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The unified German nation this year is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In Germany, festivities to honor this event have been planned throughout the year starting back on May 7.
To me personally, only one date drastically changed my worldview — Nov. 9, 1989. It was the date when the Berlin Wall fell. I was a senior sergeant in the Soviet Border Guard Forces of the former Soviet KGB.
At that time, we were stationed in the beautiful city of Odessa in Ukraine (not Texas). After the evening guard duty and a hearty meal, I and some of my comrades were watching TV, and we could not believe what we saw on the nightly evening news: the Berliners with hammers and pick axes in hands were knocking down the Wall!
Some of them were actually climbing on the wall and were waving to the people on the other side, West Berlin. The East German police this time around did not aim their guns at anyone.
On the contrary, they didn’t do anything. They appeared unarmed and were simply watching what was going on.
One of our officers walked in and said to us, “Comrades, the Wall is going down! Who knew it would happen in our lifetimes!”
Soon the whole room was filled with other border guards — very good friends of mine. Everyone wanted to see this benchmark of history.
I asked, “If the wall is going down, will there be nothing to guard anymore? We should all go home!” Some shouted in agreement; some exclaimed that they wanted to get married, and this event would be a good cause to do it sooner.
Usually, in the military, there was always an answer to every question one might ask. This time, many of my comrades were looking at me and each other in disbelief.
Nobody said anything. Nobody knew what to say.
My brave comrades in arms, who could assemble and disassemble the AK-47 assault rifle in 20 seconds; who made a decision in a split second; who would run into fire to rescue another soldier, on that evening, did not know what to make of the new reality.
The fall of the Berlin Wall affected us not only collectively, but also personally. From the collective point of view, it is important to note that the whole doctrine of the Soviet border protection scheme was replaced.
Many personnel stationed in western Soviet Union were moved to the eastern parts of the country to guard borders with China, and to the South, borders with Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey.
On a personal level, everyone had to decide what the Wall’s fall meant.
Some, who lived more in Soviet mainstream culture — Russians and non-Russians alike — became angry because they feared the end of the Soviet state, the only socio-political order they knew, might come rather quickly, but everything new they viewed with suspicion.
Others, who came from the peripheries of the Soviet empire, like myself, where ethnic minorities prevailed, held more nationalistic views on how things in the future should be done in the country.
The common denominator was the following: The fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, marked the new time during which to welcome social, political and economic changes in the Soviet state in order to undo the wrongs that the Communists during the regime’s 70-year rule committed politically, economically and ecologically toward Russians and non-Russians alike.
Aivars Norenbergs has been a reserve learning resources specialist in the library since 2003. In the early 1990s, he studied English at the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base. In 1995, he emigrated from Latvia, and in 2000, became a U.S. citizen.
3 comments
Again...Bravo!!