The Berlin Wall
By Jim Olsen
My Life and the Berlin Wall
• Jim Olsen born 1956.
• The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 by
the communist government, to make it
impossible for East Germans to leave their
country.
Berlin, 1961. Berlin Wall at Zimmerstrasse. West
Berliners watching over the Wall to the East.
Berlin Wall being built – separation.
Berlin. Bernauer Strasse/Brunnenstrasse
View from West to East Berlin.
Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie
View from West to East Berlin, 1961
Standoff between
US and Soviet
tanks at
Checkpoint
Charlie, 1961.
• In sixth grade my social studies teacher
showed slides of her visit to Berlin.
• My first encounter with the Berlin Wall.
• This is what she described.
Berlin, Potsdamer Platz, 60s
Berlin, Potsdamer Platz, 60s
Brandenburg Gate photographed through the
barbed wire there, from the West
Berlin, April 1963
Checkpoint Charlie
Berlin, April 1963
Berlin, 1963. John F. Kennedy visiting Berlin
on June 26, 1963.
JFK gave his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkberliner.html
President Kennedy says,
“Ich bin ein Berliner.”
(I am a Berliner) – I support you.
Due to the Allied Air Lift, from a few
years prior, and President
Kennedy’s support, West Berlin
remained a vigorous and healthy
city. Berlin, unfortunately,
remained divided.
In the last phase of the wall's development, the
"death strip" between fence and concrete wall.
East Germans were killed if they tried to
escape.
• In the summer of 1972 I traveled to Berlin
with my family (my second encounter).
• This is the sight I saw.
Brandenburg Gate
View from West Berlin to East Berlin
Berliner Mauer, Berlin 1983.
In 1985 I took a group of students to
Germany (3rd encounter).
This is what I saw.
United States President Ronald Reagan delivers his famed
"Tear Down This Wall" speech at the Berlin Wall in June of
1987, in which he called for Soviet General Secretary
Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganbrandenburggate.htm
In 1989 the Berlin Wall came DOWN!!
My friend sent
be a post card
showing
people walking
under the
Brandenburg
Gate for the
first time since
1961.
My 4th
encounter.
In summer 2007 I took my family to Berlin.
My 5th encounter. It was awesome!
Here we are at the Hard Rock Café, Berlin
with my friend, Heinz.
They have the line marked where the Wall stood.
Potsdamer
Platz has
been
restored.
They have kept
a section of
the Wall.
Potsdamer Platz restored.
Potsdamer Platz
Sony Center
2007
Checkpoint Charlie today.
Checkpoint Charlie today.
Photo taken of
my children
with a relic of
past
communist
oppression.
Brandenburg Gate, 2007.
Here I am, proudly walking under the
Brandenburger Gate. Something I did not
think I’d be able to do in my lifetime.
I am thankful the Berlin Wall is no more.
I am thankful for freedom.