"I celebrated my 60th birthday in August 1990. What could've been better than marking the day with a motor boat trip under the Glienicker Bridge; a trip which meant using a channel just under 200 metres long across the appendant Lake access to which had been blocked by barricades and barbed wire for 28 years.
With the help of a fellow pupil from the John-F-Kennedy School, our two children managed to arrange for us to take out a pleasure boat from the U.S. Recreation Center. Under Stars and Stripes, we cruised to the other side of the water which we hadn't dared do on our own since 13 August 1961.
This was a unique experience for both our guests and ourselves, and made us all the happier about the fall of the Wall. It also inspired me to video the trip.
The Recreation Center has, in the meantime, become the American Academy Berlin - Hans Arnold Center. And when the protecting forces pulled out, the pleasure boats, 'Liberty' and 'Freedom', went into other hands. We however, are left with the memory that these names remain a fitting expression for our unswerving belief in reunification."
Peter Becker
