“Debates Europa 25”, in the Born Centre Cultural on the 3rd and 4th of December
A representative series of European personalities will attempt, with the aid of documentary film, to acquaint the general public with the process of social change that took place in Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall
On the 3rd and 4th of December the Born Centre Cultural will host a series of debates entitled Europa 25, commissioned by journalist Martí Anglada. The programme is part of an initiative by the Barcelona City Council to acquaint the general public with the events that, following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, would change the face of Europe.
With the benefit of a historical perspective of twenty-five years since the events in question, the debates will bring together a number of representative European personalities who were fortunate enough to have first-hand experience of the wave of freedom that spread through Eastern and Central Europe following the collapse of the Warsaw Pact military organisation, profoundly affecting former Eastern Bloc countries such as Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
Two debates have been programmed for Wednesday the 3rd, one dealing with Latvia and the Baltic states, at 4.30 pm, the other dealing with Romania, beginning at 5.45 pm. The first will be presented by Latvian author, publicist and journalist Otto Ozols in conjunction with the commissioner of the programme, Martí Anglada, while the second will be headed by Romanian politician Petre Roman, the first Prime Minister of the country from 1989 to 1991, coinciding with the fall of the Ceausescu regime. The debates will be followed by a screening of the documentary film How We Played the Revolution (7 pm), about a Latvian rock band who helped awaken the entire country, encouraging them to take part in the independence process.
Three debates will be held on Thursday the 4th. The first, dealing with Germany (4.30 pm), will be presented by Werner Krätschell, a Lutheran pastor from the former parish of Pankow, in Berlin. Between 1979 and 1996, Pankow was the centre of the Pankow Peace Circle, one of the most powerful opposition groups in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The second, will approach the case of Hungary (5.30 pm) and will be led by Imre Kozma, Lutheran pastor and humanitarian aid coordinator for the Eastern European refugee camps in Hungary during the summer of 1989. The third, dealing with Poland (6.30 pm) will be presented by Maciej Stasinski of the Gazeta Wyborcza, the principal newspaper in Poland, which began publication in 1989 in an effort to offer media coverage to voices in favour of political change in the country. The evening will finish with the screening of Rabbit à la Berlin (7.30 pm), a documentary film that tells the tale of the Berlin Wall from the unique perspective of a group of wild rabbits that inhabited the no-man’s land separating West Berlin from East Germany.
Entry to Debates Europa 25 is free, though seating is limited. In addition, all the debates may be streamed live here.