Berlin Wall remembered at Hanszen

By Seth Brown     12/3/09 6:00pm

While most prepared for Thanksgiving break, a group of students covered the windows of the Hanszen College Commons with graffiti. But these were no delinquents; rather, they were participating in one of several activities arranged by German Professor Klaus Weissenberger in honor of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The idea for the project arose after the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. began approaching a number of U.S. universities with the hopes of celebrating the anniversary. Originally, the embassy imagined a week-long series of events - including a speaking competition, a graffiti competition, a charity run and a gala - to create interest in German culture and history and to remember the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Because of the limited pool of students, Weissenberger decided Rice would be better suited to hosting a college course, HANS 200: The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall. The course would use several of the activities suggested by the embassy, as well as cover the history of the wall.

"Drawing heavily on my experience as a master at Hanszen, I knew I could tailor a course to meet the standards of a college course," Weissenberger said.

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In October, Weissenberger divided his course into six groups: East and West Germany, United States, Soviet Union, Britain and France, the parties involved in the 1990 Two Plus Four Talks, talks that eventually led to the reunification of Germany. Each group prepared a 10-minute speech justifying the position and expectations of each entity. The final presentations of the event can be found online as a Rice Webcast at www.tinyurl.com/RiceBerlinWall.

The course has also hosted several guest speakers, including retired Navy Captain Meyer Minchen, who flew supplies to West Berlin during the Berlin Airlift in 1948-49, and Katrin Hattenhauer, an East German who was imprisoned for five weeks leading up to the fall of the Wall for her actions in trying to reform the German Democratic Republic into a democracy.

"We were fortunate to have eyewitnesses to the situations that showed the personal involvement of the individuals," Weissenberger said. "The personal aspect really hit home."

Weissenberger brought in another guest speaker, local graffiti artist GONZO247, of Houston's Aerosol Warfare, to speak on the history of graffiti and show the class basic graffiti techniques. The artist highlighted some of the different graffiti that had been made on the Western side of the wall.

Each student group, as well as GONZO247, took a space on the Hanszen Commons windows to create their own designs dealing with the Berlin Wall.

Martel College freshman Ben Kwan explained the designs that arose.

"Basically, East plus West equals one Germany," Kwan said. "Even though [the fall of the Berlin Wall] was 20 years ago, it puts in perspective present-day crises."

Hanszen sophomore Ross Tieken's group placed the German phrase "Tor auf," and its English translation, "Gate open," under an image of the Brandenburg Gate.

"Tor auf is what people chanted when they were trying to get to the other side," Tieken said. "We thought this particular utterance embodied the spirit of progressive Berlin."

Other designs included the word "Unite," with the "I" created to look like the wall under the Brandenburg Gate with a plane flying overhead, and a brick wall with an eye in the center which read "Hindsight is 20/20."

"I'm half-German, so it's very important for me to learn about German history," Tieken said. "There's a tangible value to learning about the country that half of your blood comes from.

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