20 years: fly on the Berlin wall
9 November 1989. The Berlin wall comes down, freeing the democratic motorways between the countries of the former Warsaw pact. Two decades on, many of these countries are in the European Union, tested in the climate of east-west precarity brought on by the economic crisis. In this edition: focus on those who were born after history was made, those who escaped that history and those who are staging it today on the floorboards in London and Berlin
London and Berlin reviews of Mark Ravenhill's 'Over There' play
Mark Ravenhill’s unconventional play about identical twins who are reunited after growing up in east and west Germany travelled from London to Berlin this spring. Our London reviewer calls it a timely commentary on the EU’s current political troubles. Our Berlin reviewer wonders if the British director reproaches the Germans with the repression of history. Cross-reviews from the Royal Court and Schaubühne theatres
berlin wall, berlin, theatre, identity, family, history, integration, culture, reunification, london, best of cafebabel.com
What communism means to three central and eastern European women
Twenty years since the fall of the Berlin wall, what does communism mean to Cecilia, 22, from Bulgaria, Katharina, 20, from Slovakia and Anna, 28, from the Czech Republic?
past enlargements, communism, berlin wall, berlin, students, schengen zone, job seekers, enlargement, schengen, feminism, emancipation, employment, iron curtain, cold war
Solidarity turn their backs on 1989
In 1989, the Solidarnosc (Solidarity) trade union contributed to a democratic revolution in Poland. Now, on the 20th anniversary the celebrations could be called off due to trade union protestors
berlin wall, civil society, revolution, solidarnosc, history, society, warsaw, strike, iron curtain, cold war
Mihai Mircea Butcovan: 'the majority of Italians ignore everything which Romania does for the EU'
The Italy-based writer and poet, 40, looks at the Romania he left behind twenty years after the revolution ended the communist regime. Interview
