Our own Lee Scherwitz lived in Germany for 14 years, and he has made many trips back since then. He lived in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. The Berlin wall was built around and through the middle of Berlin after WWII. It separated West Berlin from the rest of Berlin and all of East Germany. As the wall was being built, people ran, jumped, tunneled, and went in air balloons to escape before it was too late. It was very difficult as the families, relatives, and friends were split up, there was not enough food, the people lost their joy and happiness, and except for the buildings close to the wall, the city was never reconstructed after the war. The analogy was going from color to a dingy, dark world. To go from Frankfort to Berlin, normally a 4-hour drive, would take a day and a half because of the check points. This presentation was a very emotional one because of these memories. In November of 1989, East Berlin got their freedom back and the wall was opened up. People were chinking away at it, and when doorways were opened, painters painted the “door frames.” Lee’s daughter really wanted to go to Berlin after the New Year’s Eve celebration, so they went. Freedom!! The joy in the streets was palpable. Chink, chink, chink could be heard everywhere as people were taking down the wall and keeping pieces as part of living a piece of history. Lee and his family joined in. At the end of the day, Lee’s hands were bleeding from hammering and removing a part of the wall. Prayers, anger, and a lot of emotion were there that day. Freedom! People’s eyes went from dull to sparkling. | ||