Initial findings...

I have spoken to a few folks about the Wall's old guards over the past couple weeks.  Their familiarity with Berlin ranged from living in the city for 20-some-odd years to visiting for a week--but they all seemed to know their stuff.  I mentioned to all of them that my goal was to sniff out at least one ex-guard (the more, the merrier!) and find out what his experience was immediately after the Wall came down.  They liked the idea, but warned that execution would be difficult.  Each of the three people stressed that Berlin was rife with tension over its past misdeeds.  Coming as an outsider and trying to openly discuss autarkic fascism and communism and the Wall would be a mistake; Berliners are still in the midst of new beginnings.  I got the sense that a lot of older Germans deal with crises of the conscience and have had to develop a sort of societal amnesia.  "An old guard might feel like a pariah... they don't list themselves with 800-numbers in the phone book," said Sharon, who went through elementary school in West Berlin and Regensburg while her dad worked for the US military.

I got to thinking about ditching the 'what did the guards do afterwards?' idea.  There is a solid chance I could go to Berlin and only find tight-lipped folks.  Doing something on education or fashion would certainly be easier.  But, alas, I'm stubborn.

So here is what I'm going to do: the Mauer Museum in Berlin dedicated to US Military Checkpoint Charlie from the Wall. In the museum's description is a little blurb about how escaped guards came to work for the museum in the '60s.  I will find the Mauer Museum, talk to the curator/director/person-in-charge, and track down one of the escaped guards.  I figure there has to be at least a list of phone numbers for former employees.  Basically, I want to pull my best bounty hunter impression and chat with a few of the old guards.

Here's the museum's website, if you were curious:  http://www.mauermuseum.de/english/frame-index-mauer.html

Germans are getting old, Chancellor Merkel noticed

It turns out that Germans are old, active, and bereft of penny-pinching habits.  An article in today's New York Times tells of Chancellor Angela Merkel's strong effort to protect the pension plans of 20.2 million Germans--a bloc that composes right around a quarter of Germany's population.  Most of the time, the two main political parties butt heads and rabble-rouse. With elections looming in the fall, however, Merkel's administration and her counterparts in Berlin were almost unilaterally decisive in fixing pension figures. No one wants to look like the bad guy in this case.

The old law (last touched upon 22 years ago, according to the article) stipulated that pension rates varied according to the average income for working Germans. That way, Grandpa Dieter couldn't take too much of the pie. But with an important election starting to creep into voters' minds, Chancellor Merkel wanted to leave a strong first impression for her re-election bid. The political stalemate only serves the large (and probably ornery) voting group of pensioners. By simple economic reasoning, working Germans will have to incur slightly higher taxes for the foreseeable future. It's not too big a deal, but the decision bears some implications for the future.

The pension edict shows that the 20.2 million person bloc figured out how to employ its political clout. This could spell interesting things for the near future of German policy making. Suppose the car industry tanks (again) or Germany's financial markets crash (again), and inspires legislation to either increase taxes or reduce pensions to stockpile money for a bailout. Will the 20.2 million voting group speak up again? You bet. If politicians neglect or piss off the elderly, they'll get the axe. It is important to note that Germany will continue to get older, meaning more pensioners will join the voting mass. Give it some time, but I have the feeling this will be popping up again in headlines soon.

If you want to take a lookie-loo, here's the article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/world/europe/07pension.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=europe&adxnnlx=1241733639-BqinGbkYbA+dOZENuJHwdQ

Reagan's Speech to Berliners, 1987

Hey y'all.  This does not pertain to any particular assignment, but it came up in my international studies class (Amy, this should look pretty familiar).  Have a little looksee if you're stumbling through my blog and have a minute to spare. I promise it's slightly interesting.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganbrandenburggate.htm