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Marking the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Wall

Wall replica, exhibition part of week of events

Duke faculty and students work on a replica of the Berlin Wall Friday in preparation of a week of events marking the the 20th anniversary of the opening of the wall on Nov. 9. The anniversary is being celebrated at Duke with an exhibit and a variety of activities under the title "Freedom without Walls: Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989-2009."

The student-curated exhibit is on view in the cases on the second floor of Bostock Library outside the Duke Libraries' International and Area Studies Department. The work of students in Christophe Fricker's German 148S, Special Topics in Literature and Culture, the exhibit features the Berlin photographs of Vincent Cianni. The students discovered the Cianni photographs in the Duke Special Collections Library while they were doing research on the fall of the wall. During a class session in the Rare Book Room, students interviewed Vincent Cianni about his stay in Berlin via skype. The captions of the photographs in the exhibit reflect their discussions with the photographer.

Other student-organized events marking the anniversary of the fall of the wall included a a talk by Vera Lengsfeld, a German human rights advocate and politician, and a speech contest.

Upcoming events include:

•November 7, 8pm Gala Freeman Center •November 8, 12noon Charity Run Al Buehler Cross Country Trail

For more information, visit the Fall of the Wall website.

Below: The Wall replica on the West Campus quad. Photos by Les Todd

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