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A Celebration of Freedom
A Celebration of Freedom
More than 450 local high school students attended Virginia Wesleyan’s “Freedom Without Walls,” a celebration of the 20-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
By Megan Z. Shearin | November 19, 2009
The symbolic theme of unity and democracy echoed throughout the Virginia Wesleyan College campus on Monday, Nov. 9. More than 450 local high school students from Virginia Beach City Schools attended the College’s “Freedom Without Walls,” a celebration of the 20-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
This prominent event included a presentation of speakers who witnessed the construction and destruction of the Wall, wall-themed competitions and games and the construction (and later destruction) of a representative wall, with live media connection to Berlin.
“The celebration was truly a very collaborative event that in many respects mirrored the coming together of peoples on November 9 twenty years ago,” said Dr. Susan Wansink, professor of German and coordinator of the event. “We celebrated freedom, from the artwork on the student-created walls, speakers who witnessed life in Communist and post-Communist Germany, to the activities that the students participated in, which revolved around the theme of walls and separation.”
“Today reminds us that freedom is precious and should not be taken for granted. It is we who can overcome the barriers of today and overcome the challenges of the future. This is the legacy of freedom without walls.” – Peter Muller, Executive Vice President, STIHL, Inc.Guest speaker Tanja Roeschke was just 12 years old when the Wall came down. Having grown up in East Germany, she spoke of food and supply shortages as a child and described East and West Germany as two different worlds.
“I was not allowed to watch TV stations from the West and thought that people in the West were rich, with their chocolates and Barbie dolls,” said Roeschke. “We were taught that the Berlin Wall was built for our protection against capitalism.”
At the age of 17, Roeschke left her parents and moved to West Berlin. There, she realized that “it doesn’t matter where I came from, but where I was going.” At 32, she is a leader of the Christian Outreach Church RESET in Berlin.
Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Timothy O’Rourke, who wrote a paper on the 15-year anniversary of the fall of the Wall, described the day’s events as a momentous celebration for democracy.
“In my view, the fall of the Berlin Wall signifies the triumph of freedom and democracy over tyranny—an objective advanced by a consistent, principled and courageous American foreign policy extending over more than four decades and encompassing Democratic and Republican administrations,” he said. “The destruction of the Wall signaled the liberation of millions of people from Communist oppression.”
President of the German Honor Society Owen Davis ’10 from Norfolk, Va., donated more than 60 hours of his time to help organize the event. He coordinated the games for the day and more than 50 volunteers who pitched in to make the event a success.
Davis, who studied abroad in Berlin during the 2008-09 academic year, said he hopes “Freedom Without Walls” educated students about the historic event in 1989.
“The goal of the event was for the high school students to understand what it was like to live behind the Berlin Wall,” said Davis. “We wanted the students to realize that what we have in this country, millions of people in Eastern Berlin did not have. Their civil liberties were non-existent.”
Additional guest speakers included James S. Buddo, Jr., a company commander in Berlin with the 2nd Battle Group, 6th Infantry (January 1960 – July 1963); Ralf Henning, a native of former West Berlin who currently serves as the German Liaison Officer to commands in Virginia Beach and Norfolk; and Peter Mueller, Executive Vice President for STIHL, Inc., who in 2006 was appointed by the German President, Johannas Rau, to the Honorary Consul of Germany for Virginia.