AUBGers celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall

 

AUBG students took part in the symbolic breaking of the Berlin Wall on November 8 at midnight on campus. The event was part of the anniversary commemoration of the fall of the Wall organized by the European Youth Movement (EYM) Club.

"We are commemorating this event because it is something very important for the contemporary history," Dilyana Slavkova, the vice president of the EYM Club said. People respect the fall of the Wall, because it "is a crucial event," she added.

The preparations started on November 4, when members of the EYM club together with the members of the German Club built up cardboard walls in the main lobbies of both Skaptopara 1 and 2. They also covered some windows in the main lobbies with photos from the actual event in 1989, as well as with pictures related to the Cold War.

The commemoration started at 10 p.m., exactly 20 years after the crumbling of the wall started. Initially the organizers set a table in each Skaptopara "to show the symbolic division of the western and eastern parts," Sofya Tsvetkova, the president of the EYM Club, said.

In the end EYM moved the event to Skaptopara 2. "We have [the] eastern table that serves regular biscuits and tea, and we have [the] western table serving cocktails, Coca-Cola and chocolate covered cookies [...] so that people can see the contrast between [the] East and [the] West," she added.

Diana Dimitrova, the co-president of the German club, characterized the event as "an awareness raising campaign." She added that "it applies to all countries from the eastern side. [...] I am happy that people started asking questions wanting to know the things that have not been discussed before. [...] We still have a lot of legacy we need to overcome," she said.

"The event is showing how people were back then, and how students are right now. It makes us feel empathy for the people suffering in the past," student Desislava Pavlova said. "Breaking down the wall was very exciting, it represents the idea that people are free without walls," student Sevelina Koleva said after the symbolic wall crumbled.

The fall of the wall has a great importance for AUBG, as "if the wall hadn't crumbled, AUBG wouldn't have existed", Cosmina Tanasoiu, European Studies (EUR) professor said. "None of us would be here, and none of us would wear jeans if this didn't happen," she added.