I was in Berlin in 1989 when the Wall came down. I wish I had thanked Mikhail Gorbachev for changing my life and letting me witness history. The author perched on a Berlin underground station entrance in the fall of 1989 (Photo courtesy of Elaine Monaghan) In June...
In 1989, Elaine Monaghan found herself in Germany. She would spend two decades covering international affairs for the Reuters news service, but the night she witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall changed her life. Reflecting on that event, she marks the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, then leader of the Soviet Union, whose decisions contributed to the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the USSR. Monaghan tells us that “even if you don’t always grasp everything that is happening around you, if you follow an unmarked, difficult path, opting not to resist the pull of history, walls can come tumbling down.” She offers youth an important reminder that, with strife all around us, they can still make a difference.
Exercise: The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier that separated East and West Berlin, dividing two countries – the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. Can your students think of a wall today, either physical or geographic, that acts as a political divide? What might bring that wall down?
Ever wonder what journalists think when they cover a major event? Tom Heneghan was there when the Berlin Wall fell — a true turning point in history. East Berlin Mayor Erhard Krack (with microphone) and West Berlin Mayor Walter Momper speak to a crowd gathered...
I accompanied two U.S. presidents to D-Day commemorations. Then I traced the footsteps of my uncle, a doctor who became a war hero. Captain John Cotter (photo courtesy of Gene Gibbons) Seventy-five years ago today, tens of thousands of American, British, Canadian,...
Bernd Debusmann grew up in a post-war Germany still in ruins. His early reporting assignments included the first trial under German law of officials for their role in the Holocaust. By Bernd Debusmann History takes odd turns. Who would have thought seven decades ago...
New U.S. sanctions on Russia might look like just another diplomatic move following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. But they could have dire consequences. Part of the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Russia, 28 July 2017. (EPA/Sergei Chirikov) The U.S. Congress has...
