BERLIN, GERMANY (ANS) -- The words of Ronald Reagan delivered during his speech at the Berlin Wall in June 1987 were considered to be provocative and naive. President Reagan however, believed every word. History proved him to be a prophet.

And Mr. Gorbachev deserves much credit as well. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was definitely challenged by President Reagan’s speech. Almost exactly two years later, Gorbachev informed the East Germans government that Soviet troops would not be used to put down the growing rebellion.

August 13, 1961 The Border Goes Up

Early the morning of August 13, 1961 a sleepy city awoke to the East German army rolling out barbed wire and stationing guards throughout the city. The Soviet sector of the city was transformed into a communist prison overnight. Families were permanently separated. The Cold War had begun.

With the passage of time, Berlin came to symbolize the epic struggle of ideas between East and West. The barbed wire turned into a brick fence. Apartment buildings along the border became secret escape routes as people built tunnels or jumped out of windows. The brick fence eventually gave way to a 102 mile long, 12 foot high, 4 foot wide reinforced concrete wall.

The wall was well lit, heavily armed and constantly patrolled. Pressure sensitive wire tripped automatic machine guns. Guard towers lined the border and ringed the city. The Wall was successful in keeping East Germans inside and stopped the mass exodus of immigrants into the refugee camps in West Berlin.

Crossing Checkpoint Charlie

Famous sign at Checkpoint Charlie

I first visited Berlin in 1978 as a 21 year old missionary living in Europe.

I worked with a German mission agency smuggling bibles behind the Iron Curtain. It was not uncommon for Americans to visit East Berlin on one day tourist visas which expired at midnight.

The American guards at Checkpoint Charlie would briefly check your passport if at all. Once on the border however, you were clearly entering enemy territory, both physically and spiritually. A thorough search of your vehicle, and belongings always took place. No newspapers allowed, no printed matter, no music, no weapons, no drugs, no bibles or foreign contraband of any kind.

I made friends with pastors on the east side who secretly distributed Christian literature. Their faith and perseverance challenged me deeply. I lived in freedom, I could return to West Berlin. They however, were missionaries in a giant prison. And they thanked God for that privilege. Amazing.

Leaving the American Sector book cover

In 1980 just four weeks after our wedding day, my wife Paula and I moved to Berlin to the southern district of Rudow near Neukolln to help lead the bible smuggling operation. In January of 1982 I was caught on the East German border. It felt like a movie, surreal in a way, but when my interrogators stated that I was smuggling cocaine and would get an 8 year prison sentence, I knew it wasn’t a movie. The book “Leaving The American Sector” tells this story and is available from www.eeo.org.

Escape From East Berlin

During that time I struck up an acquaintance with a photographer who had escaped into West Berlin. 

“Georg, are you from Berlin? How long have you lived here?” I asked while picking up some film.

“Yes, we are from Berlin, but not from this side,” he shared.

“When the wall went up, I knew we must escape somehow. I heard that people were escaping through the countryside. I told my wife that we must try and do the same. Three days after the barbed wire rolled out, we left our possessions behind and walked all night through the fields and forest into West Berlin.”

“Were you scared?”

“Yes, we were. But I knew we had to go. We spent some time in a refugee camp and have lived here ever since.”

Dancing On November 9th

An anniversary is now upon us marking the joyful onset of freedom for millions of citizens across Europe. On that fairy tale night in November fellow neighbors, East and West “Berliners” miraculously met as complete strangers to dance and party at the wall. Two months later I too, along with my wife and children, arrived with hammer and chisel to do our part to chip away at the crumbling concrete barrier.

Our friends in East Berlin were jubilant and uncertain as to what the future would hold for them. Negotiations for the reunification of Germany were under way.  November 9, 1989, two years and five months after Reagan’s famous challenge, the wall was indeed torn down by the prisoners, the East Germans, who lived behind it. What few people knew at the time however was that the opening of the border was the result of a bureaucratic mistake.

A Mistake Of Historic Proportions

By the summer of 1989 intense pressure was mounting on the East German government. Mass demonstrations were taking place in Leipzig, Dresden, and East Berlin. An opening of the border between Hungary and Austria allowed thousands of East Germans to escape there. Something had to be done.

On the evening of November 9, 1989 a hurriedly organized press conference was called to discuss a new “relaxed travel policy.” The spokesman for the GDR (German Democratic Republic) Gunter Schabowski was not completely briefed on the new proposal before he spoke. .When asked when the new “relaxed travel policy” went into effect, he appeared surprised and confused at the question. Shuffling through papers he announced, “immediately, at once.”

Within minutes a West German television program was interrupted with the breaking news that the East Germans were now allowing free travel for their citizens. Tens of thousands of East Germans, who had been watching West German television, stormed the borders demanding free passage. The confused border guards initially resisted. Within 30 minutes the wall opened and the party began. 

Jeff Thompson is a contributor to Assist News Service and is the director of Eastern European Outreach in Murrieta, California. His exciting book Leaving The American Sector chronicles his story from smuggling bibles to working in Siberian prisons. Today, Jeff works with children at risk in Ukraine, Russia, Armenia and Kosovo. Visit www.eeo.org  for more information. .