A Guide to Primary Resources for U.S. History : The Wall Comes Down: 1989 CNN Interactive: The Cold War Experience The Berlin Wall Jurgen Muller-Schneck Photographs (Berlin): "The Berlin Wall: Web Photo Exhibition" "Today, the Wall is barely visible, although where it stood has been marked out in downtown Berlin over a distance of 20 kilometres (12 mi.), with a red line or a double row of cobblestones. All that remains are a few vestiges here and there, kept as memorials. The people of Berlin were impatient to see the back of this painful scar. Which makes it so difficult for us to imagine now what it was like for a great metropolis to be split down the middle by an iron and concrete curtain. Nevertheless, although Berlin has been completely transformed since 1989, not all traces of the Wall have been erased from the city or from people's minds" (Peter Schneider). As an introduction to Activity 1 (the jigsaw described below), the students can watch the Slideshow: The Year of Miracles from The Wall Comes Down website. The slideshow offers a brief introduction to the events in Hungary, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania in 1989. The teacher can ask students to choose a country they wish to research for a jigsaw activity. As mentioned in the Do Now, the slideshow introduces the events that occurred in Hungary, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania in 1989. The rest of the website offers much more information on these events. The teacher can organize a jigsaw activity, where the students can choose a country to research and prepare an answer to the question: Which events occurred in your country in 1989 that could be described as a precursor to the fall of the Berlin Wall? When the answers are complete, the students can meet with an expert from each country to exchange information. The teacher can print out several of the photographs from the Berlin Wall photograph exhibition site (or give the students the link if they have Internet access at home) and ask the students to share the images with their parents. The students should ask their parents what they remember about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and then be prepared to share their findings with the class. (There are a number of images on this site, but it might be most useful to use the images from November 1989, which show Berliners celebrating and freely crossing from East to West.) The students can then compare their parents' ideas with the reflections of CNN Berlin anchor Bettina Luscher (on the Wall Comes Down website).

(d) explaining the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War, including the role of Ronald Reagan.

The Wall Comes Down: 1989
CNN Interactive: The Cold War Experience

The Berlin Wall
dieberlinermauer.de: Web Photo Exhibition

Description: "Today, the Wall is barely visible, although where it stood has been marked out in downtown Berlin over a distance of 20 kilometres (12 mi.), with a red line or a double row of cobblestones. All that remains are a few vestiges here and there, kept as memorials. The people of Berlin were impatient to see the back of this painful scar. Which makes it so difficult for us to imagine now what it was like for a great metropolis to be split down the middle by an iron and concrete curtain. Nevertheless, although Berlin has been completely transformed since 1989, not all traces of the Wall have been erased from the city or from people's minds" (Peter Schneider).

Teaching Tips:

"Do Now" Suggestion

As an introduction to Activity 1 (the jigsaw described below), the students can watch the Slideshow: The Year of Miracles from The Wall Comes Down website. The slideshow offers a brief introduction to the events in Hungary, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania in 1989. The teacher can ask students to choose a country they wish to research for a jigsaw activity.

Suggestion for Using this Resource as Part of a Lesson

As mentioned in the Do Now, the slideshow introduces the events that occurred in Hungary, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania in 1989. The rest of the website offers much more information on these events. The teacher can organize a jigsaw activity, where the students can choose a country to research and prepare an answer to the question: Which events occurred in your country in 1989 that could be described as a precursor to the fall of the Berlin Wall? When the answers are complete, the students can meet with an expert from each country to exchange information. The teacher can print out several of the photographs from the Berlin Wall photograph exhibition site (or give the students the link if they have Internet access at home) and ask the students to share the images with their parents. The students should ask their parents what they remember about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and then be prepared to share their findings with the class. (There are a number of images on this site, but it might be most useful to use the images from November 1989, which show Berliners celebrating and freely crossing from East to West.) The students can then compare their parents' ideas with the reflections of CNN Berlin anchor Bettina Luscher (on the Wall Comes Down website).