I am a Donut - Contemplating 35 Years of the Fall of the Wall
From Kennedy's "I am a Berliner" to bureaucratic blunder: How the Berlin Wall fell and sparked Germany's biggest construction transformation.
Ich bin ein Berliner
By Elke Porter | Westcoast German News | September 26, 2025
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Thirty-five years ago, on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, ending one of the most potent symbols of Cold War division. But to understand its collapse, we must first examine why this concrete barrier was erected in the heart of a city.
Kennedy's Famous Gaffe
Two years after the wall's construction, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin on June 26, 1963, delivering one of the Cold War's most memorable speeches. Attempting to show solidarity with Berliners, Kennedy declared "Ich bin ein Berliner"—intending to say "I am a Berliner." However, linguistically, announced "I am a jelly donut," since "Berliner" is also the name for a popular German pastry. While the crowd understood his meaning and cheered enthusiastically, the grammatical slip became legendary, symbolizing both American support and the cultural gaps that existed even among allies during the tense Cold War period.
Interesting side note: In his speech, Kennedy was supposed to say: “So let me ask you… to lift your eyes beyond the danger of today to the hopes of tomorrow–beyond the freedom of this city of Berlin to the advance of freedom everywhere–beyond the Wall to the day of peace with justice–beyond yourselves to all mankind.” and instead he impulsively said, " Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was ‘Civis Romanus sum [I am a Roman citizen].’ Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ick (ich) bin ein Berliner. Berliner being another word for jelly donut, of course.
The Wall's Origins
In 1961, East Germany faced a hemorrhaging crisis. Since 1949, nearly three million East Germans had fled to the West through Berlin, the only remaining escape route. The communist government, desperate to stop this exodus of skilled workers and intellectuals, made a fateful decision. On August 13, 1961, they began construction of what would become a 96-mile barrier dividing Berlin.
The wall didn't simply separate neighbourhoods—it tore through the fabric of daily life. Families woke up to find barbed wire cutting through their streets, separating parents from children, lovers from each other. Houses on Bernauer Strasse found themselves split in two, with front doors in East Berlin and back doors in the West. Residents jumped from windows into Western territory before authorities bricked them up. The psychological trauma was immediate and lasting.
Life Behind the Barrier
For teenagers growing up in East Berlin, the wall represented the boundaries of their entire world. They came of age knowing that travel, education, and career opportunities beyond the Iron Curtain were forbidden. Many channeled their frustration into underground music scenes and subtle acts of rebellion, while others planned increasingly desperate escape attempts.
The youngest victim of the wall's brutality was Rolf Klönne, just 19 years old, shot while attempting to flee in 1961. His death exemplified the regime's ruthless determination to keep its citizens imprisoned. Over 140 people would die trying to cross the barrier during its 28-year existence.
Checkpoint Charlie became the most famous crossing point, now preserved as a museum documenting the extraordinary creativity of escape attempts. People hid in car trunks, including the cramped confines of East German Trabant (Trabbi) cars. The Strelzyk and Wetzel families famously constructed a homemade hot air balloon in 1979, carrying eight people to freedom. Others spent months digging tunnels beneath the wall, with Tunnel 57 successfully helping 57 people escape in 1964.
The Fall and Its Aftermath
The wall's collapse came suddenly through a massive bureaucratic blunder. On November 9, 1989, East German official Günter Schabowski mistakenly announced that border crossings would open "immediately," when new travel rules weren't supposed to take effect until the next day. Confused border guards, overwhelmed by crowds demanding passage, simply opened the gates. East and West Berliners celebrated together, dancing on the wall and attacking it with hammers and pickaxes.
The economic reality behind the Iron Curtain was stark. Many East Germans still relied on "Trocken Klo"—dry toilets requiring buckets of water—and lived in buildings riddled with bullet holes from World War II. The infrastructure gap was enormous, but it created unprecedented business opportunities.
The 1990s unleashed a construction boom that transformed Eastern Germany into Europe's largest building site. By 1994, cranes dominated city skylines as billions of deutsche marks poured into reconstruction. New autobahns emerged with surfaces "smooth as silk," while thousands of dilapidated houses were rebuilt or completely modernized. Western construction companies and investors flooded in, creating jobs but also displacing local businesses.
Germany Today
However, this initial economic miracle proved uneven. While infrastructure rapidly modernized, many East German enterprises couldn't compete with Western efficiency and closed. Unemployment soared as state-owned factories shuttered. Today, over three decades later, Eastern Germany still lags economically—wages remain roughly 20% lower than in the West, and major corporate headquarters remain concentrated in former West German cities. The construction boom eventually slowed, leaving some Eastern regions struggling with population decline and limited business development.
This economic disparity has fuelled lasting resentment. Many Eastern Germans feel their contributions were undervalued during reunification, leading to political polarization that echoes through contemporary German politics and reflects broader global disillusionment with promises of prosperity through democratic capitalism.
Unexpected Turns
Recent German elections have revealed two developments that would have seemed unimaginable in 1989. First, the Alternative for Germany (AFD), a right-wing populist party, has gained significant ground, drawing support almost exclusively from disaffected East Germans who feel abandoned by mainstream politics. Their near-victory in several eastern states reflects decades of accumulated frustration over economic inequality and cultural dismissal.
Second, Germany—a nation that spent the post-war era committed to pacifism—is now ready to dramatically increase military spending and rebuild its armed forces. The spectre of Russian aggression has pushed Germans to abandon their post-war reluctance toward military power, with broad public support for defence modernization to protect against the very nation that once controlled East Germany.
These are indeed interesting times: the former communist east now supports right-wing populists, while the entire nation prepares to defend against Russia—the country that once promised to liberate the working class. History, it seems, has come full circle in ways no one could have predicted when those jubilant crowds danced on the crumbling wall 35 years ago.
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