Berlin Reflections: A Wall, A Memory, A Legacy

Send us a text

A chance encounter with the remains of the Berlin Wall unleashed a flood of unexpected emotions during my vacation in Germany. Walking these streets 35 years after my first visit as a young backpacker, when the city was still divided by concrete and barbed wire, brought history vividly back to life in ways I wasn't prepared for.

What does it mean when your neighborhood is suddenly cut in half by armed guards, barbed wire, and bricks laid at gunpoint? How do families cope when they're separated with no means of communication? The resilience of Berliners who lived through the wall's construction reminds us how quickly "normal" can vanish and how humans adapt to unimaginable circumstances. Standing at the spot where I once crossed into East Berlin, I couldn't help but reflect on those who attempted escapes—some successful, many tragically not.

This experience has me thinking about modern preparedness challenges. While enjoying the vibrant, unified Berlin of today, with its street festivals and overflowing cafés, I've been contemplating what would happen if a serious situation prevented international travel while abroad. Even a minor air traffic control glitch delayed my flight from Newark—what if something more serious occurred? Do you have backup communication methods when traveling? Could you manage if suddenly cut off from home? These aren't just academic questions for preppers; they're practical considerations for anyone who ventures beyond their comfort zone. I encourage you to travel when possible—whether across the world or just to another state—but always with awareness and contingency plans. The lessons of Berlin's wall continue to teach us about human resilience, the fragility of our connections, and the importance of preparation.

Support the show

Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at [e-mail]. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey folks, it's Keith and welcome back to the Common
Sense Practical Prepper podcast,august the 31st 2025.
Coming to you from ouraffiliate office in Berlin,
germany.
As you know, I'm on vacationand I've been here I think this
is day three With the timechange and jet lag it's got me
completely turned around, butI've had a chance to walk

(00:21):
through a lot of Berlin.
I think I've probably put 20miles on my feet in the last
couple three days here visitingfamily, and it's a very unique
experience because many of youknow, I was backpacking through
what was Western Europe at thetime and I ended up in West

(00:41):
Berlin to get a day trip intoEast Berlin and I could talk for
hours on my day in East Berlinand how it almost went really
bad, but I was able to make itback into the West before anyway
, before some things happened.
It wasn't going to be aninternational incident per se

(01:02):
but, needless to say, story fora different day and I've had the
chance in the last couple ofdays to, you know, get on the
U-Bahn and go to some of thesesites that I took photographs of
35 years ago and compare thephotographs on my phone with
what the city looks like nowphone with what the city looks

(01:30):
like now, and it was reallyquite.
It came as a shock to me when Icame around the corner yesterday
afternoon and, unbeknownst tome, I was basically right next
to the location where CheckpointCharlie was and a section of
the wall that is still there andthe Berlin Wall Museum which is
behind that section of the wall, and I was really flooded with

(01:51):
emotions and it kind ofsurprised me, not because of
what happened, you know, withthe wall going up, a city
literally divided in half.
Families that were on one sideof the wall that did not have a
chance to get back across fromthe east to the west, the west
to the east, when they decidedto put up the wall and put up

(02:13):
the barriers, brick masons wereliterally being held at gunpoint
as the soldiers strung barbedwire and the masons were at
gunpoint putting down bricks andcinder blocks just as fast as
they could, and the East Germanguards, the soldiers, were
keeping folks from the eastjumping the fence to get to

(02:35):
their family and then, viceversa, folks from the west
trying to get to their familyand friends in the east.
It's just like you live in abig neighborhood and all of a
sudden you come home and there'sa wall like right down the
middle of the street in yourneighborhood.
You can't get to your neighbors, you can't get to your kid's
school.
So I was really flooded withemotion.
Then it kind of surprised me alittle bit that all the things

(02:58):
that these folks went throughand how resilient they had to be
, they had no choice.
They were behind the wall and alot of people knew what the
West was about.
But as time went on, as youngfolks were raised, they were
subjected to you know the EastGerman propaganda and what was

(03:23):
provided to them about how evilthe people were in the West.
Now, when I went into EastBerlin, I went into the East
Germany.
I think it was the DDR HistoryMuseum and it's still here and
I'm not going to go back to it.
It was just so depressing tosee what East Germans' version

(03:46):
or the communist version ofhistory was.
Again, I'm not even going to gointo that on how skewed their
version of history was.
But regardless, if you talkabout resilience, you talk about
folks making do with what theyhad.
Resilience, you talk aboutfolks making do with what they

(04:08):
had.
You know I complain a lot, weall complain a lot about how
things could be.
I wish I had this.
I wish I had that.
I can't imagine those folks inthe East when that wall went up
just one afternoon and they'reseparated from their family,
brothers and sisters, aunts anduncles, husbands and wives.
Co-workers could not get backto each other and many tried to

(04:29):
escape into the West.
Some made it, but a lot didn't.
I mean, can you imagine justcoming back from work and then
seeing this wall in the middleof the street and you're not
able to get to your wife or yourboyfriend or girlfriend?
On the other side of the wall,no cell phones, no cell phones,

(04:50):
no radios.
You don't even know if they'realive or not.
And how much time went by andhow much anguish and pain that
caused those people of 89.

(05:16):
And I left just prior to that,going through some photographs
of, you know, checkpoint Charlie.
And Checkpoint Charlie now isnot there, although they have a
little guard shack surrounded bysandbags in the middle of the
street with a sign that saysCheckpoint Charlie, and there's
tourists just like falling overeach other to stand behind these
sandbags and have their phototaken.
You just don't have the heartto say that's not what
Checkpoint Charlie is and norwas it in that location.

(05:39):
But you know, you do you.
You get your photo by the fakeCheckpoint Charlie and you know
and call it a day.
But it was really really quitea quite a sight to see.
And coming around the cornerand seeing the wall just kind of
accidentally near whereCheckpoint Charlie was, and
knowing that in this area waswhere I actually walked through

(06:02):
and went into the east.
So so far the trip has beenabsolutely fantastic and I am
certainly blessed to have hadthe opportunity and to still
have the opportunity to travelaround the world.
Not everybody is as lucky as Iam and that is not lost on me.
I have friends that back homethat have never been west of the

(06:25):
Mississippi, and that's fine.
You know it's that forfinancial reasons or they're
just not interested in goingother places.
No, knock on them.
But I would urge anyone if youhave the opportunity, break out
of your comfort zone, gosomewhere, go to a different

(06:48):
state.
If you're on the East Coast ofthe United States, go to the
West Coast.
Go to Colorado, see the GrandCanyon.
If you're on the West Coast ofthe United States, go to Florida
.
Go to Texas, go to Maine, go toBoston.
For folks in the EU, come tothe United States.
It's really not a bad place,completely different than what

(07:08):
you're used to.
Of course you know that by nowwith the advent of the Internet
and streaming and all those goodsort of things, but if you have
the opportunity, travel is veryeducational.
I know that sounds like acliche, but it really opens your
eyes to other cultures, othercities, other people, other

(07:30):
languages.
I think I lost count about 12different languages as I'm
walking down the street.
And Berlin is obviously a hugetourist draw, don't get me wrong
.
It's almost like I've almostheard more Italian and Russian
and Spanish and English than Ihave German.
The street festivals are up andrunning, caf are just

(07:53):
overflowing and everybody justseems to be having a good time.
But I also think about whatwould happen if there was an
SHTF situation here, anotherpart of the world, or at home.
World or at home.
I'm screwed if there is asevere SHTF situation in Germany

(08:20):
, in Spain, anything to affectair travel back home, or
something at home that happenedthat would affect any incoming

(08:40):
aircraft.
When I flew out Friday for thefifth or sixth time in the last
two or three months, air trafficcontrol ATC at Newark, newark
Liberty Airport or whatever thehell they call it, went down and
my flight was delayed gettinginto Newark and my flight was
delayed leaving Newark to cometo Berlin, and that's just a
technical glitch.
But can you imagine just howmuch disruption there would be

(09:04):
if there was a significant powerloss, if the main power
connections, the power cables,were cut to a major airport, to
a major city, if something wasto happen here, regardless of
where you are if you're inBerlin, you're in San Paolo,
you're in Moscow can you imaginebeing there and a significant

(09:28):
situation happen that wouldprohibit you from getting back
to your family?
Now I'll go in at a differentpodcast, the alternative to
cellular communications that Ihave with family members when
I'm abroad.
And when they're abroad I dohave the ability to maintain

(09:49):
limited communications with myfamily, to let them know the
plan, to let them know I'm okay,I'm not okay or whatever.

(10:09):
It happens to be.
All right, folks, thanks forstopping by.
I know this was a bit of adeparture from what I normally
put up in my podcast, but Ithought about it for a few days
and the more I walked aroundBerlin and just like the flood
of emotions that I saw when Isaw the wall.
I knew I was going to find thewall and I knew I was going to

(10:30):
go by where Checkpoint Charliewas, but I had no real idea on
the flood of emotions that wouldcome back 35 years later.
You know when I was, when I washere the first time, and
there's a lot of elderly folkswalking around and you know no

(10:50):
idea where they grew up, no ideaif they're from here or from
other, they're here on holidayor they're really just out for a
walk along the Spree River.
But those folks remember whatit was like 35 years ago and
beyond, and then now they havethe freedom to do a lot more

(11:13):
than they did back then.
All right, folks, thanks somuch and, as always, be careful
out there, take care of oneanother and until next time.