Berlin Wall 20th Anniversary Debate

Synopsis

1989: Twentieth Anniversary

Philip Dodd presents a debate from Berlin to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of Wall. He is joined by a round-table of writers, journalists and artists to ask: has the loss of the wall left a gaping hole in German intellectual life which has yet to be filled?

The Berlin Wall divided Germany, divided families and divided East and West Europe. The collapse of the Communist state, with its Stasi apparatus and the reunification of Germany were momentous events. But ironically, has the Wall's removal also removed a central focus for Germany's thinkers? Is it true that it acted as the linchpin for a whole host of powerful books, films, articles, plays grappling with what it meant to be German - in both East and West - and the 20 years since have not thrown up an equally powerful preoccupation to understand the nation? Or is there a new alternative?

Philip's guests in Berlin include celebrated Dresden-born novelist Ingo Schulze, who made his name writing about eastern Germany in the aftermath of the Wall's destruction, and historian of Germany Karen Leeder.

Broadcast

1. Mon 9 Nov 2009
   21:15
   BBC Radio 3