NPR FM Berlin’s Blog

The NPR Specials series, Freedom Without Walls, is now archived on our online features page NPR FM Berlin Bonus. You can hear all three programs from the series.

The Building of the Berlin Wall

The Media’s Impact During the Cold War

From German Unification to a New World Order

This weekend marks the fifth annual “Poetry Hearings” in Berlin. Nine poets from across the US and Great Britain will take the stage at Kaffee Burger, presenting their work in all different styles. Some mainstream, others performance and experimental.

Michael Haeflinger, pictured left, is one of the organizers of “Poetry Hearings.” Haeflinger, an American poet, is serving as the festival’s MC.

Poets performing: Alistair Noon, Maurice Scully, Mary Noonan, Matthew Sweeney, Tom Chivers, Donna Stonecipher, Andrew Shields, Hannah Silva, and Tim Turnbull.

Kaffee Burger is located on Torstrase 58-60, 10119, Mitte.
6 Euro/night or two-night ticket/10 Euro.

In October, we reported on a story called “Mauer Mob,” a massive performance art piece by British artist Martin Butler. When the story aired in October, 9,000 people had signed up to create a human wall on November 9th to commemorate the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

According to Mr. Butler, 5,000 people showed up Monday night to take part in the Wall recreation. Large groups met by the Mauer Park, Postsdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie, and the East Side Gallery.

In response to the large turn out, Butler says, “It was a strange, unifying, and at the same time, isolating experience standing there in the pouring rain… old people, young people, children together taking a moment to reflect togther. I think it was an important thing to have done. Maybe we didnt build the whole wall, but…it was more about creating a platform for people to come together and making something together, to reflect together.”

**You can see more pictures of “Mauer Mob” on NPR Berlin’s Facebook Fan Page.

This Saturday on NPR Specials, we’re airing a new program from the American Academy in Berlin. Hosted by R. Jay Magill, this is the fourth production from the Academy, with special guests from their fall fellowship program.

The guests include:

Mary Sarotte – professor of international relations at the University of Southern California. Sarotte is interviewed by Spiegel Online’s political desk editor, Claus Christian Malzahn, about the Fall of the Wall and re-constructing post-Cold War Europe.

Nathan Englander – author of For The Relief Of Unbearable Urges, interviewed by host R.Jay Magill, Jr. about the force of fiction, living in Jerusalem, and the invariable strangeness of home.

Benjamin Buchloh – art history professor at Harvard University, interviewed by Isabelle Graw, founding editor of Texte zur Kunst magazine, about Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, and Gerhard Richter’s moment of authenticity.

George Packer – staff writer for The New Yorker, interviewed by Claus Christian Malzahn about the German debate over troops in Afghanistan, Obama’s problems at home, and the American way of war.

Join host R. Jay Magill and his guests this Saturday evening at 19:00.

This program was made possible by the American Academy in Berlin. Find more information about the American Acadmey at their website, americanacademy.de.

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright shares her thoughts in front of a live studio audience with NPR Talk of The Nation host Neal Conan on Monday, November 9th on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

This evening at 8, Talk of the Nation will commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Host Neal Conan will be speaking with:

J.D. Bindenagel- former deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Berlin, in East Germany, when the wall came down

Horst Teltschik- former national security adviser to Chancellor Helmut Kohl

John Sununu- former White House Chief of Staff under President George H.W. Bush.

If you would like to join the conversation, call 00 1 (800) 989-8255, or you can send your emails to talk@npr.org.

Tonight in front of the Brandenburger Gate, 1,000 dominos will trigger a massive firework display. Here is the itenerary for the celebrations:

The “Festival of Freedom will begin at 7:00 PM with an open-air concert at Paris Platz by the Staatskappelle Berlin, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

At 8:30 PM, the first dominos will fall. DJ Paul von Dyk presents the hymn “We Are One.” The last domino will then fall at the Brandenburger Gate in the presence of the guest of honour.

Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the East Side Gallery reopened with over 100 restored murals. Shortly after communist East Germany opened its borders, artists from all over the world started to paint on the 1,3 kilometer remaining stretch of the Wall along Muehlenstrasse.

The restoration of the world’s longest open air gallery began a year ago. The concrete surface of the Wall was replaced and most of the original murals repainted. One of the most famous images is Dimitri Vrubel’s “Bruderkuss,” or “Brother Kiss.” It features Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and his East German counterpart, Erich Honecker.

**Check out NPR Berlin’s Fan page on Facebook for more pictures from the East Side Gallery**

The Irish rock band “U2″ played a free concert in Berlin this Thursday. 10,000 free tickets were given away and promptly snatched up within the first week. That didn’t stop the thousands of Berliners who came out to see the band play underneath the Brandenburger Gate.

NPR Berlin’s Monika Mueller-Kroll spoke to U2 fans at the concert, some of whom celebrated at the same gate 20 years ago for very different reasons.

A new art exhibit has just opened at the Goethe Institut in Washington, D.C. The show is “Iconoclash- Political Imagery from the Berlin Wall to German Unification.”

It features transformed objects from the former GDR, including busts of Lenin, sections of the Berlin Wall, clothing and food. All of the memorabilia has been “tampered” with in some way.

NPR Berlin’s Sara Richards spoke to the co-curator, Marion Deshmukh, about the exhibit. You can listen to the interview on our new page, NPR FM Berlin Bonus.