Merkel Needed Poles to Tell Her East Germany Was Finished
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Chancellor Angela Merkel said it took a visit to Poland four days after the opening of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 to convince her that East Germany was finished.
With the 25th anniversary approaching, Merkel recounted her experience of Nov. 9 at a high school near Frankfurt. She said that even after spending that weekend in 1989 entering West Berlin freely, a conversation during a trip to Poland the following Monday drove home the significance.