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With six words -- "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" -- Reagan shook the Berlin Wall.
The president's plea carried a special meaning for Trautenbach, who was a teenager at the time.
He born and raised in Wurzburg, West Germany. The Iron Curtain of Communism always loomed nearby.
During the early '80s, Trautenbach said he remembered hearing rumors that the Berlin Wall would soon crumble along with communism's hold on the area. In 1961, the East German government erected a barrier to prevent East Germans from escaping to the West. The wall cut the city of Berlin -- and many families -- in half.
But it remained intact until Nov. 9, 1989, when the East German government opened the border.
People took to the streets to celebrate. They tore down large sections of the concrete wall.
Trautenbach was working an apprenticeship and bar tending at a club in his town. He remembered the joy of that moment. Relatives were reunited. His father even married a woman from East Berlin a few years later.
But before it was torn down, the Berlin Wall stood as a symbol of fear.
In 1975, Cheryl Zertuche, who grew up in York, was stationed in West Germany with the U.S. Army.
She said she liked living in West Berlin. The city had a vibrant nightlife with clubs and restaurants. Upscale shops lined the streets. Mercedes and BMWs were standard modes of transportation.
In 1976, she was selected for a tour of East Berlin. She had to carry her I.D. at all times to pass through the gates.
The strict East German guards didn't blink. Armed men stood along watchtowers. They patrolled the wall and often added barbed wire and glass at the top to deter escape attempts. They didn't feed their dogs for days and trained them to attack on command.
On the other side of the wall, things appeared to be normal until she looked closer. "The two different sides were so different at the time," Zertuche said.
East Berlin seemed modern, but it didn't have stable infrastructure. There were only a few cars on the eight-lane highway. The first two floors were the only spaces occupied in tall skyscrapers. Slums spread our for miles beyond the city. People were more reserved.
"The perception was that things were fine, but it was just for show," Zertuche said.
One of the most tense moments was her nighttime train ride out of Berlin. The rail line went through East Berlin. Security was tight. She was told that if anyone stuck their head or arm out of the window, they might be shot by guards.
Zertuche returned for her third tour of duty in Germany in 1988. She was stationed at a different part of the barrier, outside Berlin. But, when Germany was reunited the next year, she remembers how jubilant the country was.
A friend brought her pieces of the Berlin Wall. Zertuche sent one to her sister, her mother and her brother-in-law, Paul Miller, of Springettsbury Township.
Miller and his wife, Phyllis, keep the small hunk of concrete in a cardboard box along with the yellowed letter from Zertuche dated Dec. 31, 1989.
The New Year rang in a lot of change for Germany. National unity became official on Oct. 3, 1990.
"There was culture shock on both sides," Zertuche said.
The East Germans were now free to go into the West, which had more amenities. They could visit friends, stores and go places they had been cut off from for decades.
Zertuche remembers that they came over in small, compact cars -- a minor annoyance to the West Germans who drove more than 100 mph on the Autobahn.
The West Germans had to adjust to crowded streets and more competition for jobs, Trautenbach said.
But many East German companies began to flourish when the country was reunited. Many were bought by companies in the United States and set up exchange programs. That's how Trautenbach was able to emigrate to America and enroll at The Community College of Baltimore County 18 years ago.
He now lives in West Manchester Township and works for Conductive Technologies.
Zertuche now lives near Olympia, Wash., and displays her large portion of the Berlin Wall on a plate.
"For us, it was a big piece of history," she said. "It was a bigger deal for the German people."
Other memories
Unexpected reactions
Name: Ricardo Aguilar
Age: 50
Lives in: Manchester Township
During that time frame, I was in the Air Force and we were based Rhein-Main Air Base. . . right in Frankfurt, Germany. I was a C-130 pilot. We were based there from November 1988 until November 2001.
I remember when we went into East Berlin at the time you had to wear your uniform. We would go in through Checkpoint Charlie.
My wife even went on a wives' trip. They went into East Berlin through rail. There was a Berlin train that was used at all times to take in our troops that were based through West Berlin. They would also bring in supplies.
When the wall came down, everyone thought it would be a euphoric time, but I still remember . . . some of the people (who) were the most upset were the West Berliners.
West Berlin is beautiful, pristine (and) very well to do. When the wall came down all of the East Berliners would come in waves into West Berlin . . . because they had plentiful shops and all the amenities from the West.
The West Berliners would complain about how (East Berliners) would come in their Trabants. The East German cars at the time that had a lot of pollution.
I was talking to one of the Tempelhof (Airport) controllers one day as we were loading our aircraft and he said, "Boy, I wish the Berlin Wall would go up and that it was 10 meters higher." They had really changed their lifestyle by how crowded and congested West Berlin became after the wall came down.
But it was quite a momentous occasion. It was very exciting to actually go into East Berlin before the wall came down and then go back in after the Wall came down.
If you ever have a chance to go, there's an awesome museum called the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, which describes a lot of the different attempts that people made to escape from East Berlin into West Berlin.
Pieces of history sold in plastic bags
Name: Sue Oberg
Age: 45
Lives in: Dover Township
I was serving in the U.S. Army. I arrived in Hardheim, Germany, in October 1989. I turned 25, and the following couple months when the wall went down everybody was running around trying to get pieces of the Berlin Wall.
Everybody was trying to sell them. They were in baggies. They had the dates marked on (them). Everywhere you went, there were pieces of the Berlin Wall.
I happened to get a couple pieces, which I have saved somewhere with my stuff in the attic.
It was quite interesting because the East Germans would come over in their little cars. They really didn't know how to drive on the right side of the road and everything. They just seemed so happy to be able to come over.
They would also come into the bars and party, and they would talk.
I feel pretty honored to be over there when the wall went down and actually get to talk to some of the people and watch some of the reactions. I'm glad I got that part of history in my life.
Toilet paper and oranges
Name: Craig Trebilcock
Age: 49
Lives in: Glen Rock
I was stationed along the Iron Curtain in Fulda, West Germany, when the wall came down. (It was) my first assignment in the Army. The Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall had been up since the early '60s.
I remember two particular things about that moment.
The rest of the world was celebrating the wall coming down and all of these folks being free. From the military perspective . . . we expected the Soviet Union to flood western Europe with refugees. Although it turned out to be a wonderful and happy thing in hindsight, when the Berlin Wall went down, we went on high alert because this was suspected to be the beginning of what would possibly be a Soviet thrust into western Europe.
The second thing that I remember most about the incident . . . was that our town, which was right along the border, began to be flooded with people from East Germany because the Iron Curtain -- the wall that ran down through central Europe -- had split these families in half for many years. So you had cousin and aunts who hadn't seen each other in decades (who) were suddenly able to be united.
You could spot (the East Germans) two blocks away in the city because they had two characteristics: Under their left arm they would be carrying 40 rolls of toilet paper and under their right arm, they'd be carrying a bag of oranges. Apparently, those were the two staples that the East German people missed the most. We must have seen that a dozen times.
They would also be on the highways in West Germany in their little Trabant cars. Our cars would be going on the Autobahn at 100 mph and their cars would be going 40 mph. It led to a lot of accidents.
But I remember those as happy times. When you'd drive by these East German cars, the kids and the wife would have their face pressed to the window waving and smiling at cars that went by in contrast to the fear and anxiety of the Cold War. That was pretty gratifying and seemed to make the mission worthwhile.
Singing in Berlin
Name: Yvonne Hook
Age: 45
Lives in: Stewartstown
I actually saw the Berlin Wall in person and went through Checkpoint Charlie in 1987. I was on a choir tour. I went to Wheaton College in Illinois. After I graduated, we went to Europe including East Germany.
All of our engagements in East Germany were canceled by the Communist government after they found out that we were a religious college. So we stood in public squares and sang spontaneous concerts that way.
We went to Berlin. We started out in West Berlin, and then we took a day trip over in East Berlin.
It was a very tense experience. We were in a bus, and we were there for several hours waiting to be inspected by communist guards who didn't seem very happy in their work.
Then in 1999, when I was singing in the chorus of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra . . . we had a concert at the Berlin Philharmonic and I got to go back and see what was left of the wall and go to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.
I was struck by the fact that Berlin was a completely different city before the fall and after the fall.
New Year's on the wall
Name: Tina Kent
Age: 41
Lives in: Springettsbury Township
I was at the Berlin Wall on New Year's 1989. On Nov. 9, 1989, I was an idealistic college student in Texas.
I saw what was happening on TV and was astonished. I assumed that the United States and Russia would probably go to war at some point and was so pleased to see the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall.
My sister and I convinced everybody we knew instead of giving us Christmas presents to give us money (toward) plane tickets to Germany.
We went and spent New Year's there. I have lots and lots of pictures of us on the Berlin Wall with millions of other people and a piece of the Berlin Wall from that time.
About the wall
When it was built: The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) closed the border with West Berlin Aug. 13, 1961. The first concrete elements were put in place a few days later.
When it fell: East Berliners were given permission to cross the border Nov. 9, 1989. On June 13, 1990, the official dismantling of the Wall by the East German military began. Germany was officially re-unified Oct. 3, 1990.
By the numbers
The total length: More than 100 miles
Length through Berlin: 27 miles
Length through residential areas: 23 miles
Length through other areas: 66 miles
Height: 12 to 13 feet high in most areas
Concrete segments: 45,000
Weight: more than 2.5 tons
Watch towers: 302
Bunkers: 20 bunkers
People who successfully crossed the Berlin Wall to freedom: More than 5,000
People arrested at the border area: About 3,200
People killed trying to escape East Germany: About 160
People injured trying to escape East Germany: About 120
Sources: www.u-s-history.com, www.berlin.de, www.germany.info
On the Web
Share your thoughts on the Fall of the Berlin for the 20 Year Anniversary on Twitter at www.berlintwitterwall.com and on The Exchange at www.inyork.com/exchange. Click on the National News section under The Front Porch.
The German Embassy's Web site, www.germany.info, includes a section titled "Freedom Without Walls -- 20 Years Fall of the Wall." Read memories and click on an interactive map that shows pieces of the Berlin Wall in America.
Chancellor addresses Congress
German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with President Barack Obama and addressed the U.S. Congress on Tuesday before ceremonies in Berlin marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The chancellor, who recently started her second term, met Obama for talks about trans-Atlantic and bilateral relations, as well as talks on climate policies and the economy.
In her speech to Congress, Merkel recalled the events of 1989 that led to the collapse of communism and, ultimately, German reunification the next year.
She told Congress Tuesday that America "was simply unreachable to me" until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
Merkel is only the second German government leader to address Congress.
Source: Associated Press
Celebrating with music
The MTV European Music Awards (EMAs) were held in Berlin Thursday. The show featured performances by U2, the Foo Fighters, Shakira and Leona Lewis.
Berlin, which hosted the awards in 1994, is the only city to ever hold the EMAs twice. MTV said it made the decision to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9.
Irish band U2 played a short set in front of the Brandenburg Gate before the awards show at the O2 World stadium. About 10,000 tickets to the show were given away free online and sold out within hours.
U2's concert is not only a historical nod to the significance to the Brandenburg Gate -- which lies on the line that formerly divided East and West Berlin -- but also a reflection of the band's history. Their seventh album, "Achtung Baby" was recorded in Berlin in 1990 and their single "One" was inspired by the fall of the wall and written on the eve of German reunification.
Prior to Thursday's concert, organizers put up a barrier to block the view for those without tickets.
The move triggered outrage from Berliners and tourists alike, all of who see the irony in building wall around a concert dedicated to the wall that has come down.
Source: Associated Press
emccracken@ydr.com; 771-2051
