20 years ago on the night of 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell in a dramatic fashion and thousands of East Germans crowded into West Germany in the most dramatic event in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. Two days earlier to the 9th, the entire east German Government resigned apart from the SED leader, and a day earlier to the 9th, travel restrictions to West Germany were to be eased in an remarkable announcement (although East Germans had left via many former communist countries that were opening up too).
My reflection on the fall of the Wall is that it was among the most dramatic events of the late eighties and it did have a huge impact because by the end of that year many former Warsaw Pact nations had changed to elected democracies (although not always peacefully, as I take note of the Romanian events twenty years ago next month). However, I cannot forget to mention that even 20 years on, there are still many walls in the world that divide communities and countries for many reasons. Therefore, there was much progress, but not too much in my opinion.
