Between Freedom and Tyranny

just a little warning as you leave west Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie

The Topography of Terror with the wall in the Background

Last week I got to go to Berlin and see the sights.  For a guy that used to teach History this was like the gold mine.  I basically had about 12 hours to see the sights.  We hit the major ones (Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg gate, etc...).  As I stood at Checkpoint Charlie (CC)looking at the brick in the road that used to be the Berlin Wall, I could not help think that a few feet across and a few feet up completed seperated the free from the oppressed.  About 500 meters from CC was an exhibit called the Topography of Terror.  It was an audio and picture exhibit tracing the rise of Hitler and the policy's of the SS.  It was built on the old SS heaquarters where they detained and tortured people.  It was pretty sobering.  To walk the streets of Berlin and move freely from East to West was just strange, knowing less then 25 years ago, this was not possible.  We were able to visit the CC museum which was mostly an exhibition of ways people came up to escape East Berlin to the west.  Let me tell you tyrrany and oppression breed creativity.  It was amazing what people came up with.  False bottoms in cars, creating fake uniforms and documents, one man made homemade zip line seats to get his family over the wall.  Growing up in America we just have no idea the links people will go to to to get what we take for granted.  It made me more appreciative and thankful for what God had given me.