Our Freedom – Dakota Vacation blog post #18

If an army surrounds me, I will not be afraid. If war breaks out, I will trust the Lord. (Psalm 27:3, New Century Version)

     I did some research online for this one, but I decided to go with the memories my dad shared when I was a kid, the things I learned in German class in high school, and news that happened in my lifetime. If you know for a fact that what I write here is completely out in left field, please feel free to correct me.

My dad, who was born in Germany just as World War I was breaking out, told me that when the Allied Forces won that war, they really stuck it to the German people, expecting them to pay millions in reparations. This helped to win the people over to Hitler, as he started out by filling them with promises of making Germany great again (Have I heard that somewhere else recently?).

Anyway, I know a lot of things go into declaration of any war, but those were just some of the things I grew up hearing. 

And then, Germany lost the second World War. This time the Allied countries of Russia, Great Britain, France, and the United States each claimed part of the country of Germany as its own – in a way. They also divided the capital city of Berlin into four sectors, one for each of those countries.

The idea was to temporarily take power away from Germany, so that it wouldn’t retaliate again and also so that it would be forced to pay those reparations this time while still repairing damages made throughout the beautiful country during the war.

After four years, Great Britain, France and the United States turned their segments of the country and the city of Berlin back over to Germany. But communist Russia said, “no, we’re keeping our parts of Germany so they can become wonderful communists like us.”

By 1961, the East Germans were leaving East Berlin in such droves, that the Russians built a wall around West Berlin, not to keep them in, but to keep those wanting freedom from the communist regime from escaping.

Finally, in the fall of 1989, the Berlin Wall came down in a changing political climate and nearly a year later, East and West Germany were unified into one country again.   

There are segments of the Berlin Wall all over the world, over fifty pieces alone are in the United States, spread out over half of the states.

We got to see this section when we were in Rapid City, South Dakota in June.

It’s a solemn reminder of what war can do and how much we need to preserve our freedom.