Members of the German Club at San Diego City College shared their take on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall last month. The club built an 8-foot by 8-foot replica of the wall in Schwartz Square on the downtown campus. “We really wanted to give the City (College) campus and the community the political and historical message that the Berlin Wall falling gave 20 years ago,” said City College German Club President Jessica Hays. “We want to keep that message alive and let people remember.” Hays said the idea for the wall came from the club’s faculty advisor, Astrid Ronka. It took a nine-hour day to construct the replica wall, with help from theater department faculty member Duane Gardella, who donated supplies and provided input on the design. The replica was divided into two parts, representing the East and West German perspectives. On the East German side, a fence topped with barbed wire stood in front of the wall. The wall itself was gray and cracked. Two holes were painted in the wall, revealing flowers and a scenic countryside. “That really gives you that cold, ‘You can’t come that close to the wall’ type of feeling,” Hays said. “We tried to be as symbolic as possible with that piece.” On the other side, the wall was fashioned as a mural, with split images depicting a colorful woman and an image of peace. This represented the West German side of the wall, which historically featured varying degrees of artistic expression. The wall also had 26 slips of paper with facts, quotes and stories about the Berlin Wall peppered around both sides. Hays said that most of her fellow classmates did not know much about the history of the Berlin Wall. “We wanted people to get the whole gist of what happened to take time to really read,” Hays said. “We thought that would be the best way to grab people’s attention versus just putting up a whole story. We just wanted people to know what it is and have some information about it.” History of the Berlin Wall • Aug. 13, 1961 — The border between East and West Berlin is closed. Construction on the wall begins. • June 26, 1963 — President John F. Kennedy delivers his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner) speech. • Feb. 6, 1989 — Chris Gueffroy is the last person killed trying to cross the wall. • Nov. 9, 1989 — The wall is torn down. Source www.coldwar.org
