Feeling Old Part 2

   It was 30 years ago today, the Berlin Wall came down. Or at least started to. For 28 years, between 1961 and 89, it was the demarcation line, physically and ideologically, between the East and West during the Cold war.
   I won't get into the politico-ideological reasons why it went up (there are plenty of online resources for that), but it started going up to keep East Germans, specifically Berliners, from defecting to the West. Despite it, 100,000 people tried to escape, and some 5,000 made it. Anywhere from 136 to 200 died trying.
   While East German authorities opened the crossing points November 9, 1989, and the demolition of the wall started, it wasn't until 1991 the last remnants (aside from a few sections) were finally removed.
   The fall of the Wall, many believe, also marked the start of the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, although that didn't happen until 1991.

TTFN