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- A Warm Day In Berlin
- From
- Dick Meister
The Berlin Wall finally fell 20 years ago this month. But I haven't forgotten the incredible tension in the days just after the Soviet-erected barrier between East and West Berlin went up in 1961 - a tension that I and other reporters found almost too acute to describe. It was the East-West Cold War confrontation in a single frightening capsule.
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Piece Description
The Berlin Wall finally fell 20 years ago this month. But I haven't forgotten the incredible tension in the days just after the Soviet-erected barrier between East and West Berlin went up in 1961 - a tension that I and other reporters found almost too acute to describe. It was the East-West Cold War confrontation in a single frightening capsule.
Transcript
It was 20 years ago this month that the Berlin Wall finally fell. But though it’s long gone, many people … myself included … have not forgotten that Soviet barrier which had stood for 28 years as a divider between the Soviet East and the West.
I especially remember the first time I saw the wall, just after it went up in 1961. The atmosphere was incredibly tense …. A tension that I and other reporters had found almost too acute to describe.
West Berliners sat at sidewalk cafes downtown … chatting , but without gaiety. Genuine relaxation seemed impossible because of the newly-constructed wall that stood just a few miles away. Out there, beside the wall, the crowds were greater. But almost no one was talking.
It was a warm day in October.
The night before, an East Berliner had tried to get beyond the wall. Police chased him from rooftop to rooftop. But he reached a drainpipe on a...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:Commentator Dick Meister recalls a tense day at the Berlin Wall.
OUTRO:Dick Meister is a long-time San Francisco journalist.
