Somewhere  very near here the incomparably brave and
capable Hanna Reich had landed a Storch observation plane amidst the
rubble. to bring her passenger to a final meeting, and the next day,
on orders, she had reluctantly left with shells literally falling
around the plane. No sign of that now.

I started in what had been East Berlin and walked in as straight a
path as the roadworks would allow through the arch and out towards the
Tiergarten. A slow walk, recalling what I had never seen. The
electrified barbed wire either side, minefields 'just in case'. I
walked out through Checkpoint Charlie, past the non existent US guards
and out into the West. There being no charge for the experience,  and
a marked absence of guards on either side I turned around and did the
return trip. Nobody noticed the tourist wandering to and fro around
the roadworks. I hurried off to find where my wife had got to. Nearby
a circle of internationally-themed brightly painted bigger than life
model bears was proclaiming international unity and a nicely spherical
Helium balloon with wicker basket was offering rides over where "the
wall" had once been. Nearby hundreds and possibly even thousands  of
roller-bladers skated up and down the Tiergarten to protest about how
hard people were making life for them. Overall an umnmissable
experience. Shame about the roadworks though.

Way back then a terrified and wild eyed 17 year old was given a
uniform and firearm and told what he should be doing. To do otherwise
was death. Within days things changed drastically, the 'wall' vanished
 and he never had to face the excruciating choices that many of his
countrymen dd. He now lives somewhere in my country and I'd love to
talk to him about his perspectives and the lessons he learned. I
probably never will get a chace to Even now the shadows are too long
for people to trust others to treat them well if they reveal their
part - no matter how innocent they managed to remain. Hopefully we'll
learn and keep on learning the lessons they can teach us anyway.



Russell McMahon
--=20
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