Iron curtain
Eastern European desire for rearmament
Both central and eastern European governments vocally supported US plans to install military defence systems in the region, even if it meant they were to all intents and purposes digging their own graves. Out of authentic and hypothesised shadows of the past and uncertainties on the future, militarisation secrets and desires are emerging
Picture that: it's only been 20 years since the Berlin wall fell
For its twentieth anniversary Europe will euphorically celebrate the fall of a wall that didn’t just split Berlin in two, but an entire continent. At 6:57 pm on 9 November, the GDR's Politbüro member Günter Schabowski announced that from now, east German citizens could travel freely. Hours later, Berliners were hugging each other from the east to the west. Another 20 years later, and the eurogeneration have made their motto out of this freedom of movement - eastern working girls invade Europe’s labour market, symbolic walls come to a fall in Paris, or exist in people’s heads. Does the spoiled post-89 generation know how lucky they are? Perspectives
- Read the special edition Picture that: it's only been 20 years since the Berlin wall fell
- Czech internet forums, KSCM: disillusionment and nostalgia for communist past
- 9/11 - the fateful day of German history
- 20th anniversary: go and see the 'Berlin wall' be destroyed in Paris
- Jean-Christophe Bas: 'the erasmus generation doesn’t know how lucky it is'
- What communism means to three central and eastern European women
- Twenty years on: why Berlin is not Germany
It's like talking to a Berlin wall
140 kilometres of wall crumbled in 1989 and hundreds of European expressions arose as it fell. The idiom of the week is flavoured by the 9 November event
iron curtain, 1989, tower of babel, germany, cold war, best of cafebabel.com, berlin
Comparing Paris and Berlin 20 years after the Berlin Wall
On 9 November 1989, Romy and Niklas were little more than children. Twenty years on, they have grown up between Paris and Berlin. They remember the divided city and think of a modern Berlin 'standing alone and free'
iron curtain, 1989, germany, berlin, history, mur de berlin, commemoration
'La frontière intérieure' documentary: French architects take on Iron Curtain
One stretch of border, one place, one person. The French documentary film 'La frontière intérieure' ('The Interior Border') is to have 40 public viewings throughout this summer along the former Iron Curtain. Seven portraits aim to highlight the obstacles, both physical and mental, preventing the people of Europe from understanding each other. Interview
iron curtain, schengen, video, video gallery, documentaire, culture, culture calendar
Berlin wall: version Vilnius 2009
Nostalgic? Nearly two decades after ‘die Wende’, as the Germans call it, the Lithuanian capital has become the EU capital of culture. In 2009 though, it is still fighting its old demons. Russian symbols have been erased without mercy. A cold soviet wind blows through the Baltic republic with regards to energy. Belarusian students find exile in a special university four hours from Minsk. The domestic brain drain is ongoing. Three journalists plus one photographer and one videomaker (see below) hunt the clash of cultures in our monthly cities stop: 'EU Debate on the ground'
- Read the special edition Berlin wall: version Vilnius 2009
- Energy in Lithuania: tick A, B or C for 'nuclear', 'renewable' or 'both'
- Soviet nostalgia: Russian drink, bunker parties and film in Vilnius
- Visit to the EHU: Belarusian elite university exiled in Vilnius
- 15.5% unemployment, diaspora: Lithuanians try luck elsewhere
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
iron curtain, 1989, gdansk, cold war, berlin wall, history, solidarnosc
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