Date: 11/05/09
Time: 5:00pm
On November 5, 2009, Baruch College celebrated 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. I attended this workshop since the Fall of the Berlin Wall meant something to me. Korea, like Germany, was divided into two parts, north and south, by outside forces and many Koreans in South Korea (I don’t know much about North Korea) thought that they could be united together as well, when the Berlin wall had fallen, which did not happen.
Anyway, we watched “Freedom Without Walls,” a documentary film by Robert E. Frye, which showed how the Berlin Wall and its fall had influenced on German people’s lives. After the movie session, panelists talked about their experiences; what it was like to live with the wall between one country; how Germans went outside and hugged each other in happiness when the the Fall of the Berlin Wall was announced. It was the most impressive when some panelist told us his own story about his childhood, when the Berlin Wall was first built and the area he was living began to be called as West Germany. It was very interesting to learn how his family went to another country secretly (since in the West Germany, it was illegal to go abroad, including East Germany) for his education.
I really liked it and would like to recommend to others because it gave us vivid images of life in Germany before and after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.