10 Comments
Oct 1Liked by Nancy Whiteman

I had family across Northern Germany . When I first visited in 1976, an aunt came to visit us from East Germany. They were allowed two weeks vacation in the West once they turned 65 years old. It was quite interesting all of the stories she shared.

Expand full comment

Thanks so much for sharing your fabulous travels.

Expand full comment
Oct 7Liked by Nancy Whiteman

A good reminder of man's inhumanity to man

Expand full comment
Oct 1Liked by Nancy Whiteman

There is a terrific show that dramatizes this called Deutschland 83 and Deutschland 86!

Expand full comment
Sep 30Liked by Nancy Whiteman

The road to peace is all about building bridges and tearing down walls. Begin with metaphor, progress to symbolic and from there? Who knows... walls tumble? Real bridges? The way to peace...

Expand full comment
Sep 30Liked by Nancy Whiteman

Several years ago we were visiting friends in Hamburg, and went to E Berlin through check point Charlie to visit a brother that still lived there, W Berlin was modern and bustling and E Berlin was dark and still in ruins, the piece of wall in Mexico says a lot about US politics

Don’t let it happen

Expand full comment
Sep 30Liked by Nancy Whiteman

Very interesting! I heard a lot of stories living in Hamburg, in West Germany, for 43 years. My first husband’s family originated east of Dresden near the Czech border. We often visited the village where they lived, bringing goods they could not get, mostly bringing news from the west. Because they lived in the corner of the GDR where western TV and radio did not reach. One cousin, a gentle, sweet man, told of his time in the military. Of course there was a draft. He had to serve in one of those very guard posts on the Berlin wall like in your photo, and he said they were instructed to shoot to kill if someone were trying to escape. He also said they aimed to miss the target if possible. It was a terrible division causing repercussions until this day.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you for sharing!

Expand full comment

Your first photo shows the Ukrainian flag displayed in a public place. We saw the same this summer in Helsinki and Tallinn and the show of defiant solidarity gives me hope.

Expand full comment
author
Sep 30·edited Sep 30Author

I had not noticed it until you pointed it out. But, yes, we saw the flag flown in solidarity throughout our travels.

Expand full comment