The University held a celebration Sunday in honor of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event was held outside Alderman Library, next to two pieces of the Berlin Wall loaned to the University by Robert and Mei Li Hefner.
The celebration was part of a week-long symposium featuring roundtable discussions, plays, documentary films, an essay competition and other events commemorating the destruction of the wall. The portion on display at the University was painted by German graffiti artist Dennis Kaun.
“It has been an honor to examine the political, social, historical and cultural impact that the Berlin Wall has and still has on the world,” said Jody Kielbasa, vice provost for the arts.
The wall has brought together a number of departments at the University, including the the Drama department, the Germanic Studies department and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Preservation of the Freedom of Speech.
“This symposium has provided further evidence of the arts ability to add vibrancy and color to our lives,” Kielbasa said. “We are proud here that the arts serve as one of our strongest bridges to our community and the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
University President Teresa Sullivan also addressed the audience.
“The Berlin wall was torn down by those acting on part of freedom and human rights, therefore it’s very appropriate a portion of it is now at Thomas Jefferson’s University, who created a new republic based on those very principles,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said the wall has served as a means of classroom instruction as well as personal inspiration. She expressed gratitude to the Hefners and their foundation for working to promote education and cross-cultural awareness.
Robert Hefner, who called the wall “a great monument to personal freedom,” explained the historical ramifications of its destruction.
“The fall of the wall unleashed a tsunami of events around the world that we still feel today,” he said. “It diffusion of nuclear standoff in the Cold War, collapsed the Warsaw Pact, brought forth a new a new Russia, freed Eastern Europe and opened the door to a more unified government.”
Third-year College student Tara Hotaling said the event was an important reminder of the historical impact the wall had and how things have changed.
“I’m really glad they did this — it was during a time before any of us were born and back then they thought the wall would be up forever,” she said. “It is really important to drive home how much things have changed in these 25 years.”
Hefner ended the celebration by reminding the audience on the important connection between artistic expression and individual liberty.
“Let us not forget these pieces of the wall are a reminder that our rights of freedom and liberty must always be protected by our will, that they may be inalienable,” Hefner said.
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