Dark evil, great moment and good luck

On this date in 1938 the Germans carried out that terrible night of destruction on Jewish communities right across the country. The memory of Kristallnacht makes every sensible German bow their heads in shame. It can and must never be forgotten.

And also on this date but in 1989, the Wall came tumbling down.

I lived in Berlin in 1986. The fall of the Wall then seemed unthinkable.

With the fall of the Wall one has no alternative but to believe that anything, just anything is possible.

On March 17, 1986, with a group of students from the univeristy in Berlin I visited a Protestant pastor on the German side of Görlitz. We were travelling from Berlin to Krakau. We smuggled him in that day's newspapers from West Berlin. He prepared us a wonderful breakfast. During our conversation he kept insisting that it was just a matter of time before it all collapsed in the German Democratic Republic. I can still see him stressing emphatically that it was over and that his state was totally bankrupt, economically and morally.

I did not believe him.

How I know it was March 17 is because the GDR custom control at Friedrichstraße requested me to open my case. Hidden inside I had GDR money. Bringing GDR money into the country was a serious crime. So, unusually calm for me, I mentioned to the controller that it was Ireland's national holiday. Suddenly, it seemed he forgot about what he was doing, chatted with me and closed my bag.

St Patrick had come to my assistance.