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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: West Germany

West Germany stories: 9 news summaries
SLIDESHOW


 Germany Celebrates 
 Fall of the Wall  

Twenty years later, unified country celebrates togetherness

Nov 9, 09 5:51 PM CST
(Newser) - Fireworks illuminated the rainy skies above Berlin as Germans and high-profile visitors came together today to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall exactly 20 years ago. President Obama unexpectedly joined the festivities—in a video greeting introduced by Hillary Clinton. "There could be no clearer rebuke of tyranny,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hillary Clinton • communism • Angela Merkel • Berlin • East Germany • Berlin Wall • Communism • West Germany • Iron Curtain • President Obama

party like it's 1989

 Germany Hails 
 Anniversary of  
 Berlin Wall's Fall  

Dominoes, fireworks, music help mark 20 years

Nov 9, 09 8:54 AM CST
(Newser) - Hundreds of foam dominoes will fall today in Berlin, symbolizing the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has called Nov. 9, 1989, "the happiest day in recent German history," will lead the festivities.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hillary Clinton • Angela Merkel • Germany • Eastern Europe • Berlin • Nicolas Sarkozy • Gordon Brown • East Germany • Berlin Wall • Communism • West Germany • Lech Walesa • Brandenburg Gate

 Thatcher Urged 
 Gorbachev to Block 
 German Reunification 

British leader warned Soviets that the change would endanger security

Sep 11, 09 2:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - Margaret Thatcher called on Mikhail Gorbachev to halt German reunification months before the Berlin Wall came down, newly unearthed Kremlin documents reveal. Thatcher—telling the Soviet leader he should disregard NATO pronouncements on the issue—said the breakdown of the Warsaw Pact wasn't in the interests of the West, the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Soviet Union • Mikhail Gorbachev • Margaret Thatcher • East Germany • Berlin Wall • Communism • West Germany • reunification

(Newser) - After many years of indifference, Berliners have started getting serious about saving what's left of the most famous symbol of the Cold War, Der Spiegel reports. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, locals viewed it as merely an unfortunate reminder of  a bad past and little thought was given... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Germany • Berlin • Cold War • East Germany • Berlin Wall • West Germany • reunification

 Lightning-Rod W. German Cop 
 Unmasked as Stasi Spy 

Revelation likened to discovering Kent State shooters were KGB agents

May 27, 09 8:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - The West German cop whose shooting of an unarmed protester in 1967 changed the country forever has been unmasked as an East German spy by historians going through Stasi files, the New York Times reports. The shooting sparked a wide, sometimes violent left-wing protest movement many believe spawned Germany's current... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Germany • Germans • East Germany • Stasi • West Germany • spies

German Tempers Heat Up Over Cold War Tourist Traps

'Snackpoint Charlie,' actors in military uniforms labeled disrespectful to dead

May 20, 09 9:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Disneyfication of Cold War landmarks in Berlin has irked people with bad memories of East Germany, the Independent reports. Critics, including former Allied officers and those who suffered under oppressive rule, argue that the atmosphere around places like Checkpoint Charlie—where actors in military uniforms hustle tourists for coins... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Germany • Berlin • East Germany • Berlin Wall • Communism • West Germany • checkpoints

 'Terrorist Chic' Film 
 Shocks Germany 

Baader-Meinhof Complex glorifies violence, say critics

Sep 25, 08 10:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - A controversial new film opening this week tackles the darkest chapter in Germany's postwar history: the bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations of a high-profile 1970s leftist group. The team behind The Baader-Meinhof Complex, which stars several of Germany's biggest celebrities, calls it an attempt to debunk myths about the gang. But... More »

MORE ABOUT:
terrorism • film • Germany • terrorist • West Germany • movies • new release • Baader-Meinhof gang • Bettina Roehl • Ulrike Meinhof

Helmut Kohl, 78, Marries Girlfriend in Hospital

Health fears mount
for architect of
German reunification

May 14, 08 2:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - Helmut Kohl, the chancellor first of West Germany and then of a reunified Federal Republic, has married at the age of 78. But the wedding, to an economist 30 years his junior, took place in a hospital amid fears that he is in deteriorating health. As the Independent reports, Kohl's... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Germany • marriage • wedding • West Germany • reunification • CDU • Helmut Kohl • Chancellor of Germany

Germany's FBI Faces Up to
Nazi Roots

Security service's founders were behind thousands of deaths

Oct 2, 07 4:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - The German equivalent of the FBI has acknowledged what everyone already knew: It was founded by Nazis. The agency is inviting historians to explore those dark roots, making it the first German security organization to do so, Der Spiegel reports. Owning up to the past is the only way to... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Germany • Nazi • Third Reich • West Germany • German BKV

9 Stories


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