Students Reenact Fall of Berlin Wall on Anniversary

It was 20 years ago today history was made in Germany, the Berlin Wall came down. And in Oklahoma City, the fall of the wall was celebrated by students through a recreation of the historical event.

Monday, November 9th 2009, 5:11 pm

By: News 9


By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- It was 20 years ago today history was made in Germany, the Berlin Wall came down. A major anniversary party is going on in the German capitol with tens of thousands of people remembering the event that brought an end to communism in Europe.

World leaders including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were also on hand for Monday's celebration.

In Oklahoma City, the fall of the wall was celebrated by students too young to have seen it twenty years ago. Students at the Classen School of Advanced Studies cheered the wall's fall at their school through a reenactment of the historic event.

Students at CSAS know their history when asked what 'Fall of the Wall' means.

“The freedom it brought to the people of Berlin,” said student Sam Curry.

To mark the anniversary, the students built their own Berlin Wall out of cereal boxes.

"I drew several pieces of the wall to make it look like falling dominos, and I put ‘Fall of the Wall,'" said student Lauren Lindauer.

The recreation was the idea of German teacher Nancy Boudreau, who procured a piece of the wall during a visit to Berlin.

“For $3 we rented a hammer and a chisel and we got our own piece of the Berlin Wall,” said CSAS German teacher Nancy Boudreau.

Student Shelly Wright got the dominos falling. Some toppled easily, some needed a little help. One spectator fought back tears thinking about what happened 20 years ago.

"It was one of the most emotional things I've ever watched because I saw it go up, and I never believed it would ever come down,” said Renata Wiggin, wife of German Honorary Consul member.

Of course, at almost the same time celebrations were taking place in Berlin. The Classen students watched the Berlin Philharmonic play, and that's not all they got to see.

The students cheered when they saw the much larger row of dominos fall in Berlin along the site of the original wall because the German government asked Classen students to create one of those dominos, and they did so-- a very rare honor indeed.

"Many were asked, but only two chose to do it. Classen is one of two schools in the United States that actually chose to participate,” Boudreau said.

Shelly Wright said when the last domino went down it represented freedom for the other country.

The Berlin wall went up on August 13, 1961 and endured for 28 years.

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