SARKO CAUGHT FIBBING ABOUT HIS PARTICIPATION IN THE DOWNING OF THE BERLIN WALL

Posted By on November 10th, 2009

EVERYBODY BUT OBAMA WANTED TO GET INTO THE BERLIN WALL STORY…RSK
Sarkozy’s unreliable memories of Berlin 1989
By Benedict Brogan World Last updated:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100016196/sarkozys-unreliable-memories-of-berlin-1989/

Nicolas Sarkozy posted this picture on his Facebook page of himself chipping away at the Berlin Wall with a pickaxe Photo: AFP/GETTY

You may have seen the story earlier of Nicolas Sarkozy and his appearance in Berlin on November 9, 1989. He put a photo of himself hacking at the Wall on his Facebook page, along with his recollections of that remarkable night. He describes arriving at the Brandenburg Gate “where an enthusiastic crowd had gathered to welcome the looming opening of the Wall. We then headed for Checkpoint Charlie to see the eastern side of the city and finally confront this wall and I was able to take a pickaxe to it. The night continued in a climate of general enthusiasm: the German people were reunited, heralding the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a period of great freedom in Europe.”

All great stuff, except that the French blogosphere now claims he made it all up, and that he didn’t turn up in Berlin until the 16th – a week later. French journalists have studied the coverage of that period, and the available diaries, and can find no evidence that he was here on the day it happened. Under pressure, Alain Juppe, with whom he travelled, has altered his blog entry to reflect the doubts about the precise timetable. What aroused suspicion was their claim that they decided in Paris on the morning of the 9th that they should dash to Berlin, when no one even in Berlin knew the Wall was about to open. There’s also evidence to suggest that they were in fact at commemorations of the death of Charles de Gaulle. Le Figaro has an account here.

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