Monday, November 9, 2009

Berlin Wall Falls

Twenty years ago today the East German government announced that its citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of people began climbing the Berlin Wall which had kept the city separate since 1961. Over the next few weeks almost the entire 87 mile wall was removed either by heavy machinery or euphoric citizens with sledgehammers. East and West Germany officially reunified in October 1990. The number of people who died trying to escape from Communist East Germany is disputed but ranges from 93 to well over 200. Little remains of the wall today having either been destroyed or sent to various museums and other institutions around the world. The National Museum of the US Air Force here in Dayton houses two slabs of the wall. Sections of the wall in their original locations are sometimes, ironically, protected by a wall (OK, it's a fence...but still.)

RTL Radio is a Contemporary Hit radio station in Berlin, Germany.

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