Own memories. Give us a call and let us know fall meantrlin wall to you. If you live in eastern or central time zones, the number to call is 202 7488000. Mountain or pacific time zones, 202 7488001. At a special phone number for germanamericans this morning that number 202 7488002. If you want to send us a text this morning, that number is 202 7488003. If you do, please include your name and where you are from, and of course you can catch up with us on social media, on twitter cspanwj, and on facebook. We welcome you to the berlin wall gallery here at the newseum. The largest unaltered portions of the berlin wall are here, outside of germany. Of small part of a Network Barriers that once separated west berlin from east berlin and communist east germany. In total, the wall wrapped around west berlin for 96 miles, including 27 miles through the heart of the city. By 1989, the wall consisted of 45,000 concrete walks, 259 pathways controlled by guard dogs, 302 watchtowers and 30 bunkers. The barrier stood more to keep people in rather than keep people out, and at least 100 40 people were killed at the wall, trying to escape the communist for the freedoms of the west. The wall has been gone for longer than it stood, but we are asking you to join in this morning to give us your thoughts and memories of that day and what you watched that day 30 years ago, 1989. Lets start with todd from brentwood, california. Good morning to you. Your memories from that day . Caller i remember it well. It was a great day. I remember reagan, the anticommunist warrior champion, mr. Gorbachev, tear down this oc and the rest of the squad is watching this, wasie sanders socialism such a devastating failure. Cuba, venezuela, china, russia even the scandinavians are running away from it tremendously. We have such a generational divide here in america concerning socialism. They seem to be predisposed in favor of it. They do not know mao or stalin. Socialism is a lucre. Host on an anniversary like this, is this a day that can bridge the generational divide that you are worried about . Caller if they are watching, but they are not. Is such a loser worldwide and i forgot what i was going to say because you interrupted me. Host i appreciate the call this from brentwood, california. Brent out of houston, texas. Good morning. Caller good morning. World war ii and the sherman tate, we won world war ii basically because we had expressed ourthe tanks and we had better tanks men. The germans today, they invest. They treat their schools as repositories and they invest in their people. In america, we dropped the ball. Not invest and use our institutions, especially our high schools, elementary schools, and even prek as repositories. Institutions of knowledge. We do not have welltrained teachers who have National Full certification. Germany has done that. Their people,s in in their institutions, they produced some of the best instruments and machinery in the world, and this is a country that people demonize so much. Yet they came together. The east germans have always been accused of steroids and performance enhancement drugs at the time, the east germans were always some of the best athletes for that. Today, we deal with the same issue of performance enhancement drugs and testing. We have to look at germany as a world prayer. And they have a female world leader. They are very progressive, people who use the word socialist and all of these other stigmatizing phrases to neutralize peoples innovation, we are not just about classical education, we do not just need to know about plato and socrates, but we need to know about the innovators of the world, the albert einsteins and educators who taught people to think. Host got your point, don in houston. You started talking about going back to world war ii and the history there. We want to take viewers back to thisworld war ii europe, film from the nato Information Services back in 1962 talked about how germany and specifically berlin were divided after world war ii. Heres that clip. [video clip] until such time germany could reshape her own destiny, she would be divided into separate sounds of occupation, each controlled by an allied power american, british, french, russian. Economically, she would be treated as a whole. This the victors had agreed when they met to decide the future of germany. Even then, some had reservations about mutual trust. With a world war just over, they had to trust one another, or else begin another war. For berlin, it was to be each power with its sector, but the city would be open to all the powers until germany once again berlin once again resumed its role as head of the german state. Access to the city for other powers was agreed on through roads, railways, and corridors. Makeshift, perhaps, but it was never meant to be permanent. In berlin, they set up a by day,ters where, day officers of the four Occupying Powers would administer berlin by cooperation, joint agreement as to what was to be done and how. And frankly, what was to be done in starting again from scratch. Host the birthplace of the berlin wall, august 12, 1961. It stood for over 28 years. Today it has been gone longer than it stood. We are talking about the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. Getting your thoughts and memories of that day, november 9, 19 89, and your thoughts about the legacy of the wall. This is rich out of hickory hills, illinois. Good morning. Caller good morning. I remember with the berlin wall, there was always a very dramatic scene of people escaping and the east berlin, the east German Police shooting, killing them. It was designed to keep the people from escaping and from the ideas getting into change the country. That whole kind of lifestyle that existed over there at that time, you know, thats the way it was projected to the rest of the world. Every time there was somebody escaped out of east germany, there was the stories of horrific conditions that they and it was aknow, anderent kind of mentality how to change that, you know, wall,ity to take down the Ronald Reagan, you know, telling them to take down the ideas andhe political Lifestyle Changes that were the issues at the time, unlike the issues of our time here. These issues are significantly different for the cause and effect of our wall and what it is supposed to do, what are we trying to accomplish . Those ideas have to be looked at, what works and what doesnt work, do you know what i mean . Host rich, we appreciate the call from illinois this morning. The president visiting the wall, the escape attempts from east berlin to west berlin, topics we will be talking about over the course of the next three hours on washington journal on cspan, nn American History tv o cspan3. We are live from the berlin wall gallery, just down the road from capitol hill, where our studio usually is. Most importantly, we want to hear from you, your memories of that day, november 9, 19 89, and what you think the legacy of the wall has been over the past 30 years. This is carl over providence, rhode island. Good morning. Yeah, hi. Im a germanamerican and at that time, i was 38 years old. I remember it vividly, actually. Primarily to be given to Ronald Reagan and the reagan, because his administration, starting in 1981, if i remember correctly, was the only administration that went on the offensive against the soviet , moving up their Missile Forces there and western europe europe, in western germany with the pershing one, wo, and ballistic missiles. They were nuts, because the pershings could have hit moscow in five minutes. You talked about over their postworld war ii. I am going to give you real history and fake history. Fake history is when they were brave men, they said dday was the turning point in world war ii. Baloney. The turning point in world war andas the battles of kursk the battles of stalingrad. Those battles were larger than the entire western front of world war ii. The russians lost over 20 Million People and the germans, my people, lost about five to 6 Million People 5 million to 6 Million People. The loss was the largest in the history of military warfare. That is fake history. You see these people going on tv , talking about dday, dday, is veryn particular, nice lady, martha maccallum, reading all the text. Not knowe sure she did anything about military history. I could be wrong, but i know you know, i have seen you on tv. Talked before,ve you called and made that point before as well. I appreciate you calling in this morning on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. Carl calling in on that line we set aside for germanamericans this morning. Is that02 7488002, number. Phone lines are split regionally. 202 7488000 if you live in the eastern or central time zones. 202 7488001 if you live in the mountain or pacific time zones. You join us throughout the morning, until 10 00 a. M. Eastern we will be talking about the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. Chuck from west babylon, new york. Do you remember where you were when you heard about the fall of the wall . Caller well, i was actually watching it on tv at the time, but two years prior i had taken andip to germany and berlin had visited east and west, and it was such a stark difference between the two sides. It was very depressing going into the ddr and watching how they had to live over there under that rule. Moneyforced to change my to ddr money, which was not exchangeable back to the currency, so you can see how they were struggling to survive back then, just because they were pulling in any kind of tourism they could, forcing them to change the money, and it was such a solemn, sad place to be at the time, 1988, compared to west berlin, which was such a bustling, hustling, beautiful city with all of these cultures and artwork and freedom going on. Watching it come down a few years later, i have pictures of myself reaching up to the top of i never expected to years later for that wall to come down. It was very emotional for me because actually after being there, seeing the differences in the way of life, it was really wonderful to see it actually come down and for there to be freedom once again. For berlin to be connected. Host talk about reaching up to the top of the wall. Why you wanted to do that when you did that. There is so much history of people wanting to touch the wall and be at the wall, both when it was up and to have pieces of it when it came down. Why did you want to do that when the wall was still up . An it was just very comprehensible, how something could just divide a nation in and to look up to it and try to reach up to it and say wow, this is incredible. This is crazy. Then you see the memorials of people whocrosses, were shot because they tried to get out, and they have landmines there, and it is mind blowing because it is nothing like you see in america. Host chuck, thank you. Walter out of penrose, colorado. Chuck said he watched the fall of the berlin wall live. We have a poll on our twitter and our cspanwj American History twitter page. 65 of our respondents said they have watched it live, 9 heard about it by reading the newspaper or the radio the next day. 22 learned about it after the fact. ,ou can join in at cspanwj call us this morning, plenty of ways to join us the conversation. You can also send us a text, it is 202 7488003. We will look for those texts as well as we hear from walter in colorado. Good morning. Caller yes, born and raised in mother, mygerman father was an american g. I. I grew up over there, saw the fall of the wall on tv, of course, living in america now i want to reiterate, of course, that the soviets did take that wall down not because they wanted to and released the Eastern Europe and eastern germans, but because they had to. For us not to forget that it was Ronald Reagan that actually pushed the issue, to have all that stuff disbanded. We still dont give enough credit you see on the tv, there are the tanks pointing weapons that one another so i wanted to reiterate that. Host we will show you more from president reagans famous speech at the wall a little later this morning in the washington journal. We want to keep hearing from you, your memories from that day how you learned about it. It was a bit out of norfolk, virginia. Good morning. Out of norfolk, virginia. Good morning. Elizabeth, are you with us this morning . We will try elizabeth one more time. Go ahead. Caller can you hear me . Host yes, go ahead. About howam thinking many people died in the cold war and how in the grand scheme of history, that wall was up for such a short period of time, but how much misery it caused and people died because of it, and i just member feeling very sad, sad for all the pointless deaths and misery that that thing inflicted. Host is there one that you are member you watch the history of the wall . Plenty of news reports and attempts to have the media there when some of these escapes happened. Is there one in particular you remember . Caller i agree with the gentleman a couple callers back, saying the people who are getting shot when they tried to escape i was thinking about those people and thinking, i guess they didnt die for nothing, but man. If they had only waited, you know . Maybe in the natural course of things it would have ended for them, but when you are that desperate, you do not wait. Host 30 years ago, the beginning of the followed the wall. Your member where you were that day . Caller absolutely. I was sitting on my couch in san diego, california, waiting for andbirth of my second son watching cnn. I used to get really emotional at the news back then and i was crying. It was a momentous occasion and i felt so bad for all those lives who had been lost. Host elizabeth, thank you for the call this morning, from nor foe, virginia. Our caller from flushing, new york. Good morning. Was in berlin in 1987, so i had a chance to see the wall and the crossings from the westside to east, and one thing we are missing from this discussion is people are praising Ronald Reagan. Without gorbachev, this would not have happened. Of course, reagan said bring down the wall, but we should not ignore the other side who was extending his hand, gorbachev. He agreed with him. Without that, that would have never have happened. [inaudible] the same historical incident we might have applied here, but there are no leaders on both sides who said ok, if china will agree now to be united, that is what we have to think. What is happening in berlin 30 years ago is not happening right now. It should be leaders, it should be compromising. That is what we learned from reagan and gorbachev. I want to give credit to gorbachev, because without him this never would have happened. Believe it or not. Host thanks for the call. Elizabeth, two calls back, and some other colors this morning talking about those who died in the escape attempts over the berlin wall. Fromowed you an excerpt the nbc news special report that ran on november 9, 1989, that the coverage. T of they put together a compilation of some of the east berlin a attempts. We want to show our viewers that now. [video clip] for the past 28 years when it was not possible to prosper just or skate cross bridges or scale that wall, people try to escape any way they could. Attempts were a testament to their bravery, ingenuity, and desperation. First it was literally a tugofwar between the long arm of the oppressor and the desire for freedom. This woman made it. Many more did not. Almost 200 east germans have died trying to cross the wall, or the long border between east and west germany. For each person fleeing, there was that moment of terror when he or she was a target or the border guards. But still, they came. Sometimes well laid plans worked , the escape was successful. But we should not forget those who tried and failed. That from the nbc special report that aired today, the 11 30 broadcast that evening, eastern time. This morning on the washington journal, we are live in the newseums berlin wall gallery, taking your calls and getting your memories of 30 years ago. We divided the lines regionally, 202 7488000 for eastern or central time zones. 202 7488001 if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones. 202 7488002 for the special line we have set aside for germanamericans on this day, california, and has been waiting period good morning. Waiting. Good morning. Caller good morning. I consider the fall of the berlin wall the greatest single world events during my lifetime. I was five years old when the berlin wall went up, and i remember even at that very early age, it made a very profound impression on me, and i think such anwhy i developed intense hatred of communism. I thought, what kind of people would do this . Jfki really feel like should have called the russians on the hotline and told them, you terror that wall down or we will send our tanks and to tear in ton send our tanks tear it down. Later on in life i became very active in conservative politics and a large part of the reason was my intense hatred for mean, im, and also i think i learned about the fall of the wall on television and i was just thrilled to death. I was probably jumping up and down in my living room i was so happy. I am at least partially of german ancestry, so for me, that tolds a particular resonanc importance for me. My ancestors came over, came to the United States a very long time ago and i believe they came from what later became western germany, but it still meant a tremendous deal to me. What wasappalled by done and so thrilled to death, i think i was so happy i was jumping up and down in the living room of my house. Be 64 only from now, and i consider that the greatest event, world event during my lifetime, the fall of the berlin wall. Host jim, happy early birthday to you, thank you for your call this morning. Body out of North Carolina claudia out of North Carolina is next. Caller good morning. I am also calling as a german, and a german professor and global studies director at a school in North Carolina in durham. For me as a german, i was a graduate student at the university of Southern California in linguistics in german and my advisor came that for the first class and said, did you know what happened last night . He was a former east german. The wall came down. Crazy . We dids he not have tv. That time, with the social media and all that, it was not that prominent. Wesaid from the computer, need to find out and call people. We called some people over there, but could not get through. Werenally got through and looking at regular tv screens, that the wall had come down and of course there was coverage from all over, on the radio. On the next day on campus, at the university of Southern California, in our department so happy,as cheering, with disbelief. I went back a month later to see my brother, who was in west germany, and we went for the First Time Ever in our lives over to the east, and my father was a prosecutor in the west. He was not allowed to go to the east and we also could not go to school for the west, because there was a chance we could have arrested,rogated or and that would have been held against the west german government. Ever, i sett time foot on the side i had only seen those for myor grandfathers side, who had sisters who had sisters you sent us books from the east. Host claudia, finish your thought. Caller yes. Host i was going to ask you before you go, this anniversary, the 30th anniversary, how should it be remembered . Wall beld the remembered . Is today a day of somber remembrance . What is the right mood for today . We will be talking about that later in our program. Caller i am getting ready for homecoming at our university, and today and yesterday, we had a big discussion the day before, what should we do . Of course, there are different voices. We want to commemorate the suffering that has happened, but also the people who came over here. On the other hand, we did a vote in class should it be the ninth of november or the third of october that we celebrate the reunification . Also want to commemorate the holocaust, the end of the holocaust, because that is the official unification of germany. This is an event that we really have used to try to unite people, but we did a lot of research, interviewed people, and many people today say germany is not yet new to five unified. There is a division and we are breaking apart. I am honestly more comfortable going to the eastern part because i feel that people are much more of a community in a that thei feel also history and all that, and the today, itguage, so was a rediscovery and dictatorships it shows the wall is but a symbol of another dictatorship in a way, and i just want to say it is a major event and i am still in disbelief that it happened. Claudia, thank you so much for your call this morning, sharing your thoughts. You mentioned two important days, the fall of the wall, the beginning of the fall of the berlin wall 30 years ago today and that october 3 reunification day. We have the New York Times newspapers from november the 11th, two days afterwards, the addition that came out on the the edition that came out two days after the fall. Joy is to east german sports through wall, party pledges freedoms and west exults is the headline. We were also able to get the october 4 edition of the New York Times on the , two germanys unite after 45 years with tribulation and a bow of peace and a vow of peace. We want to turn to the executive senior director, curator, and the Senior Vice President at the newseum, kerry kristofferson joining us on set this morning here in the berlin wall gallery. Thank you for allowing us to be here. Guest we are delighted to have you. I wanted you to talk about the focal point of this exhibit and the berlin wall gallery. It is obviously the eighth eightbarriers concrete barriers that once stood as part of the berlin wall. Where did they once stand and how did you get them here . Guest babies as pieces of the wall we have on display came from places we are not 100 certain of. Piecesre not a run of that world together in berlin. The big backdrop to those is a guard tower from near checkpoint charlie. We know fairly precisely where it came from, and those things together with some other pieces a barrier and a will bringtor sign, together our finite interpretation of a slice of what the wall and its supporting materials look like at the time the wall was up. Host the western side of the wall, as you can see this morning, that side that has a lot of the graffiti on it. Can you talk a little bit about that . Have you ever been able to find out who created that graffiti . Guest sure. The western side of the wall, which was still inside what was technically the border of east berlin at the time. Anyone who went and painted any of the graffiti, who went while the wall was Still Standing and so forth, they were on east german soil and were sort of endanger themselves and their that endanger in danger themselves and their to make a point there to make a point. Are two artists that are fairly wellknown graffiti artists, they did a lot of work at and on the berlin wall at the time it was in place. And the rest of the exhibit, the wall as the focal point and the tower as well if you go to the museum, what else we be seeing as you walk through the berlin wall gallery . Guest you approach the while, you see the western side, and it is vibrant and everyones minds i image of what the berlin wall looked like. But if you go around the other side, you get the stark reality of what east berlin was like, the back of the wall is plain, there are a few markings on it here that are more about identification act or the fact that anything that would have been on it at the time, when people were living in east berlin rather than reunifying germany. Thatat sort of makes immediate contrast for people between freedom and oppression. Theme ofeally the uber this gallery, that and the idea that the news cannot be contained by a wall. An wall went up in 1961 and effort as much of anything to keep people in east berlin, and it worked on that front for a while, obviously, about 28 years, right . But it did not keep news from passing through, over, across the wall. You will learn stories in the gallery about how people could obviously get radio across from riaz at the time was a most trusted radio source from the west you could hear in the east, radio and the american sector is what those letters stand for. Waves could cross Something Like a wall. In addition to that, there are up tos of trucks riding the wall on the western side and using loudspeakers to blast the news to people, whether they were listening to their radio or tuned into a television, could get the news from the west. Reports of telephone numbers you could call from east berlin somebody read or have a recording of the western newspapers being read. There were all these mechanisms for getting the news from the west, which was critical, because that was a piece of what was so different between east and west at the time. The eastern news was controlled. It was soviet controlled, communist controlled, and the news in the west was a free press, as we enjoy today. Newseum is shuttering the stores here the doors here on pennsylvania avenue at the end of this year. What is going to happen to this exhibit . After we close to the general public, we will begin the process of deinstalling the pieces here. It will be transferred to our stateoftheart storage facility, most of our areas have offsite storage so we can take care of things properly, and we will continue with the process of figuring out what the next step is, what the next iteration of the newseum is, whether 21st Century Museum looks like, the balance of digital versus physical. Host is there any insight you can give as to what that might look like . Guest we are still discerning, to be honest. We had our museum in rosslyn and closed down and moved here, so we have no idea what we might look like next. Host thank you for joining us on cspan and cspan3. Back to your phone call this morning, we are hearing from viewers about your experience, watching the fall of the berlin november 9,s ago, 1939, your memories of that day. Phone lines, 202, phone lines, 202 7488000 in the central or eastern time zones. 202 7488001 in the mountain or pacific time zones. A special line for germanamericans, 202 7488002. We will also look for your tweets and Text Messages as we hear from bill in maryland. Thanks for waiting. Caller hello, can you hear me . Host yes, go ahead. Er i was a student in host where were you a student, bill . Bill, are you still with us . We will try to get bill back as we go to dan out of jackson heights, new york. Go ahead. Caller i was born in a communist country, a refugee from a communist country. I was in vietnam and i went back to east European Countries for medical school, that this to tell you location means a lot to me, but not in the way most people would think. The communistt system is that it was so corrupt, so based on violence, it was like a big mafia operation. With the russians, of course, on top. Did not down that wall change much of anything, because Eastern Europe is still an extremely corrupt power, still. Peaks louder than principal if you compare west germans and east germans, they still have very negative feelings towards each other and ironically, europeans have no sense of history at all. They do not realize how that happened, why it happened, they do not discuss it. Students at school have no idea what today is, and it is tragic because a lot of young people had their lives cut short. Fighting this cold war. It was not like world war ii, this was a slow process and now if you go to Eastern Europe, you are seeing a lot of what happened there, still looks like what is happening now. I think it is really sad that everybody thinks that there was a liberation going on, because Eastern Europe is as much in trapped now as ever. East germans are as in trapped ever, becauses the opportunities are not the same. Host why is that . Why are the opportunities not the same . Caller there was a certain ness imposed by the leaders, the only thing they are good at is killing other people, and the west, they still did not forgive us. And the corruption in Eastern Europe now is just as bad as it was under communism. Tore is a certain momentum the culture, getting by, and the culture of just getting by, which is a terrible way to spend your life, because you just get one shot at life, 60, 70 years, whatever it is. If i look back from that perspective, i am an old man now, and i feel so many peoples lives were totally wasted for , so we lowlevel type people, mentally and so on, could rule with europe and push europe back so much. My only dream is that russia would come to meet european standards and the eu would become a homogenous space. When the americans forced east germany into the eu, they were worried that the east germans could do a lot of economic competing with us. Eastern europe is a bird or not onwestern europe burden western europe and until eastern and western europe rejoin into one common europe, we are always going to be ironically bound, with the chinese and the russians. I am very candid that the wall is down and everything is ok. In new york this morning, john is out of ferrum, virginia. Go ahead, you are next. Caller hi, how are you . Host i am well, go ahead. I am 31 years old, and the previous caller talked about the lack of education people receive on the subject . Me, i was never taught anything in school. Here in Public Schools in virginia. Theso for me, observing situation on television and division of the state, in this case, makes it mean ted because i it is representative are you still there . Host yes. Caller its really sad and its really scary how the divisiveness between you do not see that stuff where i live in virginia, the conflict and competition, and it is just really shocking. You do not see this sort of stuff you are young, for me in school. Me it is really scary, so anyway, i appreciate you taking my call. Host john, thanks for the call firm virginia this morning. Texts from viewers. This first one from lawrence in st. Paul, minnesota. In germany, a few months after the fall of the wall i recall to discussion on win exposed the west how angry former east germans were over the lies and deceit by their former this text from bill in connecticut, my father was a prisoner of war in germany now is translated and performed there. It was the nonviolence and joy of the moment that was awesome. Bill also sending a text with a picture from the french sector in berlin, dated in 1964. You can see what appears to be that first iteration of the berlin wall in that picture of the french sector, the berlin wall obviously took on several different iterations before it became the 12 foot high concrete barriers that are here at the before the wall became to come down that night november 9, 1989. Robert is next out of tuscaloosa, alabama. Robert, thanks for waiting. Caller i want to give you a different perspective, sir. Descendents, my folks were brought to the United States. That is so hypocritical we talked about Ronald Reagan, that whenypocritical, because he decided to run for president , he went to mississippi, where the people were divided here, where africanamerican people cannot get into Public Schools, so it is so hypocritical. Another thing about the europeans im not talking about all of them, they got to call themselves white, and they defied every country in the world, but they only want to keep the europeans together. They do not want north korea or south korea to get together, people in the middle east or north africa to get together, and it is so hypocritical, and they oppress African Americans in this country. I hear all the white people calling in and they have a different perspective on it from africanamericans, who are older. As old as i am, 80 years old and out. The young ones do not teach true the young ones do not know about it because they do not teach true history in the school. Europeans in the United States who call themselves white, they are so hypocritical. Then they divide africanamericans in this country. Put some host ok, that your point. That is robert in alabama this morning. Maine. In good morning, do you remember november 9, 1989 . Yes, i was a teacher. I worked for the department of defense and i was stationed in germany. I have a piece of the wall in my china cabinet here in maine. I was also a child in germany, after world war ii, and i met people who survived the , so there is a lot of history here. It means a great deal. I went into east germany after the wall came down in fact, my friends and my mother and my son, we actually took a piece of the wall down that day, but we went into this east german restaurant and the owner came up to us and he knelt down in front of me and kissed my hand and said, you are the First Americans to come in to my restaurant, and he was just so pleased. There is a huge difference between postwar germany and the germany after the wall came down. , exchange students. I had one boy from east germany and another from west germany. In my home. ,e lived in a Little Village was veryest german boy spoiled. The east german boy, however, the minute he got up from the table, he said now i do the dishes for you. I said oh, why dont you just go upstairs on the computer with my sons and the other boy . He said oh, no no. I must thank you for the dinner. So lots of change has occurred. I am half german myself, my mother was from oldenburg, and dutchgerman. I have lived half my life in europe, and the germans were so ar weful after the w whoa frau hildebrand taught a subpoena she would take no money. You taught us piano she would take no money, we paid her and coffee and sugar, which after after the war, and the germans were so rightful to the americans for freeing them. And my dads people, his wife survived the nazi death camps. She saw all of her family murdered. She survived, she and her little sister were experiments for the nazis. And of course, when i was teaching, one of my neighbors was a pow. He was very grateful to the americans. He said, they treated us like royalty. They gave us everything, and here we were, prisoners. And he said, i am sure we did not treat your people the right way. So the wall is a symbol, just like we have a wall today, wrongs wall, and it is so , so wrong to divide people in know . Y, you we have too much of that in our world. We need to come together and just love one another. Host bernadine this morning out of maine, thank you for sharing your memories this morning. I want to turn to our phone line now, to berlin, we are joined by aomas spero on the phone, correspondent covering what is happening in berlin today. Thomas spero, thank you so much for your time on a very busy day. Can you describe where you are in berlin and what you have been covering today on this 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall . Guest i am actually in one of the most important berlin wall memorials, right in the center of berlin, the berlin wall ran across this street, just in front of buildings where people used to live. Has become a powerful symbol not only of division and what that division meant for so many families and friends, but also how that division was overcome. Where aal for people, lot of tourists come on a daily basis to try and understand both those elements, not only what happened when germany was divided, when berlin was divided , but also how that division was over, and what exactly happened afterwards. Politicalere the main ceremony, the main political commemoration took place this morning, with angela merkel, the german chancellor, the german president , and is well with the president of poland, hungary, the czech republic, and slovakia. That is obviously because of the role those countries and in general Eastern Europe played in the fall of the berlin wall. The u. S. Ambassador to germany is there as well. We have been checking your twitter page this morning, looking at your photos of the coverage. Can you give our viewers a sense of the mood in berlin today . Is this a day of celebration, a somber day of remembrance . What is the mood in the city . Guest both. When the organizers planned the events, not only today but this week, they planned it as a festival. One hand, a sign of celebration, the berlin wall had been fallen three had decades ago. On the one hand, it is certainly a day where germans are celebrating. At the same time, the organizers have clearly stated they wanted this to be an event where germans could also remember and could also discuss. Two other big words that have been very important in the last few weeks and also in particular today, not only because germans have been remembering their personal experiences, what the wall and the fall of the wall meant for them, but also what it means today, what lessons can be drawn from the berlin wall, and what not only germany but other countries are experiencing today. Host a journalist working in berlin today, what do you think those lessons are . You are working in parts of the city where there was not a free press as of 30 years and a day ago. I was actually working along this memorial earlier this week, producing a piece, and one of the things you can learn when you walk. ,hat east German Authorities for a very long time, 28 years that the berlin wall lasted, they were trying to make it stronger and more impenetrable every single time. Everything will time, they realized they were not able to make it completely impenetrable, that people were able in many different ways, and in many cases risking their own lives, leaving everything behind, but many of them were still able to jump or go to the west. That is one of the lessons people have been able to draw here, that walls do not necessarily achieved what they are erected to achieve. When people want their freedom, want more democracy, want to make sure they can live in a free world, there is no wall that can stop them for a very long time. I think that is one of the big conclusions that can be drawn here in particular, but also across the world today. Host thomas spero, before we let you get back to work, it has been a busy day. We appreciate your time. A lot of colors have noted the divisions that still exist between east and west germany today. Can you speak to that . Guest i spent some time in the eastern part of the country. This is certainly a day of celebration, as i said, many germans do acknowledge that the division between east and west is still very much present. Germany has advanced a lot the last three decades, there is no doubt about that, but at the same time, some of those divisions are becoming evident. Some of them are real, salaries, that is an absolutely evident case, eastern germans tend to earn less than west germans, and Political Representation that east german tends to be represented politically less than west germans, but those divisions are also perceived. A perceived difference. You can see any germany, when people tell you they feel as though they were secondclass citizens, many of them feel left behind, they are not the lyrically represented in a way they feel they should, so there are still differences, and that is why german officials have stated on various occasions that even though germany has advanced a lot, the goal of reunification has not been achieved entirely and the challenges that germany has ahead are still very important. Rrow, ahomas spa correspondent for deutsche welle, you can see their english programming on their website, dw. Com. We are asking you your thoughts, your memories of the follow the berlin wall, 30 years ago today. In marion,istina ohio. Caller its christina. Host yes, go ahead. Caller i have lived in east germany and west germany. Inwere naturalized german 1944. We were polish, i am a polish world war ii survivor, born in 1933. We were naturalized so my father could continue working. Then i was separated and i was and i wastal in 1944, taken across the border because the russians were moving in and the germans were evacuating the hospital, so they put me on the train and i ended up in mecklenburg, in germany, without parents. I was about 10 years of age, maybe about 12. A lot of things have happened since then. For ad in east germany total of five years. In 1950, i escaped from behind the iron curtain into west germany. Notice here, i have letters from berlin. I was supposed to show up and go my papers so that i could back to poland, and i did not want to go back to poland. When i escaped, i ended up with a very nice family for about a year. Host how did you escape . Can you talk about that . Caller i crossed the border. I was 17 years of age and i was helped by a lady that had crossed the border many times. Well,me how to first of all they snuck me out of the village, and i had been there since, they had very good people, but the lady who helped me. They snuck me out in the wagon towards a train, and that was the train that i was supposed to board. Me out into a Little Forest area and i walked the rest of the way to a train, and she told me not to make any contact with any russians, with any police or anything on the train. I became acquainted with a lady that was going to escape also. ,e got off at the destination where the train had stopped, and we had to get off. She and i then walked up the street and we saw some women being escorted back to the train. Behind them were about to russians. The women whispered to us, please get into the cafe, they said to get out. We should not be walking because the russians would catch us. We walked in there and we were assisted by the gentleman the gentleman that was running the cafe, he said, what are you doing here . We tried to say we were visiting people in the village and he did not quite believe us. He said, you probably are going to escape. So he said, there is a tall, young man who will come in one door. Look them over real good, he will walk out the other door, and you followcurtain. He led us to this young man. We followed for, i dont know, quite a while. Brook, or a to a i cant think of it right now. He said i will carry you across, but i need payment. To helpi had some money me do this. She had given me some money to give to whoever was going to help me. Host thank you for telling your story. I want to get your thoughts in about 30 seconds on this day, this 30th anniversary after seeing the fall of the berlin wall. Caller i was so happy for the german people. I also see quite a difference between east and west germany at the time. As in germany reppo for right before the war. I was happy for the people. Had something to do with the polish people had something to do with bringing down the wall. I am still corresponding with the people i lived with. I think very highly. I am polish. I met naturalized german for a short time but everyone treated me well. Host thanks so much for your thoughts this morning. We will keep getting your thoughts throughout the morning on the washington journal. Bynext we are joint Georgetown Professor and author Angela Spence to talk about the history and construction of the berlin wall, and events leading up to november 9, 1989. Morph your phone calls on the 30th in nursery. First, president reagans speech from june 12, 1987, 2. 5 years before the wall fell. [video] president reagan the soviets may be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some Political Prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer jammed. Are Economic Enterprises operating with greater freedom from state control. Beginnings of profound changes in the soviet state . Gestureshey token intended to raise false hopes in the west or strengthen the soviet system . We Welcome Change and openness. We believe freedom and security go together. That the advance of human liberty [applause] reagan the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the soviets can make that would be unmistakable. That would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. Gorbachev, ifary you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the soviet union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. [cheers] [applause] president reagan mr. Gorbachev, mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. [cheers] [applause] host back in the berlin wall gallery in washington, d. C. , we welcome Angela Spence, professor of eurasian, russian and Eastern European studies at georgetown university. 9, 1989 november what was the story of that day that led to the images that people around the world saw on their televisions that night . Guest it is great to be on your show. This was not planned by the east german government. More and more at this point as the revolutions are going