Tearing down (and building back) that wall

I recently heard the news about 36 sections of the Berlin Wall coming to Blytheville as part of the National Cold War Center’s permanent exhibit space. It’s a fantastic addition to what I feel will be a world-class facility in Northeast Arkansas.

More importantly, it is an iconic piece of world history and one that will teach generations about the limitations of oppression, the power of the human spirit, and the strength of personal freedom.

For history buffs, you’ll remember the Berlin Wall was one of the largest symbols of the deep division between East and West — between democratic, free Europe and the communist-led Soviet Union. It defined the Cold War in the post-World War II era.

In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan had been pressuring the Soviet Union’s leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to further open up Russian society. Little did we know how deteriorated the Soviet Union was crumbling, but it is clear in retrospect that it was much more advanced in its decline than anyone could have fathomed.

The Berlin Wall was the dividing line in this decades-old ideological and political battle between democracy and communism. In 1987, Reagan traveled to Germany and delivered his iconic speech when he challenged Gorbachev to remove the Berlin Wall.

“General Secretary Gorbachev, if 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! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” Reagan said.

Reagan’s advisers were generally against him delivering the line, but he insisted keeping it in his speech. It turns out the delivery was historic, memorable and defining.

I lived abroad in the fall-winter-spring of 1988-89 the year after I graduated from college. I took up residence in London and used it as a launching pad for travels around the United Kingdom and on the European continent. 

My kids have no idea what the world was like in the Cold War era. The countries behind the Iron Curtain were nearly forbidden for entry and were often considered oppressive, desolate regions of the world. There was little interest in actually going to those countries because you knew it would be depressing and it was considered dangerous.

When I traveled, I spent time taking in world history in France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, and West Germany — all on the western front. I actually had a lot of friends who lived in West Germany as a result of networking and foreign exchange programs. We spent many hours discussing the ways of the world and what life was like for them growing up in a divided country.

Most of them knew of distant relatives who lived in East Germany, but they weren’t really connected to any of them. They had little to no memories of the split in their nation except from stories from grandparents and parents.

During my 1988-89 travels, I did spend two days in Hungary, which was a communist country but was considered the friendliest to western visitors. Despite the reputation, it was still an incredibly depressing experience. The taxi driver with whom I spent the most time wasn’t very encouraging about his prospects for a future.

I never made it to Berlin. It was a long train ride and you had to travel through East Germany to get to the divided city. I returned to the U.S. in the summer of 1989 and later that November, the Berlin Wall fell.

Back in the states, I recall watching the German protestors on CNN pounding their sledgehammers on pieces of the Berlin Wall as it fell in large sections in the streets. People were cheering, there was no violent reaction from the East German gatekeepers in uniform, and you sensed the world was literally changing before your very eyes.

It was one of the most uplifting and liberating moments I can remember in my lifetime. To know that this slice of world history will be on display in Arkansas is hard to imagine. But it will be.

I look forward to walking the corridors of the National Cold War Center and reflecting on a time in my life — and a defining symbol of my life — when the world’s fate was uncertain and the possibility of nuclear annihilation was formidable.

Here’s to hoping that rebuilding the walls in this exhibit will communicate the power of hope that the tearing down of those walls instilled.

Editor’s note: Roby Brock is the editor-in-chief of Talk Business & Politics. He hosts “Talk Business & Politics” and “Capitol View” and a radio program three times a week on KASU.