The concrete wall is a surprising symbol of the hopes and anxieties of the last two generations. On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, this presentation will explore the motivations behind building walls and tearing them down, from the construction of the Berlin Wall on early Sunday morning 13 August 1961 to its sudden, surprising demolition on “9/11” 1989 (a Thursday) and on to the imagined reconstruction of boundaries in the present day. What do walls tell us about the course of the post-World-War-II world?
Peter Fritzsche, a professor of history at the University of Illinois, is the author of numerous books on German history, including Life and Death in the Third Reich and the Turbulent World of Franz Göll: An Ordinary Berliner Writes the Twentieth Century.
https://kennedy.byu.edu/events/the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-and-the-rise-of-the-border/