A substitute teacher told us that the real reason they tore down the Berlin Wall was . . .?

Question

because it didn't meet the buidling code, and some designers wanted to put up some fancy condos, is that the truth, because we have a test on Friday?

Answer 1

Don't listen to these idiots. That is partialy true. They had talked about taking it down for a long time and then a developer came along and gave them some motivation to do it.

Answer 2

The wall was built by Russia who, at the time, controlled East Berlin, having gained control of that part of the city through an agreement among the U.S., Britain, France, and Russia. Germany lost the Second World War to the Allies, four of them I just named. It was the reason Berlin was divided, as was Germany itself. Berlin was the Capital of Germany and was where Hitler had his headquarters. Russia was already communist at this point, but began to develop in ways that frightened the rest of the Allies when the war was well over and Germany had already been divided. It closed off all but a very narrow air corridor of access to East Berlin. The Allies made a massive continuing airlift to the West Berliners to give them supplies for their existence since Berlin is well inside of the borders commanded by Russia. The established border that divided Germany, and Berlin, into East and West was fenced by Russia in the early Sixties while I was serving in the U.S. Army in West Germany. My M.P. Batallion went to Germany to protect the Allied side and Russian guards were set along the Eastern side. The fence was put up to keep East Berliners from escaping to West Berlin and then into West Germany. The wall was constructed to replace the fence and make it less possible for East Berliners to escape into West Berlin. When the wall was destroyed, it was because of the fall of communism and its control of Russia and the Russian people. It's destruction had nothing to do with the building codes. It represented tyranny, lack of freedom, a divided country, and communism. It was the symbolism that was destroyed when the wall was destroyed. Your substitute teacher was full of boloney.

Answer 3

Trust me when I tell you that building code violations and the desire of some architect to build some condos was not the reason that the Berlin Wall came down. And I've been to Berlin, and while building in the former Eastern sector of Berlin is in full steam, I don't recall condos built over the remnants of the wall.

The people of Berlin do not take lightly the wall, the removal of the wall or the effects it had on all of the citizens of Berlin. For your information, the wall came down in Nov. of 1989, and the soldiers of East Germany still took the wall and their duty so seriously that they were still killing people who tried to flee East Germany by going over the wall. (The last person was killed trying to go over the wall in Feb. of 1989.)

So no I don't believe that they would take the wall so seriously as to end someones life if they tried to go over the wall, but they would dismantle the whole wall over building code violations.

Answer 4

No, it wasn't because of a condominium complex. The wall fell for a number of reasons and was the culmination of events that had gone on for a number of years. These events included the breakup of the Soviet Union and unrest in East Germany including mass emigration and innumerable refugees in neighboring countries. The economic situation in E. Germany was hideous, and most E. Germans wanted to merge with W. Germany and take part in their affluence. E. Germany was the last bastion of communism in the western world, and even Gorbachev (at the behest of President Reagan) declared that the wall should come down. E. Germans were policed and watched all their lives. Years later, their extensive research bio's were made public record, and they stood in line to see them.

Answer 5

He is full of crap.
It was a public uprising that brought about the fall of the wall. The collapse of the communist ideal came about quickly; it surprised the leaders of the socialist states, not to mention almost all American observers. But the rot had set in many years before. I remember the Polish workers who complained, "Forty years of Socialism, and still no toilet paper!" But the ruling classes were in some ways even more demoralized, for it was they who traveled to the West and could compare our societies with theirs. Rich and powerful people who traveled to America or West Germany realized that their standard of living was lower than that of the average industrial worker in a Western country.

The whole rotten structure came tumbling down when people realized that the "real" communists among them were but a small minority. As they learned that, it became possible to express opposition to the system and not be singled out as the lonely dissident who could expect to be manacled and thrown down the memory hole.

The opposition grew geometrically, with each new voice in opposition making ever more voices possible. Perhaps the most effective slogan in East Germany was not "Down with the Communists!" but "Onto the street!" As the crowds of marchers in Leipzig swelled in November of 1989, more and more formerly quiet and submissive subjects realized that they could join in as well. As the chances of being beaten by the police dwindled with each new marcher, more joined the march. What only a few years ago had seemed to be an unbreakable ideological consensus turned out to be a sham. Once the fabric of collectivism began to unravel, it did so remarkably fast.

Answer 6

My father took me to hearken to Mr Reagan as a boy till now he develop into elected to the presidency we lived over the pond and were back state aspect for a couple of minutes,i will by no skill forget what he stated he develop into requested ''why is American even contained in the U N?'' ans ''look I extremely do not have any use for the U N yet when we pull out the Brits and euros will bounce into mattress with the U.S. hell their 1/2 undress with the aid of the undeniable fact that's'' My father and that i extremely relish that as we knew what he basically stated develop into authentic

Answer 7

I had someone tell me that Napoleon was defeated while he was soaking his hemorhoids in a mud puddle. I lived through that time and the fall of the Berlin Wall signified the re-unification of Germany and the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. Thus ending the Cold War.

Answer 8

Ronald Reagan helped greatly in setting all this in motion via a concerted group of strategic economic and military manoevers set in motion to strain the Soviet economy.... but all good liberals re-write history and the teachers' union loves having people like your substitute telling you such nonsense...

Answer 9

Doesn't sound right to me. The wall was a product of years of serious conflict! It took more than a condo to tear it down.

Answer 10

Not as I remember it. It was the freeing of the two countries, East and West Germany that had been seperate because of the Holocaust.