The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is Nov. 9. Two 菠萝视频 University professors are available to reflect on aspects of this anniversary.
at 菠萝视频 University, who has studied the Berlin Wall and German-United States relations, says the anniversary may have greater significance for Americans than Germans.
鈥淔or the United States, the wall was the ultimate symbol of both the justness of the Cold War and an ugly manifestation of the cruelty of communism,鈥� Schwartz said. 鈥淚t was proof that our resistance to its expansion was a noble cause.鈥�
From President Kennedy鈥檚 鈥淚ch bin ein Berliner鈥� speech to President Reagan鈥檚 鈥淢r. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall,鈥� the Berlin Wall provided the most important stage for American presidents to proclaim their country鈥檚 international role to both a world audience and the American public, Schwartz said.
鈥淚t is an ironic fact that today there are more segments of the wall on public display in the United States than in Berlin itself,鈥� Schwartz said. 鈥淭he absence of any equivalent to the Berlin Wall in today鈥檚 world may be one more reason why presidents have had such a difficult time defining America鈥檚 global role and convincing their own people of its importance.鈥�
, notes that the achievement of a united, robustly democratic Germany is 鈥渨orth celebrating.鈥� He also says that the date Nov. 9 has been somewhat rehabilitated by the Berlin Wall coming down. Earlier in German history, Nov. 9 was the date of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler鈥檚 鈥淏eer Hall putsch鈥� attempt to overthrow the German government in 1923, and the pogrom of 鈥淩eichskristallnacht,鈥� or 鈥淣ight of Glass鈥� in 1938, during which Jews were killed and arrested in Germany while more than a thousand synagogues were burned and Jewish businesses were destroyed or damaged by Nazis and their sympathizers.