The fall of the Berlin Wall has left its mark in Europe, but not only. In Madagascar, Benin or Togo, in town and in the countryside, this historic moment has left an indelible mark, as evidenced by the viewers of France 24 who responded to our call for evidence. "Passionate about history since my childhood, I have not forgotten anything about this event, even if I was a little African lost in a bush," says Patrick Kossou. This 41-year-old father, who lives in Cotonou, Benin, was living at the time in central Togo, in a village of about 300 inhabitants, with his father teacher.
When he heard about the fall of the Berlin Wall, the subscriber of our Facebook page was 11 years old. "There were no social networks, no electricity, no running water, but my schoolmaster kept telling us that a major event was going to happen," he recalls.
"Bridges more important than walls"
This "major event" occurred on November 9, 1989. The Wall erected by the Soviet bloc then separated the West from the East for 28 years, 2 months and 27 days. In Benin, Deoly Johnson Boris Hounnou was only 5 years old, but this period of history has strongly marked him. "These are not memories, but tears, shame before the fall and then joy.You know why, I was taught that the Berlin Wall had destroyed Germany," he recalls.
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The fall of the Wall immediately caused a feeling of euphoria. "It was a pleasure to see a divided country come together and we were taught that bridges were more important than walls," says Patrick Kossou. The Germans began to gather, to climb on the Wall and to destroy it with the means of the edge, even with hammers.
Remarkable images viewed thousands of kilometers from Berlin, as in Madagascar. "The television set is not yet widespread in the country, especially in Manakara where we were, some parents had massed in front of ours," says Garry Bob Fock Sin, who studied at the French high school in Antananarivo. This faithful viewer of France 24 keeps memories of the West Berlin population breaking the wall.
"Every November 9 , I plunge back into the past"
One particular sequence has been around television sets and many of our subscribers have not failed to point this out. "Rostropovich playing at the foot of the rubble," commented on Facebook Jacqueline Delhalle, referring to the famous improvised concert of the Russian cellist, November 11, 1989.
The musician settles at the foot of the wall, at the level of the famous "Check Point Charlie", on a chair borrowed from a nearby house, and interprets the suites of Bach. "Unforgettable", comments Nicole Monnot on Facebook. A moment of celebration but also of homage. Before the Wall fell, at least 140 people died trying to cross to flee to the West.
"Every November 9, I dive back into the past and see myself sitting on school benches," says Patrick Kossou. Everyone has lived this moment in his country, with his sensitivity and without forgetting it. For Nadine Bouin, who lived at that time on an isolated farm in Loire-Atlantique, France, this date is synonymous with raw emotion. "When I saw the wall fall," she explains, "I saw human things, people who met again." She was 16 years old.
Transmitting memories
The prism of social networks did not exist yet. "We were not in the overinformation," says the subscriber of France 24 on Instagram. The data was transmitted by television, radio, but also from one generation to the next. "My parents told me that the Wall was built overnight and there was a lot of information from the intergenerational exchange," says Nadine Bouin, who was then living with grandparents and great-grandparents.
To pass on her memories is a duty for this 46-year-old mother. "History is about helping the present and working on the future, and if we do not talk about it, we will not be able to hang up the wagon of young people who live with the virtual world, like my 9-year-old son, for example. "
More than an event, the fall of the wall has become a symbol. "A very strong moment for many people in Europe, a real hope for the future and a real boost of fraternity to rebuild the European family", observes Lauriane Barbe on Facebook. A symbol all the more fundamental in a context of rising nationalisms in Europe and in the world.