Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall

Program Type:

Author Event, Book Discussions, Discussion Groups, Lifelong Learning, Lectures, Performances, Special Events

Age Group:

Teens (13 to 18 years), Adults, Seniors, Families
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Details

November 9 marks the 30th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. As the world commemorates this historic event, J. Elke Ertle, will discuss the factors that led to the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and the dynamics that brought it down in 1989. Elke, born and raised in West Berlin, was fifteen years of age on that summer day in August when construction of the Wall first began. She vividly recalls how West Berliners, whose city was no more than a tiny capitalist island within a large communist sea, were terrified of winding up behind the Iron Curtain. Elke will end the discussion by reading a brief excerpt from her memoir, “Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom” that describes the panic, the doom, the confusion, the lack of reliable information and the rumors of collusion, under-the-table deals and nuclear war that swept thought the city.

Copies of Ms. Ertle's book will be available for sale from the author after the event.