The Wall Must Go Down!

This week in history: August 3-9

• Hyo Jin Moon led a march to the Berlin Wall
• True Father was admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital after developing pneumonia

August 8, 1987

Hyo Jin Moon Leads March to the Berlin Wall

World CARP held its Fourth World Convention in Berlin, Germany, from August 2 to 8, 1987, during the waning days of the Cold War. Opponents attempted to block the convention by denying CARP hotel and convention space. When those tactics failed, the leftist opposition resorted to heckling and shouting abuse at almost every event, throwing paint and stink bombs, slashing tires of 20 CARP vehicles and setting fire to a CARP bus. Nevertheless the convention was successful, with 3,000 people attending various events. The convention’s high point was on its last day, when 2,000 CARP members and others marched 7 kilometers from the center of Berlin to the Wall near Checkpoint Charlie. In spite of the hazards, World CARP President Hyo Jin Moon insisted on walking at the front of the march. Members carried flags from their countries of origin, coffins depicting the millions of deaths under communism and placards that read “Die Mauer muss weg!” (“The wall must go!”). Police provided protection, but several hundred counterdemonstrators attempted to disrupt the march by shouting and throwing paint and eggs. At the rally Hyo Jin Nim delivered a passionate address, then rushed through the crowd directly to the Wall, calling on others to join him in prayer. World CARP’s “Jericho March” was an important steppingstone to True Parents’ Moscow Rally in April 1990. In the following days, for the first time since 1961, a demonstration was held in East Berlin to protest the Wall. Young people there also were shouting “Die Mauer muss weg!”

August 3, 2012

True Father Is Admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital

Following the Inaugural Rally for the Abel Women UN on July 16, 2012, True Father caught a cold. It worsened and developed into pneumonia. Complications set in, and on August 3, he was admitted to Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, known in Korea as Seong Mo (Holy Mother), one of the nation’s finest hospitals. There, over the ensuing ten days True Father received every possible medical test, including several X-rays and PET CT blood tests. He spent that period in a private room at the hospital, not in the intensive care unit. On August 12, True Father insisted on returning to the Cheon Jeong Gung. There his condition worsened, and after a day True Mother rushed him again to St. Mary’s. True Father remained in St. Mary’s Intensive Care Unit until August 31, when he was taken to Cheongshim International Medical Center.