Reliving the fall of the Berlin Wall
victoria-university-of-wellington
Tue Oct 13 2009 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Reliving the fall of the Berlin Wall
Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 10:28 am
Press Release: Victoria University of Wellington
Reliving the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years later
John Leslie was there the day the Berlin Wall came down, and 20 years later will relive that experience as a major conference dissects one of history’s defining moments.
In November 1989 the Victoria University Political Science lecturer was working as a television news producer for NBC Nightly News in East Germany.
“For me the night of the 9th of November was incredible, probably the greatest experience of my life.”
In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communist rule in Europe, a major international conference and New Zealand’s first ever German film festival will be held in New Zealand throughout late October and November.
Europe 1989-2009: Reunited and Revitalised and the Film Festival Novemberkinder are being combined to bring an array of perspectives on the events of 1989 and their aftermath.
In a series of public lectures and conferences, former Polish Solidarity leader and former President Lech Wałęsa and British Member of Parliament (1979 to 1992) Lord Christopher Patten, among others, will recount their experiences of the end of the Cold War and the subsequent reunification of Europe.
The NZ-German Film-Festival Novemberkinder (November Children), beginning 4 November, will bring 20 films with 20 different views of 20 years full of change.
Dr Leslie says the events, coordinated by Victoria University, in association with the University of Canterbury and other groups such as the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, are a major coup for New Zealand.
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“Having Christopher Patten and Lech Wałęsa for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall—this makes us one of the premier events commemorating that historic moment, not just in the region but in the world.”
On the night of 9 November 1989, Dr Leslie watched as a huge crowd of euphoric people gathered at Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall.
“These people were just defying state authority on a wall that had killed at least 1000 people over the years. But on that night the wall was a prop for a giant street party—not for the communist party anymore.”
He says the enormity of those events and their enduring legacy cannot be underestimated.
“The fall of the Berlin Wall was the beginning of the era we live in—the end of the Cold War, the end of a power structure where the international system was divided between the US and the Soviet Union.”
He says the conference is also a reminder of the importance of Europe to a small trade-dependent country like New Zealand.
“New Zealand is a very small country and is incredibly dependent on an open, liberal trading order. But it is in a part of the world where the biggest powers around are not necessarily open and liberal and that makes it increasingly dependent on those large powers that are—like the European Union and the United States.”
Dr Leslie says the conference and film festival is a huge interdisciplinary event that will bring together groups as diverse as political scientists, art historians and film buffs.
There are events organised around New Zealand, but the main conference will occur at Wellington, in the Parliament Buildings. It is open to the public and registration is free.
A media launch tomorrow tonight will give Wellingtonians a glimpse of the East Berlin underground scene from the early 1980s at a special screening of the quirky fashion documentary “Comrade Couture”.
“Europe 1989-2009: Reunited and Revitalised” and “Novemberkinder”
MEDIA LAUNCH - Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 5.30pm, The Film Archive, 84 Taranaki St., Wellington
RSVP to film@wellington.goethe.org
ends
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