Why We Remember

You probably saw the series of featured articles we’ve been running on the IR. Twenty-five years ago last Sunday, the Berlin Wall fell. The Intercollegiate Review is marking this anniversary with reflections on the historic events of November 1989, as well as the lead-up to and aftermath of the wall’s collapse. Here’s the complete rundown. We hope you enjoy! 

The Berlin Wall: 25 Years Later

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. Twenty-five years later, it can be difficult to remember just how stunning—and exhilarating—this was.

The Sentence that Knocked Down the Berlin Wall (But Almost Didn’t)

By Peter Robinson

“How do I know? I wrote the address.”

Making Sense of 1989

By Richard K. Cross

Nobody anticipated the manner or timing of communism’s demise. How and why did the Berlin Wall fall? And what are we to make of the revolution of 1989 twenty-five years later?

Life Behind the Berlin Wall: An Orwellian Nightmare

By Mike Dennis

In 1961 the East German Communists, with Soviet endorsement, erected the Berlin Wall. The wall arrested in a brutal manner the hemorrhaging of the population—and soon came to symbolize the totalitarian nature of Communism.