Voices of U.S. Diplomacy and the Berlin Wall
Produced by the U.S. Diplomacy Center, Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State

November 9, 2009:  Online Exhibition 
November 13, 2009:  Public Education Forum

"I was alerted at one minute past midnight that the East Berlin radio had started to announce that communications within the city were cut. The Wall started with work crews tearing up the street and laying rows of barbed wire. It turned out that the cutting of the city in half was so effective that they started breaking up the streets simultaneously at all the points where later the Wall was constructed."
Robert Lochner, Director, Radio in the American Sector (RIAS), Berlin, 1961-1968

On November 9, 2009, the U.S. Diplomacy Center will launch an online interactive exhibition to commemorate the twenty years since the Wall's demise in 1989. The exhibition will cover the U.S. diplomactic presence in Germany from after World War II until German unity in 1990.

The memories and reflections of U.S. diplomats, captured through recordings called oral histories, will relate little known stories of the diplomacy that happened behind, around and ultimately throught the Wall. The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training has been collecting these diplomatic oral histories for more than two decades. This commemorative project marks the first time these oral histories have been featured as the centerpiece of a museum exhibition.

"East Germany... was the point where the two great forces, East and West, came together and where there was more to be risked and more to be lost by reckless policy. We assumed there would be a more cautious approach to reform in East Germany than anywhere else."
G. Jonathan Greenwald, Political Counselor, East Berlin, 1987-1990

Online visitors will also have the option to learn more about the basics of diplomacy: What is an embassy? What does an ambassador do? What is the difference between a passport and a visa?

There will be additional educational and interactive features in this exhibition, such as "Draw on the Wall"; "Pieces of the Wall Worldwide"; interactive fact-filled maps of divided Germany and Berlin; and also a blog entry where visitors can share their thoughts and memories of the time before, during and after the Wall through the State Department's blog DipNote.

"People simply said, 'We want to go across, can we go?' They said, 'OK, go ahead.' Try to imagine a couple of checkpoint guys sitting there looking at huge mobs of people and wondering, 'What are they going to do? I can't shoot; I have been told not to shoot. What do I do?' So of course all the cameras were there and they started to go through. And of course it was jubilation. People saying, 'This is crazy. I can't believe this. I don't know what is happening here.'
Richard C. Barkley, Ambassador; German Democratic Republic, 1988-1990

For further information on this online exhibition, please contact us at usdc@state.gov.  

On November 13, 2009, a public education forum will complement the online exhibition, bringing together high-level diplomats to discuss how they reached beyond the Wall to do diplomacy.

Hear behind-the-scenes personal accounts from the diplomats who were on the ground, advancing their government's agenda during a chilly and hostile time. Come learn what it was like to be a diplomat during a time when relations between the U.S., Germany and Russia were cold. How did diplomats, on either side, work with each other, advance their agendas and maintain relationships?

The moderator for the forum will be Dr. Karen Donfried, Executive Vice President, The German Marshall Fund of the U.S.

The panelists for the forum will be:

Klaus Scharioth, German Ambassador to the U.S (current)
Richard Barkley, U.S. Ambassador to East Germany, 1988-1990
Dr. Istvan Foldesi, Hungarian National Security Advisor, 1988-1989, Hungarian General for International Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1989-1992

Date, Location and Time:

Friday, November 13, 2009
George C. Marshall Conference Center
U.S. Department of State
21st Street entrance, between C St and Virginia Ave, NW
Washington, DC
9:30 AM to 12:00 PM

Registration for the forum is required. Please click here to register.

For further information on the Berlin Forum, please email Lauren K. Fischer at:  fischerlk@state.gov