FLASHBACK

Berlin, 1989.

Back in 1961, the apparatchiks of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) could not have imagined that the guarded concrete barrier they were building—to keep East Germans in and Western “fascists” out—would one day be a major tourist attraction. Yet today, three decades after the Peaceful Revolution brought down the Berlin Wall, the surviving portions of this once-potent Cold War symbol remain high on visitors’ agendas; many walk or bike the 160-kilometer-long Berliner Mauerweg, a signposted path that traces the course of the former GDR border fortifications encircling West Berlin. You can expect interest to be particularly keen in November, when the German capital celebrates the 30th anniversary of the wall’s fall (and the city’s reunification) with a weeklong festival of concerts, lectures, accounts by contemporary witnesses, poetry slams, and film screenings. It all climaxes on the evening of the 9th with a large stage show at the Brandenburg Gate; entertainment aside, there won’t be a better place to partake in the spirit of John F. Kennedy’s immortal words,“