Thank you for visiting my sites. You can also add my guestbook.
Hello everyone, my name is Tim and I am a degree student in Swansea, South Wales studying Multimedia.
My course has just begun its final year and with it, the final project. After much thought and research, I decided that a multimedia piece on a subject as fascinating and emotive as the Berlin Wall would be a challenging but very worthwhile and rewarding project.
In my research I have found that the current state of web content for the Berlin Wall is highly comprehensive, and there is a large network of linked sites centralising here at this web-site.
My aim for this project is to add a fully interactive website to the existing network of sites. A site that gives the user an opportunity to leave their mark, much like the Wall itself did for it's West Side inhabitants and visitors.
The whole concept of artists using the Berlin Wall as a medium for their views and feelings really fascinates me.
Although the Wall had to come down in the name of freedom and humanity, I do feel it is a shame such a vast piece of living art was lost. What I wish to do with the main section of my website is provide a continuation of the canvas the Berlin Wall provided by giving the users their very own on-line wall to decorate as they wish, using the basic tools and colours like the spray can, paintbrush and roller.
Even in todays world there are many divided and repressed nations, and so many strong emotions and oppinions. I hope that this site can not only be a tribute to the Berlin Wall, but also represent the walls that still exist today, whether physically or in the mind.
The second section of my site will be fully interactive plotting the walls history in a way that combines the historical, political, personal and geographical elements of the Walls story in parallel with each other. Rather than being largely text-based and statistical, I want it to be more of an audio-visual experience that the user can navigate as they wish, whether it is to view maps of the city to find out where events took place, or to hear the peoples stories during these events.
The site should be up and runnning in May. I would greatly welcome and credit any views, information or photographs of Berlin (then and now) anyone is able to provide. Feel free to e-mail me, I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say. Thanks for your time!
Monday, December 08, 2003
Good site did not use much of it but it helped me with my Germany report
ty.
Greg
Sunday, December 07, 2003
I love your site!
You really know what to say and how to say!!!Your site helped me very much!!
Eremie
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
i am glad they took berlin wall down thay need to be free i was born in
germany i was 6 years old came to usa i miss some my family back in 89 i watch
berlin come down
roseann ruhl
Monday, November 24, 2003
Im doing a History Day project for school. If you have any first hand imformation on the rising of the Berlin Wall please contact me at
so I can ask you some brief questions.
Katie
Sunday, November 23, 2003
Your site really helped me with my school report. Thanks!
Kate
Saturday, November 22, 2003
Wonderful.
Fred + Bob
Friday, November 21, 2003
I'm in ninth grade in iowa and I'm doing an english report over the berlin wall, and I will need your help on it because it's hard to figure out waht to write in the ""'s.
TIFFANY
Sunday, November 16, 2003
I was an American soldier assigned for duty in the beautiful city of West Berlin on 6 October 1979. The many pictures you have displayed on your Web site have brought back many wonderful memories. I truely appreciate your efforts very much.
I sure do miss the Pom Frets and bratwurst and the love and hospitality of the West Berlin people.
As I reflect, I am reminded of the time that I reenlisted at the Brandenburg Gate entrance along with the reenlistment officer (1LT Notarfrancisco) and (SFC Shelton)the reenlistment NCO who conducted the ceremony.
I can still see the guards in their guard towers going nuts trying to get our pictures. Of course, we took off our name tags before we got into camera range.
What was significant about that day, was that as the reenlistment ceremony was about to take place, three bus loads of french tourists drove by our location and started cheering and yelling loudly. It was a proud day for me. I felt honored to be a part of the fight for freedom of the Berlin people.
The sadest point of my tour was watching the West Berlin people climbing the platforms placed near the Wall in hopes of catching a glimpse of a family member or just to yell obsenities at the east German border guards.
I wish that I could have been there to see the Wall come down. What a sight that must have been.
Today is the 10th of November 2003, yesterday marked the first day of freedom for all Berliners.
As the years go by my thoughts and prayers will always be that freedom will continue to ring in the hearts and minds of all Berliners. That the new generation never forget those who gave all in the fight for freedom.
My tour in Berlin taught me that freedom is worth fighting and dying for.
God Bless You All!
Rick B.
Monday, November 10, 2003
for a grade 9 student exchange one of our first trips was to berlin and when we saw the wall and all the history behind it,it was amazing and it blew our whole group away especially when we saw checkpoint charlie and heard some of the stories.Plus i think your website has alot of good information.
brianne
Sunday, October 19, 2003
I flew out to Berlin in November 1989 just as the wall was opening up for the first time. I took some 44 pictures of the wall, east germans queuing up for the first time, souvenir hunters chipping away at bits of the wall, the danger area between east and west sometimes known as the rabbit run, East Berlin and its bleakness, West Berlin and its opulence.
I even poked my head through one of those Freiheit Bohrungen or freedom holes and took a picture of a guard patrolling outside one of those towers.
Taken in the days before digital cameras I have scanned these on to computer.
If anybody would like to use these pictures either on their website or just to download them for a small fee you can e-mail me.
Great site, plenty of memories and good pics
Kev Hedges
Sunday, October 12, 2003
it is a god site but needs more pictures
emmz
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Comments: There are a lot of pictures in the section photographs
Great Website, i really enjoyed it. Keep up the good work!
Ciao,
Tala
http://www.tala-art.de
Saturday, September 27, 2003
I like your site. Very Interesting. I am taking German. This helped out alot. I, Jamal Jinkens pledge to spread the word about this absolutly jam packed full of information site. Just knowing I am going on this site makes my mouth water. Thanks to the Berlin Wall I am alive and healthy today. Your site is the new fad in our school.... EVERYONES DOING IT!!!!
P.S: I love you!
PEACE TO THE WORLD
Jamal Jinkens
Thursday, September 25, 2003
This is an unbelieveable way to get around. I am taking full year German in 9th grade. I am using this site for answers. I got an A+ on the assignment. THANKS BERLIN WALL! PEACE! I, Danny Lamu is going to spread to rumor.
Danny Lamu
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Highly enjoyable. I'm working on my B.A. in History and most of the information I've found here can help me with my research paper. Also, I'm currently livining in Germany, I'm an American, and this is a wonderful sight to enlighten me on the events surrounding part of Germany's history. Keep up the great work.
Sincerely,
Juanita M. Bergman
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Good site. Only one mistake I notied. J. F. Kennedy went to the wall and said "Ich bin ein Berliner" which doesn't mean "I am a Berliner" as that would be "Ich bin Berliner" He actually said "I am a donut" as Berliner to my recollection is also a kind of apple donut.
I'm an artist working for the last 25 years solemnly with the history of the XX-th century. "Berlin Wall" is one of my subjects. I've about 20 unique art pieces, including painting, collage and sculpture with fragments of the "Berlin Wall" as well as the exceptional video installation on the subject. Being busy all my life with the creating part of art, I never presented my works to any organization, foundation, museum or gallery. Don t ask me why. I ve about 350 paintings dealing in a great part with the German history, but not only. All of that is never before shown material. I know that the 15th Anniversary of the Fall of Berlin Wall is coming next year. Who should I turned to with all that treasure ? Have you got any suggestions?
regards
Friday, September 12, 2003
From Nov 1976 to Nov 1979 I served with Service Company, Special Troops Battalion, Berlin Brigade. I was a tour guide for Rec Services and gave tours of East and West Berlin. I was in charge of the Berlin Orientation Tour that was given weekly to soldiers visiting Berlin from their duty stations all over Europe. Visiting your web cite in some ways made me homesick for Berlin, but proud of my service their.
Thank you.
Randy Barnes
Sunday, August 31, 2003
Let Berlin Wall be a Watershed in human history: Let there be NO walls between
peoples of the world. We are all brothers and sisters on this tiny
planet.
Hyder Ali Pirwany
Sunday, August 10, 2003
I am 50 years old and was greatly saddend at the contructionof "The Wall". Today afriend of mine honored me with a small piece of "The Wall".
The overwhelming emotions which ran through me was greatly appriciated. The "Berlin Wall is a representation of humankind without restrictions
and the peice of the Wall is a representation humankind will always have restrictions. To the many people who partook in the tearing down of the Wall
are mentors and role-models to the continual persuit of human freedom. "Give Peace A Chance: John Lennon.
Thank you for your site. Some will learn and others will remember.
Murray Daines
Thursday, August 07, 2003
In trust that my e-mail address may be used simply to communicate any thoughts about Berlin, may I say that I am a Londoner and I visited, as a schoolboy, East Berlin, on a school holiday in August 1964. What worries me is that most of your visitors to this site are from the USA, one way or another, and like today (June 2003) they have very little or no perception of what life was like then in East Berlin.
For me, arriving at Friedrichstrasse (in the east)in 1964 by train from Moscow, and to be refused access to West Berlin, save for two hours, was one thing; to speak to a lady at a ticket office on the U-Bahn on the eastern side was another. Even in 1964 I could speak enough "school-german" for her to ask from which part of Germany I came. When I said I came from London/GB, she did not believe me and, to cut a long story short, I passed my British passport through the window for her to see.
She read those "magic" words in the front of any British person's passport (even today):"Her Brittanic Majesty's Secretary of State Requests and requires in the Name of Her Majesty..to allow the Bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford the Bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.".
The reaction in 1964 was that the U-Bahn lady behind the window said to me "Wie est moeglich, dass Sie in Berlin sind, wann es gibt kein Moeglichkeit meinen Bruder, nur 4 Km weg, zu besuchen?" (How is it possible that you can come to East Berlin quite freely from England, when I am quite unable to see my brother, only 4 Km. away in West Berlin?) She cried and held my hand, asking me to help, hoping nobody in authority would see. I cried, too and I never forgot that.
I was very proud to be a British citizen then and I still am. Unfortunately, our USA cousins, by and large, have never grasped the gravity of the matters with which they somehow "think" they have become involved. So, when I went back to Berlin for the first time in 39 years at the beginning of this month, by train into Friedrichstrasse from Dresden, I was looking for the rifles of the border guards warning me not to go beyond the station canopy (with the idea to cross the River Spree to West Berlin).
Accordingly, I hope that you will understand that I was not terribly helpful (some would say sarcastic) when a U.S. tourist asked me: "Gee, can you tell me where Checkpoint Charlie is?" All I felt was ghosts over my shoulder the whole time that I was in Berlin; they have not left me yet.... I am still crying. I cannot spend the rest of my life trying to educate those who seemingly know nothing in the first place.
All I can say is, please explore the material that may now be available (photos &c.- I have a few colour slides of my 1964 visit) and publish them; otherwise people will forget what Potsdamer Platz, Benauer Strasse and perhaps more importantly, those "real" streets in East Berlin really looked like. It was nothing that East Germany could be proud of but its citizens were taught otherwise - and so were we schoolboys at the time there.
Best wishes, Alles Gute,
P.S. If anyone contacts me on my e-mail, I would be pleased to reply. Telephone number on request.
Monday, June 30, 2003
hey!
you have such a great site thanx so much.
this site is very informative eccpesially because i'm looking for answers to my quistion and youve given them to me.
Oh by th way i'm nine years old and i live 5 hours from berlin.your a great help and thanx agian.
jennifer
Sunday, June 29, 2003
THANKE YOU.I FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BERLIN WALL,TRAGEDY OF GERMAN PEOPLE
VITALIY
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
dis site is full of wicked info thanx
kj
Friday, June 13, 2003
Your site is great! It helped me complete a report I was doing for school.
Keep up the good work!! :-)
BeauTI
Friday, June 13, 2003
I was the Tour Manager for Garland Jefferies and the Rumour in 1980.We did a
european tour which brought us to Berlin.While I was there I took the time to
cross at Check Point Charlie.It was pretty scarry.I've never had a machine gun
held on me before.The whole experience was one I will never forget.Never!!!
It's funny that I found your site,I am now in the process of helping my 13
yer old son do a report on the Wall and Im finding your site incredible helpful
and informitive.Thank you very much for your effort. Its wonderful
Bob Chirmside
Sunday, May 25, 2003
This is soooooo awesome!!!It really helped me on a project i was doing.great
site, alot of info.Just what I like!
Colton Growney
Friday, May 16, 2003
i don't like it. nothing good to watch. get something new.
harriet tubman
Thursday, May 01, 2003
I have been doing some research on the Berlin Wall and I what I find facinating. i had no clue on what the Wall was all about.
I wish to thank you for showing me. I hope all the families are back together now. Good luck.
Love, Me
Natasha
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
I am so pleased that you have a site that people can come to and read about the awful wall (Mauer).
I can remember seeing the Ugly Gaurd towers from my side on the West. For American's they can never know how awful this wall was for Family's etc. The wall caused pain for us from Germany.
The East German Stasi and the Soviet Government created pain and suffering for many persons.
My Grandmother's family had to be put into Prison for trying to leave East Berlin. Thank God that they later got the chance to come to the West. But in doing so had to leave everything behind. Homes, friends, etc.
I will recommend this site to people to help them comprehend what the Wall caused us in Germany. Thanks so much....
Mit Freundliche Gruesse Aus Kalifornien,
L. Von Preussen
Monday, April 21, 2003
I came upon your webpage quite by accident. I was watching a documentary on TV concerning the Berlin Wall, and I thought that I would enter the words Berlin Wall in the search section of AOL 8 and through surfing I arrived at your page.
I was attached to the Berlin Field Station at Andrews Barracks from 1966 to 1969. Since I was in the United States Army Security Agency I could not enter East Berlin however, I have circumvented the entire perimeter of the wall.
I have pictures of barbed wire and concrete slabs placed to keep intruders out. I have pictures of East German Vopos looking at me through binoculars as I was taking their picture. I have stood on the platforms set on the west side of the wall so that visitors could gaze into the eastern sector.
I have stood on these platforms many times and watched the German Citizens wave their white hankerchiefs to somebody in the east. I have watched them leave with tears in their eyes as their relatives were kept in this prison unable to leave.
I could go on and on relating my experiences in Berlin. I felt that I received an very valuable education and learned to appreciate life during my three year tour.
Thanks for letting me share alittle bit.
Jim Norvell
Monday, April 21, 2003
cool
rob
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
this is a very interesting site!!!it has helped me get my homework done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
angel
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
LOVE this site, so informative!
I am searching (at mother-in-laws request) for a lady that was injured coming over the Wall. MIL says that one (or both) of her legs were blown off in her escape and that much publicity was given to this event.
This lady had/has a sister that lives in Arizona; do not know any names, so whatever information ANYONE might supply me with would be greatly appreciated.
Can you, or anyone help me or tell me where I might continue my search?
You may reply via my email address.
Thank You,
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
I Had to do a school project on something from our book and i picked the Berlin
Wall. This Website helped a lot.
Thanks for making it!!!!@@@#@%$#^&^*&()%^*%^&#
Sarah Roman
Friday, April 11, 2003
I love your site, I love Germany I am an amature photographer is anyone
interested in exchanging photos over the net? I would love to have a pen pal to
e-mail to in Germany.
Friday, April 04, 2003
hey hu eva reads this,
thankz heaps man u have help heaps with mine and laurisa's project i guess u no wat it is on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well mrs carpender will be very pleased with us lol
thanks love always katie
KEEP IT REAL!!!!!!!!!!!
katie brockett
Saturday, March 15, 2003
Do a 7 to 10 page paper on Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall was a toughpy but this sight helped tuns!!!
Thanks Keep Up the Good Work
Morgan le Fay
Friday, March 14, 2003
Hello;
Great site, very informative !!
Keep up the great work.
Hava a listen to my prog-metal band Neural Mass.
Cheers from Montreal.
Gary
Thursday, March 13, 2003
Cold War in Berlin was very Hot in 1961
As more and more refugees were fleeing to West Berlin from East Berlin on the S Bahn common sense said the Soviets had to stop what was then an exodus of about 3,000 refugees a day. And on August 13, 1961 that happened with no U.S opposition when they closed off East Berlin from West Berlin with the shameful Berlin Wall down the center of the city.
Early that morning the aide to the Chief of Staff - Berlin Command, said that Colonel Tom Foote had to cancel what was to be a day of sailing on the Wansee with our wives. Nothing was said other than an emergency had just occurred. Another phone call came from our loving baby-sitter who was weeping and so upset that she knew she would probably not be seeing her only son and grandchild because they lived in East Berlin.
About 10 AM on an overcast and cold Berlin summer morning there being no one to stop me at the Brandenburg Gate as the Wall had not yet closed it off - I drove my own car with its U.S. Army license plates through it and directly into East Berlin. As it was quite a scary place to be I turned back after driving up Unten den Linden to the USSR Embassy.
From the West Berlin side I witnessed the angry protests, and was sorry I didn t have my camera to record that historical but sad event.
Shortly after August 13th, President Kennedy sent more troops to Berlin both for a show of strength to the Soviets and to assure the West Berliners that the U.S. would not abandon them. Colonel Glover Johns, the new Battalion commander with his unit was sent by President Kennedy through the 110 mile Corridor to West Berlin to be greeted by cheering crowds there.
In 1962 with U.S. Army and Soviet tanks belligerently facing off against each other at Check Point Charlie it meant that WW III could have easily started had a shell been hastily fired toward at the other side. That winter glittering West Berlin lost much of its luster as it was suffering a bad case of Denial. Denial that life was normal when it was then tenuous at best and bizarre at worst.
Had the Cuban Missile Crisis started a war south of Florida the Reds most assuredly would have obliterated sitting duck West Berlin in retaliation. Two wars on two fronts (Cuba & Berlin) with hair triggers aimed at West Berlin targets ready to fire at a moments notice was something few of us will ever forget.
This is why the Army s Occupation Medal was a well deserved recognition for what was truly hazardous duty protecting West Berlin when hundreds of East Germans died trying to escape Communist domination.
gerry coles
Saturday, March 08, 2003
I spent 2 years in Berlin in the armed forces when the wall was up myself and family loved every minute of it the West Berliners were always friendly and
checkpoint charlie was amazing now myself and family return to Berlin every year for a holiday its great to see this web site it brings back very happy memories for us all we were there from 1986 to 1988
jim
Saturday, March 08, 2003
I found alot of information on your website and I just wanted to thank you for all the help that you gave me.
Kevin Thalanany
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
Our production company is compiling info about The Wall, and this site has been invaluable. Thank you. We would also love to chat with anyone who has had a personal experience involving the wall.
Please
us in either German or English. Thanks again!
Bill
Producer, Levdeb Films
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
This website kicks ass. Props to the creators. I've learnt alot from this website, unlike the other crappy websites out there. Thanks again!
Kevin Thelany
Monday, March 03, 2003
Thank you. I found excellent information and learned many interesting new facts.
Deborah Lugo
Thursday, February 27, 2003
I am currently doing some research on the Berlin Wall and I have found this site most helpful and interesting.
Many thanks and respect to those who contributed.
Qethirl
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Very good web site. Helpful for my project. Easy to navigate. Sehr Gut!
Paddy Ryan
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
very good website about "the wall" i love russia and t.A.T.u. RUSSIAN PRIDE....and this site helped with my soc st project
thanx aton
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
I admire your ways of cherishing the Berlin Wall.
Kyle
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
"Ich bin ein Berliner." means i am an jam donought...which JFK said. "Ich bin Berliner" means i am a Berliner.
Monica
Friday, February 7, 2003
Comments:
The German word "Berliner" has two senses.
It means resident of Berlin but it is also used for jelly doughnuts outside of
Berlin.
"Ein Berliner" means a resident of Berlin (one of many others) but it
can also mean a (one) jelly doughnut.
Jelly doughnuts are bought at a bakery: "I would like to buy a Berliner
please!".
Nobody would think that anyone would like to buy a resident of
Berlin at a bakery or somewhere else.
"Ich bin ein Berliner" means: I'm a resident of Berlin.
That's what
Kennedy said and the crowd was very happy that he said these German words.
Hey
we are studying the berlin wall in social studies at school if any body has any interesting facts please let me know of anything that could help.
todays date is 2/7/03 please let me know buy2/14/03
Friday, February 7, 2003
Hey Hey wuzz up?
I love this qweb site i wwuz searching around for germany and i found this site. i am going to move there in a feqw months so i wuz looking up things aout it.
i found this site and it has a lot of different pics and info. it was nice to read bout where i am going to live!!!!!!!!!!!! this is a wonderful site to learn things! thanx for the site!
heather
ps if any one has any more sites or info e mail me!
pss if you qwant to chat i love to have newq people to chat qwith!
Heather Wooldridge
Friday, February 7, 2003
i loved your site! it was MaRvElOuS! just SpLeNdEd! ;) :)
LoVe Ya aLL
Mike Hunt
Thursday, February 6, 2003
Thanx for putting this site on the net so teachers all over the world can punish students by making them learn about the Berlin Wall.
Justin McCurdy
Thursday, February 6, 2003
Ever since I found out I was a quarter German, I've always wanted to be a foreign exchange student and learn the culture. Well, my friend says that it helps if you research on the place you want to go first.
All I needed was this site ti find out what I needed to know. THANK YOU! I will have a lot of fun in Germany.
Jacquie Hanson
Saturday, February 1, 2003
Ever since I found out I was a quarter German, I've always wanted to be a foreign exchange student and learn the culture. Well, my friend says that it helps if you research on the place you want to go first.
All I needed was this site ti find out what I needed to know. THANK YOU! I will have a lot of fun in Germany.
Jacquie Hanson
Saturday, February 1, 2003
thanks so much for the information i got of this web site it helped me with
a school project and i got an A because i had information no one else
had!!
thanks
kalena ticher
Thursday, January 30, 2003
thank you for the information... what is your name and when did you publish this web site. the reason for asking is because of a bibliography i must know this informatoin... thank you
Hey this site i str8t it helped me sooooo mutch with my 2000 word history project thx.
33#WP ya!
Ander
Saturday, January 25, 2003
This was a helpful site becuz me and my partner have this huge project due in like a week. And we're both procrastinaters.THANX SOOOO MUCH. BYE!!!!
Kornbread
Friday, January 24, 2003
this site was so helpful for my history fi=air project! It has everything-pictures, timelines and present day wall information! Thank you for making it so helpful! :]
Kristin
Thursday, January 23, 2003
Your website really helped me with my report i had to do for my tribe.
Sacajawea Bigfootlittletoe
Thursday, January 23, 2003
My teacher made me go on this site
Justin from canada
Thursday, January 23, 2003
i enjoyed your site it was great.
yours truly,Dink Smallwood
Dink Smallwood
Thursday, January 23, 2003
thx for your site it got us all the info for our history project!
:) ;) :p :0
Matt + Nathan + Sean + Theo
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
dude i love this web site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
katelyn
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Hi, I enjoyed your site, i was stationed in berlin and worked at checkpoint charlie in the late 60's it was fun to revisit this part of history and my past
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
This is a great website and resource! I like all the photos.
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
thanks for giving us lots of info on your site. it really helped me and my friends in our HUGE project! we used parts of it even IN our project.
THANKS!
alyssa burcham
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Thx this site.It helped me and my partner BIG TIME on the berlin wall for the U.S history fair project.thx again.
Garrett Knoll
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
IT HELPS!
Alexis
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
This website was o.k., but it could have been better.
Monday, January 13, 2003
Hello! This is a really great site, not only I learnt more about the Berlin wall, it has helped me in learning Germany's history. The photos are really useful too. And, is there any photos of the Berlin wall being teared down? Thanks..it has been a most delightable and knowledge-enriching visit here!
lene from Singapore
Friday, January 10, 2003
hey,
Caitlin and I were doing a project in history abuot the rise and fall of the Berlin wall and we used this site to find out all of our information. thankyou!
Vanessa and Caitlin
Tuesday, January 7, 2003
this site helped me alot with my assignments because im doing history day on the berlin wall its so interesting and i am building a bridge to go with the berlin wall its going to be a great history day thanx for making the website its really interesting:)!!!!!!!!!!
