The Berlin Wall Falls

Katrin Geissler was born just before the Berlin Wall was built. Her son, Valentin, was born just before it came down. Though they grew up in the same place, their experiences were entirely different.

Born in 1961, Katrin Geissler grew up on the east side of a divided Berlin and accepted that reality. When the wall first came down, she was frightened. In time, she embraced the feeling of freedom.

Just an infant when the Berlin Wall fell, Valentin Geissler never felt its restrictions. But he has always been aware of east and west.

Four new books take different approaches in sizing up the events in Eastern Europe before, during and beyond 1989.

East meets West again as Berlin marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall that divided it for decades.

East Bloc: Tens of thousands stream past the Berlin Wall to the West. The Communist regime promises that freedom of travel will be permanent.

MOSCOW -- Bulgarian President Todor Zhivkov, the longest-serving leader in Eastern Europe, resigned Friday, thrusting his country into the political maelstrom sweeping the region.

East Bloc: Thousands test the new policy by crossing to West Berlin. They’re welcomed with cheers and song.

MOSCOW -- The Soviet Union, which built an empire of Communist satellite states in Eastern Europe with zeal and determination over four decades, now seems to be watching its breakup with surprising equanimity--and even approval--as one ally after another embarks upon a course of political reform that could take it out of Moscow’s orbit.

Brutality in Berlin Comes on 2nd Day of Demonstrations

Many Light Candles to Support Demonstrators as Berlin Police Cordon Off Site of Nightly Vigil

EAST BERLIN -- Soviet President Mikhail S.

16,000 More Pour Into Hungary; E. Berlin Decries Border Crossings

16,000 More Pour Into Hungary; E. Berlin Decries Border Crossings

BONN -- Thousands of jubilant East Germans began crossing into Austria and freedom early today shortly after the Hungarian government opened the border with a dramatic announcement late Sunday, declaring that all East Germans in its territory seeking to go to West Germany will be allowed to do so.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, who three months ago called for tearing down all physical barriers that divide Europe, now flatly predicts the Berlin Wall will be dismantled during his presidency.

Independence Bid Has Gone Too Far, Local Leaders Told

Two Longtime Communist Allies Bolt Alliance, Back Solidarity Coalition

NAGYMAROS, Hungary -- One cool spring day in 1980, Janos Vargha, a biologist-turned-journalist, visited a village on the Danube and was asked a question that would alter politics in Hungary forever.

Breathtaking Changes Sweep Baltic Republics

Enthusiastic Audience at Karl Marx University Hears President Extol Virtues of Capitalism

President Delivers Emotional Plea for Democracy at Birthplace of Solidarity

WARSAW -- As President Bush launches a busy two-day schedule in Poland today, he will find a country, perhaps somewhat bewilderingly, locked in the toils of one of the most important questions facing the reforming Communist nations of Eastern Europe.

WARSAW -- Poland’s voters poured out by the millions Sunday and cast their ballots in what the official news agency PAP called “an atmosphere of calm, seriousness and responsibility” in the first partially democratic elections here in more than 40 years.

Poland’s Farmers Debate Election, Strike Strategy

New Senate to Be Chosen in 1st Free Vote Since WWII

BRUSSELS -- Europe’s history is littered with noble ideas and broken dreams.