Before I begin, I just want to say that I'm so humbled to have been able to experience the amazing things God has allowed me to experience in my life to make me the person I am today. As far as I'm concerned this was one of the biggest miracles God has pulled off in the past 50 years and I got to see an important piece of it up close and very personally. This miracle touched millions of lives all over the world, but none so much as those in Eastern Europe and in the country I love as my 2nd home, Germany.
Okay, so I won't leave you all in suspense any longer. In Europe right now, it's October 7. Twenty-five years ago today I know exactly what I was doing. It was one of the most significant days of my life, and also one of the scariest, but above all, one of the most exciting. I was living in Munich, but had taken a weekend tour through my college, the University of Maryland, Munich Campus, to Prague, Czechoslovakia. I didn't know at the time I booked this weekend how it would impact my life for many years to come and how perfect the timing of it was. And it still amazes me today, exactly 25 years to the day later.
The week before I left for Prague an absolutely unprecedented crack began to form in the iron curtain (for those of you unaware of this term, it described a political wall between Eastern European communist and socialist ideology and western (free) society). I watched with great interest as, for the first time since the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, 28 years previously, the East Germans were allowed to travel freely to another country, Czechoslovakia. Many fled the oppressiveness of the East German government. Suddenly, they had some freedom, and they took advantage of it!
I had watched as TV stations were reporting from behind the West German embassy in Prague, where literally hundreds and hundreds of refugees were holed up in the courtyard in tents! I was bound and determined to make my way there to see it for myself. So, I talked two of my fellow students into going to check it out with me.
Here is the story I wrote for my school newspaper about that experience. I remember staying up until 3 a.m. to make sure it was absolutely perfect when I turned it in. Oddly enough, instead of writing it as a reporter of the college (I was one of the editors of the paper), the school decided it might be better that I do an Op-Ed article (just in case the story might cause some sort of international incident.) It didn't, thank goodness. Here's the story I wrote:
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(From
the Munich Observer, November 1989, page 2)
STUDENTS TRY TO HELP IN E. GERMAN
FLIGHT
By Tim Morse, Guest Columnist
The Sun
was setting as we prowled through a quickly darkening forest in West Prague. We
could see Czech guards only 50 years away, watching us through the trees.
“I have
to talk to those refugees, “ I thought.
That
infamous eight-foot iron gate I had seen in the media eluded me by only a few
meters. But I wasn’t about to give up.
I and
sophomores Amy Cashman and Tara Brown went to the West German Embassy in
Prague, only to find it heavily guarded by Czechoslovakian police. At the time of October visit, about 1,000
East Germans called the West German Embassy courtyard home.
At one
point, we were able to come within a few meters of that iron gate which had
meant the last major obstacle to freedom for thousands of East Germans in the
preceding weeks.
It, too,
was heavily guarded.
My dream
of helping a refugee over that gate was quickly dashed as I viewed the security
around it.
We still
tried everything in our power to get closer to the gate. We walked around the embassy, mostly on the
wooded hill behind it, for over two hours.
We even
tried sneaking through the dark, steep forest that led to the back side of the
embassy, that is, until we realized we were being watched.
We then
tried to talk to the guards, who were huddled around a small fire. Not only were they unwilling to help us, but
they were downright rude about it.
Because
I didn’t have my passport, they refused to acknowledge me, told me very bluntly
to leave, and pointed the way.
The
second group of guards we met around a similar fire was surprisingly
friendly. They tried to communicate with
us in German and English, and of course Czech, but they couldn’t allow us to
access the gate either.
They did
allow us, however, to take pictures of all of us together. It should be quite a souvenir.
I
thought we could meet the refugees on our own, but of course, couldn’t. So, as a last resort, we went to the front
door of the embassy.
I talked
in German to the man who answered the door, but he responded that it would be “überhaupt
nicht möglich” (not at all possible) to talk to any refugees for matters of
security.
I took
this news very hard, but comforted myself that I was, in fact, witnessing history in the making.
The
events leading up to this exodus are
historical.
For the
first time in over 40 years, people in Eastern Bloc countries were, for a time,
able to “escape” the oppression of their countries with relative ease.
Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev, on a trip to East Berlin to celebrate the 40th
anniversary of East Germany last month, advised now former Communist Party
leader Erich Honecker to ease restrictions in his country so that Gorbachev’s
policy of glasnost might gain more
credibility throughout the world.
In past
months, Czechoslovakia and Hungary have opened up their borders to the point
that the people may come and go almost as they please, according to our tour
guide, Vladimir.
This
made it possible for these East Germans to come West because before, they didn’t
need visas to enter Czechoslovakia.
Because
of the exodus, they now do.
Media
sources say that a majority of West Germans would like to see the two Germanies
reunify, but this would cause numerous social and economic problems for West
Germany.
West
Germany would have difficulties supporting the large numbers of new residents
should the East German government allow such a reunification. West Germany has
an acute housing shortage among other things.
Sophomore Martina Manley, whose mother is German and who plans to settle
down in Germany, is skeptical. She
believes that the refugees will take job opportunities away from the West
Germans, herself included.
Whatever
the outcome, I hope that the people of the Eastern Bloc, who are suffering
under the oppression that can still be felt there, will one day soon be able to
enjoy all the things we take for granted here in the West – especially liberty.
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Anyway, as we all know, the Berlin wall fell just one month after this. I remember exactly where I was when I watched Germans breaking through the wall, standing and dancing on top of it. I remember sitting on my bed, in my dorm room in Munich, and weeping that the East Germans were finally free!
You may remember that as a 16 year-old, I visited East Berlin (see my posts in this blog from April 2013) and saw how depressed and sad the people were, how little they had and most of them had no idea what it was like on the other side of that large, looming wall....
Well, that's it for tonight. I have to be up in a few hours and I wanted to share this incredible experience I had. It's been intense remembering all of those things again after so long. I hope you're as encouraged reading it as I am to be able to share it with you.
Make sure to give thanks for your freedom, there are still some that don't have it and never will. We are truly lucky to have it.
Good night, and until the next time!
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