Salina Journal News: Vidricksen part of U.S. delegation after fall of Berlin

Vidricksen part of U.S. delegation after fall of Berlin

11/13/2009
DAVID CLOUSTON

Twenty years ago this month, the Berlin Wall came down, Germans reunited, and former State Sen. Ben Vidricksen of Salina was part of an American delegation that had an up-close view of the changes.
Vidricksen was one of about a dozen state legislative leaders from across the country that participated in a delegation sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Vidricksen, now 82, held the 24th District Senate seat from 1979 to 2001.
The delegation’s mission during about a week-long visit around the time the wall fell in November 1989 was to work with German leaders to help them prepare to set up a new parliament and local governments.
The national conference provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policy makers to exchange ideas on state issues, and in cases such as with Germany’s reunification, the expertise to help other nations shape their destinies.
“When we got there, they were tearing that wall down like crazy,” Vidricksen said. “Everyone and their dog had a sledge hammer.”
The Americans traveled with a delegation of West German officials and some representatives of the national conference.
Vidricksen was picked for the team, having had the experience of a couple of months staying with Germans in the west while visiting his son, who was serving in the Army in Wiesbaden.
“Talking to the staff with NCSL, I said ‘You know what, I’d love to be part of the team,’” Vidricksen said.
There was such a stark contrast between the German society of the East and West Germans with their western society ways, he said.
“Everything (in the East) was painted gray,” he said. But “people already had their paint cans out, and were starting to repaint their houses (in colors).”
The national conference supplied East German politicians with briefing books outlining the precepts of self-government, the formation of a legislative House and Senate, and other policy details. Reunification of East Germany with its western counterpart occurred nearly a year later, with the capital of Germany once again in Berlin.
“The (East Germans) knew the freedom thing. They had that down,” Vidricksen said. “They were really interested in the way it worked in West Germany because they were already westernized, so to speak.”
Being a part of the delegation “was really an interesting thing to do,” Vidricksen said.