20 years ago today the Berlin Wall came down.

In those days before the world wide web, through the medium of “bulletin boards”, I received a first-hand account of this event from a West Berliner named Wolfgang.

Bulletin Boards were “networks” of computers run by enthusiasts that would allow users to log into them via direct modem to modem connection. Once connected, we could read posts and leave our own. The computers would pool these posts and in the wee hours of the morning, they would dial into a central state host and synchronise content. These hosts would then swap with a central Australian host, which would then swap with one in America, and so on globally – every 24 hours. The bulletin board I used was called “The Lighthouse” and was run out of the Caloundra High School.

The post by Wolfgang arrived the next day after the Wall came down. He recounted the amazing events of that evening, where he and many West Berliners gathered on their side of the wall. He and some friends climbed up onto the top of the wall, and were then blasted off by East Berlin forces with water cannons. Later they climbed up again and found the forces were gone, so they jumped down into East Berlin – how brave that was we can probably never understand. He told how he and his friends went walking around in East Berlin meeting many excited people, and eventually they found themselves back at the Brandenburg Gate – but on the wrong side.

There were many East Berliners in their cars queued up at the Gate, and then the Gate was opened. They got into the cars with the East Berliners and were in the first handful of cars to drive through to the west, cheered by the thousands who had gathered to welcome people through.
To read this account was like being there, in a way that we’ve become all too familiar with these days, but was almost unheard of in 1989. Many times I’ve wished I kept a copy of that post, and I can’t find one stored on the net anywhere by someone else. The net makes for a very good time capsule now, but we’ve lost so much before it came into being.