The Chart Online

German Club recognizes 'Fall of Wall'
Allison Rosewicz

Editor-in-Chief

It may be the right season, but the German Club celebrated a different kind of fall this week.

To remember the reunification of East and West Germany, the German Club hosted a number of different activities during Fall of the Wall Week Sept. 30-Oct. 3.

We do something in commemoration every year, said Dr. Sabine Cramer, associate professor of German, German Club sponsor and Germany native.

The first opening of the wall occurred Nov. 9, 1989, and the total reunification of East and West Germany took place Oct. 3, 1990. Celebrations usually happen on Nov. 9 or Oct. 3, which is the German National Holiday.

Cramer said the two German countries wanted to reunite because they were actually supposed to be one nation. East Germany was ruled by communism, while West Germany was a democracy. Cramer said the countries were separated politically and physically.

They were separated by countries that had nothing to do with us - Russia, the U.S., England and France, Cramer said. Once you re split, you feel like you want to get back together.

She said East Germany wanted to gain the rights West Germany had, as well as the advantages of the entire Western world.

She also said the fall of the wall did not only reunite the two countries, it also ended the Cold War and took power away from America and the Soviet Union.

Berlin is symbolic of the fall of the Iron Curtain, she said.

Mariam Stone, senior economic finance and German major and German Club member, agreed.

It represented more than the fall of the wall for one country, she said. It represented democracy.

The German Club planned several events to commemorate the reunification. Sept. 30, Cramer translated a documentary called Ein Volk sprengt seine Mauren by Beate Schubert in Webster Hall Auditorium. The film documented the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. Oct. 1, the German Club erected a mock Berlin Wall on which students could paint graffiti. The club hung the wall on the third floor of Webster Hall.

If you look at some of the writings on the [Berlin] Wall, it showed feelings from both sides, said Amy Kihenia, senior international business and German major and German Club member. Graffiti in Germany and Europe is about expression. Here on campus we don t really get a chance to express ourselves. This is a good chance.

On Oct. 2 in the communications department conference room, Dr. Conrad E. Gubera, professor of sociology, gave a speech on the fall of social and political walls.

Oct. 3, the German Club celebrated the 13th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. At 12:30 p.m., the members tore down the mock wall as a symbolic action. Following the destruction of the wall, Cramer gave a speech on Europe s largest Hindu temple called The Fall of the Wall Within Germany s Small Communities. Cramer gave this speech to relate the fall of the wall with the India Semester.

We have an international mission here, she said. The mission should include historical events from all around the world.

Since we are in political turmoil all over the world, this is probably the best time to do this to let people know that getting together and unity is more important than diversion and violence.

Kihenia also said the Fall of the Wall Week helped people learn more about other countries.

A lot of times we get so comfortable in our surroundings, she said. This can make us more aware of what s happening in other nations.

Stone said the Fall of the Wall Week activities not only gave students an opportunity to learn more about Germany, it also gave them the chance to learn more about other students on campus.

Kihenia and Stone said the German Club sponsors other events in which any student can get involved. The club usually hosts a bake sale around Christmas time and takes an annual trip to Oktoberfest in Tulsa.

The German Club meets from noon-1 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month in the communications department conference room. The next meeting is Monday.