Press Release
Remarks Delivered By Deputy Chief of Mission, Jeri Guthrie-Corn, on the Occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Central University Library
November 6, 2009
I first came to Romania as a diplomat in July of 1989, and I witnessed the last six months of the Ceausescu “epoca de aur.” Romania was a brutal, totalitarian state. But across Eastern Europe there were rumblings of change. Solidarity in Poland, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, and of course, the fall of the Wall in Berlin, proved that the Iron Curtain could not last and that communism was a dead end. We Americans feel that 9/11 changed the world; that tragic date will never be forgotten, nor the horrid images erased. But 11/9, November 9, 1989, changed the world even more.
Romania’s Revolution was the violent one, perhaps inevitably as Romania’s government was the worst. Heroes suffered through terrible violence and many young courageous freedom fighters died. The façade of this very building was scarred by shells and bullets. Five hundred thousand books were burned. Many who dared to stand against tyranny were struck down just blocks away, in University Square. The people of Romania faced down their oppressors, stood firm in the face of violence and set an example for the world. If you are too young to remember December 1989, ask your parents and grandparents to tell you about those days. You should be proud of them and of your country.
As we celebrate 20 years of freedom in Eastern Europe, it is also important that we appreciate how much change has occurred in those two decades. In 1989 I lived in a city where food lines blocked many sidewalks, where neighbors were forced to suit up in orange overalls as “volunteers” to sweep the city streets, where parks had no flowers, no grass, no swings or slides. Life was grim and harsh. I returned in 2008 to a bustling city full of neon lights, busy shops and restaurants, flowers galore and most important of all, healthy happy people. (Don’t worry: the economic crisis will come to an end and better days will follow.)
As I observe the presidential campaign, I am reminded that the freedom to run for office, to challenge authority, to debate and to speak truth to power were crimes 20 years ago.
I speak of Romania because this is my home now. But the historic moment we commemorate today is the fall of the Berlin Wall. When President Reagan called for Gorbachev to “tear down this Wall” in 1987, he said that, “We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safe, freer world. And surely there is no better place than Berlin, the meeting place of East and West, to make a start.” Berlin unleashed the forces for freedom across a continent and hope sprung anew for millions who dreamed of freedom and prosperity.
The United States is proud to have stood with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe as they threw off the shackles of Communism and built new democracies. We are honored to stand with you now, friends and partners in the community of democracies together facing the challenges of the new century.
Nu am uitat niciodată curajul poporului român. Timp de 20 de ani, România a rămas în inima mea, iar astăzi sunt foarte fericită să locuiesc din nou în Bucureşti, într-o ţară frumoasă şi democratică.
Felicitări şi „Trăiască România!”