My life experience includes being born of American parents on a U.S. Army installation in southern Germany. Crailsheim, to be exact. When we lived in Germany my family took a trip thru East Germany to Berlin.
I still have my Soviet Visa authorizing my passage to the Russian Zone. Yes, back then, the Communists required that even a child might have to produce their "papers" on demand.
This was before the Soviets built a wall and before this cold war stand-off. By the time these photos were snapped in 1961 we had already returned stateside.
In 2023, accompanied by two additional couples, we traveled thru what had previously been East Germany and, while spending several days in Berlin, took some photos at Checkpoint Charlie.
What a difference 62 years makes.
Earlier, on October 25, 1961, the U.S. deployed ten tanks to Checkpoint Charlie, marking a major escalation in the confrontation over Allied access to East Berlin.
The immediate dispute involved East German border guards attempting to check the identification of American officials entering East Berlin. The Americans insisted that only the Soviet authorities, not East German personnel, had jurisdiction over allied access rights.
The sequence of events is important. October 25 was the day the American tanks were deployed, yet the famous stand-off between American and Soviet tanks occurred on this day, October 27. Three U.S. Army tanks were positioned at the crossing with an additional seven held nearby in reserve.
In a tense showdown, ten Russian tanks moved into position opposite the American forces. For hours the two superpower's armor faced one another at close range creating a dangerous setting for escalation. The standoff ended peacefully the following day, October 28, when the Russian tanks began withdrawing followed by the American tanks.
The confrontation demonstrated that the dispute over Berlin was more than about identity papers for adults and children. It was more about the postwar occupation arrangements, status of East Germany, and the rights of Western Allies to move freely through Berlin.
We all know the end of the story; communism is a colossal failed experiment.
The communist's wall came down in November 1989 and East Germany (the German Democratic Republic) ceased to exist on October 3, 1990 when it officially reunited with West Germany. Today Berlin and all of (former) East Germany is free and thriving.
In short order, and after it's constituent republics declared independence, the Soviet Union (USSR) collapsed. It dissolved on December 26, 1991.
Nowadays, like many large European cities, Berlin is an excellent destination spot. Safe, with the S-Bahn and U-Bahn cleaner than any public transportation system on the planet. Museums, theater, entertainment, history and food. If you're like me you will appreciate every last bit of it right down to the beer. I recommend it. Visitors are witness to the miscarriage of communism everywhere.
As for any of you scaredy-cat holdouts doubting that communism is a failed ideology I direct your attention to the last photo for incontrovertible evidence.
KFC was invented by Colonel Sanders; not Vladimir Lenin. The Colonel was an entrepreneur; a capitalist. Comrade Vlad was a murderous dictator. Good guys like the Colonel win hearts and minds with fried chicken. Communist revanchists like Vladimir Putin invade their neighbors and wage war on civilians.
Get a grip people.
A stake has been driven in the heart of the beast.
Communism is dead.
And the midterms are just around the corner.
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