Duke in Berlin Students To Take Part In Wall Celebration

Duke students spending a semester abroad in Berlin will be on hand Sunday, Nov. 9, as Germany celebrates the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.Students this semester have been studying Berlin’s history as a once-divided city. “It’s impossible to empathize with people who lived in a divided Berlin,” said junior Matthew Hamilton, a Duke in Berlin program participant. “I can’t really imagine what it was like for families and friends to be divided for 20 plus years.“But being in Berlin right now and trying to sort through that history and trying to understand it a little better, I think we can take back lessons with us and that’s what really Sunday’s all about.”The study-abroad program began in 1988 when the wall was still standing. The program’s resident director Jochen Wohlfeil was part of the program at that time.

“Duke in Berlin” program participants in 1990 when Berlin Wall was still standing.

“No one really believed that this wall would come down for generations,” Wohlfeil said.Program participants are invited to join locals and others for a balloon release Sunday to commemorate a quarter-century since the peaceful revolution.“There are 8,000 white balloons that follow the former line of the border and each balloon has been assigned to one person,” Wohlfeil said.Students expect the festivities on Sunday to be memorable.“Sunday will undoubtedly be an exciting day and mostly because of its symbolism to show what’s happened in the last 25 years,” Hamilton said.