Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
License needed for work use Register

Education Policy | Post Primary | Preschool | Primary | Tertiary | Search

 

Berlin Wall conference

Berlin Wall conference brings key European unification figures to New Zealand

A major international conference commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall is bringing high profile European politicians to New Zealand .
The conference, which takes place 3-4 November in Wellington , is one of the premier international events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with an outstanding line-up of participants.

Lord Christopher Patten—who has recently been mentioned as a possible candidate for the newly created post of European Union Foreign Minister—will anchor the keynote panel, which also includes Professor Michael Zürn, Director of the Social Science Research Centre Berlin, and a representative of the European Commission.

The conference will also include the participation of the award-winning German film directors, Andreas Dresen and Christian Schwochow, as well as a former editor of Gazeta Wyborcza, Ryszard Holzer.

Former Polish Solidarity leader and former President Lech Walesa will not be attending the conference due to health reasons.

The conference is taking place in conjunction with the opening of the first-ever German film festival in New Zealand , Novemberkinder, sponsored by the Goethe Institut.

Victoria University lecturer John Leslie, who was there the day the Berlin Wall came down, working as a television news producer for NBC Nightly News in East Germany , says the enormity of the events of 9 November 1989 and their enduring legacy cannot be underestimated.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

“The fall of the Berlin Wall was the beginning of the era we live in—the end of the Cold War, the end of a power structure where the international system was divided between the US and the Soviet Union .”

He says the conference is also a reminder of the importance of Europe to a small trade-dependent country like New Zealand .

“ New Zealand is a very small country and is incredibly dependent on an open, liberal trading order. But it is in a part of the world where the biggest powers around are not necessarily open and liberal and that makes it increasingly dependent on those large powers that are—like the European Union and the United States .”

There are events organised around New Zealand , but the main conference will occur at Wellington , in the Parliament Buildings. It is open to the public and registration is free.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Culture Headlines | Health Headlines | Education Headlines

 
International Art Centre: Rare Goldie Landscape Expected To Fetch $150,000

When Evening Shadows Fall is one of four works by Goldie included in a sale of Important and Rare Art at the International Art Centre in Parnell on November 28. Goldie painted only a handful of landscapes, concentrating mainly on indigenous portraits, which earned him a global reputation as NZ’s finest painter of respected Māori elders (kaumātua). More


Mark Stocker: History Spurned - The Arrival Of Abel Tasman In New Zealand

On the face of it, Everhardus Koster's exceptional genre painting The Arrival of Abel Tasman in New Zealand should have immense appeal. It cannot find a buyer, however, not because of any aesthetic defects, but because of its subject matter and the fate of the Māori it depicts. More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • CULTURE
  • HEALTH
  • EDUCATION
 
 
  • Wellington
  • Christchurch
  • Auckland
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.