The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.
–Albert Ellis
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on the home page of http://www.walled-in-berlin.com. Walled-In is a story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War.
When I was a schoolgirl in Berlin, Germany, it was popular to own a poesie album. In a way, that little book was a forerunner of today’s Facebook account. Both connect family and friends. While poesie album holders got in touch with only one person at a time, Facebook users can connect with many in just one click. Yesteryear’s poesie album connections were slow and deliberate; today’s Facebook users can continuously stay in touch as long as they have access to the Internet.
Towards the end of the 16th century it became customary to write a motto into the family register of friends. By the 18th century these aphorisms often also included drawings. Eventually, poesie albums (also known as keepsake books, poetry books or friendship books) replaced family registers and became the depositories of verses and artistic contributions in which members of literary circles “immortalized” each other. Originally, only adults kept a poesie album. In the 20th century, the custom became popular with children – mostly girls – and rare with adults. For a brief period in the early 1980s, it was even fashionable among boys to keep a poesie album.
Facebook is an online social networking website that was created by Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard College roommates and fellow students. It made its debut in 2004. Once registered and at least 13 years of age, Facebook users can not only exchange information but also post photos and videos and share links, along with several other applications. Facebook users can even express their appreciation provided by clicking a “Like” button.
I was almost ten when my mother gave me a poesie album. It was deep red and measured approximately 6.5 by 5.5 inches. Every girl in my class owned one. It was an honor to be asked to write into someone else’s album. We used our finest handwriting and wrote classic, sentimental or whimsical rhymes and verses into each other’s books. While the right side of an open album bore the quotation, the left side remained reserved for illustrations or photographs.
My Poesie Album, Photo © J. Elke Ertle 2015
In 1955, my mother made the first entry in my poesie album. Not wanting to miss a teaching moment she wrote, “Honor a mother’s heart as long as it beats. When it is broken, it is too late.” My father passed along a less guilt-producing morsel of wisdom when he penned, “Talk is silver; silence is golden.” A couple of years later, my best friend, a boy by the name of Juergen Bertram, shared his twelve-year-old take on the world. Over a period of five years, most of my girlfriends, teachers, aunts and cousins contributed aphorisms to my album. The verses often mirrored their personalities.
Poesie Album entry,
Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015
In a way, I think it is sad that the poesie album has all but disappeared. Now it is a small window to the past. Can we call it a Facebook’s predecessor? The poesie-album-process was definitely slower, dreamier, quieter and more time-consuming than Facebook. Was it maybe also more selective and permanent? What are your thoughts?
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
–Anonymous
Nature – the poetry of life, Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2014
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
As we are about to usher out 2016, I want to share a thought-provoking story. I am not sure where this tale originated, but it definitely provides food for thought. It is the story of the black dot on white paper. Here is how it goes:
Upon entering the classroom, a professor told his students that he was about to spring a pop quiz on them and handed out the tests, text facing down. Then he asked his students to turn over the paper. To their surprise, they were staring at a white sheet graced by a single black dot. Puzzled, they looked at their professor who calmly instructed the class to write a short essay on what they saw before them. The students went to work. They wrecked their brains. Uneasily, they scribbled down a few sentences. The task was tough. They tried to describe the location of the black dot, its size and its color. After all, what can you say about a black dot on white paper? When the allotted time was up, the professor collected the papers and proceeded to read the answers out loud. After all the papers had been read, the professor spoke again, “I am not going to grade you on this. But I want you to ponder something. Did you notice that each of you focused on the black dot? Not one of you wrote about the white part of the paper. The same applies to life. Life is like this large piece of white paper. All of life is there to enjoy. Yet we tend to focus on life’s limitations and imperfections, which is the black dot on the paper. Instead of enjoying the good things that surround us – home, family, friends and nature – we zoom in on the black dots – issues concerning health, relationship, work or finances. Even though the black dot is tiny in comparison to the white sheet, it becomes the focal point of our thoughts. As we embark on a new year, try to pay more attention to the good things in your life, enjoy each moment, think outside the box and keep the black dots in perspective.”
The black dot on a white sheet of paper,
© J. Elke Ertle, 2015, www.walled-in-berlin.com
On that note, I wish you a wonderful 2016!
J. Elke Ertle
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
There is a big difference between a human being and being human. Only a few really understand it.
–Anonymous
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Germany’s word of the year for 2015 is Fluechtlinge – refugees. After having taken in 1 million refugees during the past twelve months – most of them from the Middle East – the word Fluechtlinge has been on the collective German mind. TIME Magazine named German Chancellor Angela Merkel “Person of the Year 2015” for standing her ground relative to the refugee crisis http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel-choice/. Despite growing discontent among the populace, Merkel has continued to put humanity, generosity and tolerance above all else and stated repeatedly, “Wir schaffen es – we can do it.”
The Gesellschaft fuer Deutsche Sprache (Society for the German Language), located in the city of Wiesbaden, chooses a word or a group of words every December. The word is to embody a key topic that dominated German political, economic or social life during the preceding twelve months. This year’s word was chosen from close to 2,500 entries and published in “Wort des Jahres” (Word of the Year), the group’s annual publication.
This year, the Gesellschaft fuer Deutsche Sprache selected Fluechtlinge as the word of the year. Runner-ups were Je suis Charlie – I am Charlie, the mantra of solidarity with Paris in the wake of the attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Another strong contender for the word of the year was Grexit, which refers to the scenario of Greece leaving the Eurozone. And lastly, Wir schaffen es – We can do it, coined by Angela Merkel and expressing her conviction that Germany can successfully cope with the massive influx of refugees.
Each year, the word of the year has reflected the zeitgeist. In 1989, the word was Reisefreiheit – Freedom to Travel, the demand of the East German people that led to the fall of the Wall. Post-unification in 1991, former East Germans sensed that their West German brothers had come to regard their achievements under communist rule as inferior. That’s when the term “Besserwessi” cropped up. “Besser” and “wissen” refer to knowing everything better, and “Wessi” was an informal name for a citizen of West Germany. The changeover from Deutsche Mark to Euro made Germans question whether the introduction of the Euro had not prompted a hidden price increase. And in 2002, the new currency came to be referred to as the Teuro, a pricey Euro, based on the German word “teuer,” meaning expensive.
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on the home page of http://www.walled-in-berlin.com
Today, give a stranger a smile. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.
–Jackson Brown, Jr.
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on the home page of http://www.walled-in-berlin.com. Walled-In is a story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War.
In the end, a person is only known by the impact he or she has on others.
–Jim Stovall
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on the home page of http://www.walled-in-berlin.com. Walled-In is a story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War.
Eight-eight-year-old Hans-Dietrich Genscher is a highly regarded elder statesman of German foreign policy. Last September, his party, the Free Democratic Party – FDP (Freie Demokratische Partei), honored him for his role in German detente politics. Genscher’s proposals frequently set the tone and direction of foreign affairs among Western European democracies. He was instrumental to the final accord reached at the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in Helsinki in August 1975, the Two Plus Four Treaty (Zwei-Plus-Vier-Vertrag) signed in Moscow in 1990 and to the first parliamentary elections held in the reunified Germany that same year.
German statesman Hans-Dietrich Genscher – photo by 50jahre.freiheit.org
Born in 1927 in Halle, Germany, (which became part of East Germany in the post-World War II era), Genscher served in the German Army during the Second World War and studied law and economics in Leipzig and Halle after the war. In 1952, he fled to West Germany, joined the Free Democratic Party and began practicing law in Hamburg, West Germany. Throughout his political career, he held several key posts in the FDP, including that of party chairman. In 1974, he became foreign minister and Vice-Chancellor of West Germany and retained those positions until 1992 when he stepped down for health reasons.
Beginning in 1969, Hans-Dieter Genscher helped shape West German Chancellor, Willy Brandt’s vision of easing hostilities between West Germany and the communist East. The de-escalation of hostilities and normalization of strained relations between the West and Eastern Europe is commonly referred to as Ostpolitik.
As Foreign Minister, Hans-Dieter Genscher promoted compromise between East and West. He advocated compromise and negotiated settlements to international problems. During the Cold War, skepticism about detente with the East was widespread. Genscher’s tendency to seek a happy medium often annoyed US policy-makers. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was especially fearful of a reunified Germany. Genscherism is a term that was coined in London at that time. It was meant to be derogatory and referred to Genscher’s quasi-neutralism. But despite diplomatic conflicts, Genscher was able to stay the course. And on March 4, 1991, the Soviet Union became the last treaty partner to ratify the Two Plus Four Treaty. Genscherism, it seems, won out after all.
Representing the Federal Republic of Germany, Genscher, was one of the six foreign ministers who signed the historic Two Plus Four Treaty. Officially known as The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, this document embodies one of the great moments in diplomacy. It was signed on September 12, 1990 and is an agreement between the four victorious parties (United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union) and the two defeated parties (East and West Germany) of the Second World War. The treaty ended 45 years of German division. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/two-plus-four-treaty/ Hans-Dietrich Genscher is credited with being one of the main players to organize German reunification following the fall of the Wall. In a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Two Plus Four Treaty, Christian Lindner, current Chairman of the FDP, honored Mr. Genscher by calling him “detoxifier of East-West relations.” http://www.dw.com/en/german-unity-genscher-and-the-two-plus-four-agreement/a-18709829
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
“A yawn is a silent cry for coffee.”
— Woody’s in Pacific Beach, California
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
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