Legacy Matters
Great Legacies are not always respected. Nor are monuments.
This is a monument to those brave souls, more than a thousand, who were murdered while trying to escape from East Berlin during the Cold War. Called a monument to Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, there is a cross for every victim and they are going to be bulldozed on July 4th
I grew up during the Cold War and often read about escapees from East Berlin and they stories they brought about life under Communism. Whenever I heard of an escapee being shot while running towards a dream of freedom, I marveled at their bravery.
Now Berlin's socialist-communist government composed of many of the SED dictatorship, directly responsible for the murders, wants the monument torn down. From the best blog on the German Media, Davids Medienkritik.
In other words, the Socialists and Communists in Berlin's city government don't want to be constantly reminded of the murders that the SED dictatorship committed during the Cold War. How unpleasant that would be for them! So they would rather allow the crosses to be bulldozed on July 4th and mockingly associate the monument with Disneyland, a place that many Germans see as a symbol of trivial American commercialization.
UPDATE:
The Checkpoint Charlie monument has been forcibly destroyed. Some 190 police officers were assigned to assure removal of the crosses according to Davids Medienkritik.
Some family members of those killed described the forced removal of the crosses dedicated to their loved ones, a "Second Death."
Checkpoint Charlie was the front-line of U.S, efforts to contain communism says Davids Medienkritik.
ALL OF Germany is a democracy today because millions of American soldiers stood guard for decades across Europe.
We won't forget!