L. A. Celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall
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- 10 segments of the orginal Berlin Wall on display at the "Wall Along Wilshire" at 5900 Wilshire Bvld.
- (© Consulate General Los Angeles)
For a few hours before midnight on November 8, the city of Los Angeles stood divided. A “Wall Across Wilshire” near the Los Angeles County Museum of Art separated the East from the West in a symbolic re-creation of the wall that had once separated its sister city, Berlin for 28 long years. L.A. did not have to wait that long for the wall to fall. At midnight, the wall came down– toppled by dignitaries and artists taking part in The Wall Project celebration.
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- Justinian Jampol, Director and Founder of the Wende Museum, welcomes guests to the The Wall Project celebration.
- (© Consulate General Los Angeles)
The vision to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in Los Angeles with the civic art initiative, The Wall Project, made up of the wall across and along Wilshire Boulevard, was conceived by Justinian Jampol, Executive Director and Founder of the Culver City-based Wende Museum and Archive of the Cold War.
The gala celebration, staged by the Wende Museum, in cooperation with the City of Los Angeles and supported by the German Consulate General and other partners, kicked off the festivities with a private champagne reception at 5900 Wilshire Boulevard overlooking a 40-foot section of the original Berlin Wall – supposedly the largest section in the world outside of Berlin.
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- Consul General Wolfgang Drautz addresses the large crowd assembled for The Wall Project celebration.
- (© Consulate General Los Angeles)
As midnight approached, the party spilled out onto the street where a large crowd gathered by the 80’ by 10’ wall of art erected across Wilshire Boulevard. The Wall Across Wilshire sections had been painted by local Los Angeles artists Kent Twitchell, Shepard Fairey, original Berlin Wall artist Thierry Noir and other artists as homage to the original Berlin Wall.
Consul General Drautz looking out over the large crowd gathered in front of the wall, expressed his joy and gratitude to be celebrating the anniversary of this historic event, foremost with the people of Los Angeles, and with all Germans and Americans under the motto Freedom Without Walls. "I am touched to see so many young Americans here tonight who have come to celebrate with us - many of you were not even born yet when the wall came down 20 years ago," he said.
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- Ute Lemper belts out a song at The Wall Project celebration.
- (© Consulate General Los Angeles)
The event featured a pre-recorded message from Governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, thanking the American people for their steadfast support during the Berlin Airlift and the Cold War and sent special greetings to Berlin's sister city of more than 43 years. A 16-minute video, dipsplayed on two mounted flat screens, showed footage from when the Berlin Wall was erected and dismantled. The festivities included a performance by Ute Lemper, the legendary German chanteuse and native of Berlin. She took the guests on a musical journey reminiscing along the way of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War.
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- The " Wall Across Wilshire" falls in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
- (© Consulate General Los Angeles)
At midnight, the moment the jubilant crowd had been anticipating had finally arrived – it was time to tear down the wall! This wall may not have been made of barbed wire and concrete, rather of styrofoam and cardboard, but the exhilerating feeling of tearing down a make-believe barrier was just as liberating as it had been for the people of Berlin in tearing down the real thing twenty years ago.
Related link:
The Wende Museum
