The last time that young East Berliners had demanded "Down with the Wall" had been in Alexanderplatz on 7 October 1977, the week before Bowie brought out his album Heroes. Then, too, a rock concert had unleashed riots; hundreds were arrested. There are unconfirmed reports that three people were killed, two of them policemen.
Ten years later, something happens on the streets of East Berlin that will soon become unstoppable. It is getting noisier in the capital of the GDR. "The assembled youth were overwhelmingly decadent in appearance," the Stasi report. "Tests in the Charité hospital confirm that the maximum decibel level has been substantially exceeded. The Charité has a particular need for silence." This funereal silence is now over. "Pigs", "Down with the Wall", "Russians out!" the decadent mob yells. The Wall has only another two years to go. That June in East Berlin, a few of the heroes emerged who would shortly bring it down. They have a David Bowie song on their lips.
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