The Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989—Twenty Years Later

Klaus Weissenberger, Professor of German Studies, offers a new course in Fall 2009, The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall: Politics and Culture During the Cold War (HANS 200). Against the background of WW II and its aftermath, the course investigates the GDR's political and socio-economic reasons for building the Wall which, from 1961 to 1989, divided East and West and put Germany at the center of the Cold War. The course will also consider the peaceful revolution in East Germany in 1989, which manifested itself in the political, literary, and religious arena as well as in the graffiti on the Berlin Wall itself, a piece of which stands right in front of Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy. The course includes a public speaking competition on worldwide reactions to the Fall of the Wall, several films on the topic, and a graffiti contest.