Yesterday in La Crosse
The Berlin Wall came tumbling down, 29 years ago
In November of 1989, East Germany surprised the world by announcing that its citizens would be allowed to travel freely anywhere…meaning there was no more need for a wall to keep them from crossing into West Berlin. The wall had stood for 28 years. One small chunk of the wall has been displayed inside a meeting room at La Crosse City Hall.
On the same night the wall was opened, more than 100 UW-La Crosse students marched to City Hall. They wanted to break down a different barrier…protesting against the 21-year drinking age that had been adopted all over the U.S. in the 80’s.
The opening of the Berlin Wall came just days after a touring group from La Crosse’s Soviet sister city of Dubna completed a ground-breaking visit to the Coulee Region. The highlight of the two-week trip was a performance by the Dubna Trio, three women playing classical music. One of the trio later joined the music faculty at Viterbo. The Cold War was ending in 1989, yesterday in La Crosse.
