https://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2009/11/09/the-lessons-of-berlin-1989/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usFri, 12 Jun 2026 17:28:47 -0400<![CDATA[Today, November 9, 2009, marks the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Looking back, it is difficult not to feel a celebratory thrill: if the Berlin Wall was a sort of objective correlative of Communist tyranny &#8212; the perfect architectural summary of its soul-blighting aspirations &#8212; its dramatic fall seemed like a primaeval upsurge of freedom. Looking around us now, however, it is clear that our euphoria was premature, or at least that it must be sharply qualified. For although the fall of the Berlin Wall presaged the fall of the Soviet Empire a scant two years later, it did not, as was widely predicted, spell the end of the nightmare Communism constructed. Indeed, everywhere one looks, from Moscow to, alas, Washington the centralizing, socialist imperative is making a come back. An irony of history? No doubt. As I note in &#8220;Tyranny Set in Stone,&#8221; my contribution to a symposium on the subject in this month&#8217;s New Criterion,]]>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:36:01 -0500<![CDATA[Roger Kimball]]>https://pjmedia.com/roger-kimball/2009/11/09/the-lessons-of-berlin-1989-n116128