The Archive of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989

A Catch-22 December 1989, Groundhog-Day Production. Presenting the Personal Research & Scholarship of Richard Andrew Hall, Ph.D.

Posts Tagged ‘Egon Krenz’

“The Wall Will Fall. Beliefs Become Reality. W. Oz.” (Photo) and the 9 November Washington Post on East Germany

Posted by romanianrevolutionofdecember1989 on November 9, 2014

Some non-descript Kodak automatic camera (“idiot camera” in German, as  I was to learn from an ethnic German in Romania in 1990) photos from my backpacking through communist Eastern Europe in the summer of 1987.  From my photo album, these are from 9, 12, and 13 August 1987, the latter two days being spent in East Berlin (13 August 1987 was the 26th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall).  The most memorable–although it is hard to see here–is in the far upper right hand corner.  I took it in West Berlin on 9 August 1987 and I am sure locals and tourists remember it (only today, 8 November 2014, did I learn US President Ronald Reagan apparently invoked this in his now-famous speech of 12 June 1987 in West Berlin–an event, which, at the time, during that summer of 1987, seemed like a non-event and got relatively little lasting coverage as I remember, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_down_this_wall! ).  It seemed like pie-in-the-sky crazy talk at the time, and even on 9 November 1989 itself, as the newspaper from that morning suggests below (a realization that momentous things were happening, but no real expectation of the watershed event that was to occur later that day).

“The wall will fall.  Beliefs Become Reality W. Oz. [presumably a graffiti artist, conjuring the Wizard of Oz] 10/10/86

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The Days Leading up to 9 November and the Fall of the Berlin Wall (Articles from the Washington Post)

Posted by romanianrevolutionofdecember1989 on November 7, 2014

Robert J. McCartney, “Long-Suffering E. Germans ‘Just Can’t Take It Anymore.’  Widespread Discontent Erupts Into Nightly Protests,” Washington Post, 29 October 1989.

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Mary Battiata, “Police Break Up Anti-Government Rally in Prague,” Washington Post, 29 October 1989.

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Mary Battiata, “Playwright In the Fire of Dissent.  In Prague, Reluctant Hero Vaclav Havel Ponders His Role,” Washington Post, 27 October 1989.

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Robert J. McCartney, “East German Chief Installed Amid Protests.  Election of Krenz Less than Unanimous,” Washington Post, 25 October 1989.

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Robert J. McCartney, “German Migration Worrying Bonn. Mass Influx is Seen Posing Housing, Employment Problems,” Washington Post, 7 November 1989.

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Blaine Harden, “Wet and Hopeful, the Sickerts Walked West.  East German Family Joins Flood of Migrants Seeking Better Lives by Fleeing Homeland,” Washington Post, 7 November 1989.

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