Is there no outrage these days when we are told blatant lies? I grew up in West Berlin during the Cold War. One day, on 15 June 1961, I happened to listen to the transmission of a press conference given by East German head of state, Walter Ulbricht. A reporter asked Ulbricht whether making West Berlin a “free city” would mean creating a state boundary at the Brandenburg Gate. Walter Ulbricht’s concept of a “free city,” was that the three western powers would stop occupying and protecting West Berlin. The reporter further questioned whether a “free city” would imply a permanent division between East and West Berlin.
No one has the intention of building a wall
Walter Ulbricht responded by assuring the reporter that the East German government was not planning to erect a wall. Without blinking, he declared, “Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten – No one has the intention of building a wall.” Then he added that East German construction workers were fully occupied with the construction of housing for East German workers. They had no time to build a wall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjgKKOdVRx4/
Outrage over a blatant Ulbricht lie
Contrary to these statements, only two months later – on 13 August 1961 – Ulbricht gave orders to begin construction of the Berlin Wall.
Where is the outrage these days when the public is told blatant lies? Photo of the Berlin Wall © J. Elke Ertle, www.walled-in-berlin.com
Work began shortly after midnight when immense stockpiles of concertina wire and bollards emerged at the border. It became evident that the East German head of state had already been deep into preparation for this momentous event at the time of the press conference. He had told a blatant lie. While East German citizens shrugged their shoulders in resignation, there was outrage throughout West Berlin and all over the western world. How could a head of state sink so low as to shamelessly lie to his own people and to the rest of the world? Was that the difference between communism and democracy, we wondered? Our heads of state didn’t blatantly lie. They didn’t have to.
No outrage over Trump lies?
Now Donald Trump is the president of the United States. Trump has told countless lies and half-truths since he took office. Where is the outrage now? Many Americans simply shrug their shoulders at these deceptions. “That’s Trump,” they say. Does the current generation of Americans accept Trump’s lies the way East German citizens accepted Ulbricht’s lies in the 1960s?
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.
