Five Myths About the Berlin Wall<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0(The link seems to be directly accessible rather than requiring a google search, such as my own myth + Berlin Wall, to get there.)<\/p>\nNow, this article doesn\u2019t have any real myths, so I present it to you mostly as a \u201cmock the author\u201d opportunity: \u00a0most of the so-called \u201cmyths\u201d are based on an apparent inability to understand figurative language.<\/p>\n
\u201cMyth\u201d 1 is \u201cThe Berlin Wall was one wall.\u201d \u00a0Of course not, and nobody ever thought it was a simple wall, like the Great Wall of China. \u00a0People generally understand that there was a no-man\u2019s-land and guard towers, and so on. <\/p>\n
\u201cMyth\u201d 2 is \u201cBuilding the Berlin Wall was a key Soviet move in the Cold War.\u201d \u00a0Do people really think this? \u00a0Isn\u2019t it generally known that it was built because the regime in the East didn\u2019t like the continual exodus of East Germans, especially professionals, to the West? <\/p>\n
\u201cMyth\u201d 3, \u201cPresident Ronald Reagan brought down the wall\u201d and \u201cMyth\u201d 4, \u201cThe wall fell on Nov. 9, 1989,\u201d are both based on a stubborn literalism. \u00a0Yes, the immediate circumstances preceding the opening of the border had nothing to to with Reagan (massive protests by the East Germans themselves, and internal plotting by reformers within the regime \u2014 but only after Gorbachev told the Soviet satellites that he wouldn\u2019t prevent them from reforming with a repeat of \u201968, which may be his own leadership or influenced by events in which Reagan had a part, depending on your read), and yes, the border was opened but the gates weren\u2019t torn down, on that momentous night, but that\u2019s being silly.<\/p>\n
And \u201cMyth\u201d5 isn\u2019t even true: \u00a0the author says that it\u2019s false that \u201cthe Germans are as enthusiastic as the rest of the world in celebrating the fall of the wall,\u201d because of the Ostalgie <\/i>that many East Germans felt towards their old life, with its greater certainty, and the resentment that West Germans felt towards the added costs, including a special \u201cunification tax.\u201d \u00a0But come on, their national day is October 3, which was the day on which East and West Germany officially reunified. \u00a0And, even as much as Germany experienced disruptions due to the unification more than the rest of the world, it was their own frickin\u2019 country that was divided. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This was in the Tribune a bit ago as a syndicated piece, but here it is from the original Washington Post source, \u201cFive Myths About the Berlin Wall.\u201d \u00a0(The link seems to be directly accessible rather than requiring a google search, such as my own myth + Berlin Wall, to get there.) Now, this article […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[154],"class_list":["post-206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-berlin-wall"],"yoast_head":"\n
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