MEDIA ADVISORY

Just weeks before the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, New York University and Columbia University will co-sponsor a two-day conference, “The Fall of the Wall: A Prism for Looking at Germany’s Recent Past and Future,” October 22 and 23 at Columbia’s Deutsches Haus (420 West 116th Street/between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive). Subway: 1 (116th Street). Map

The event, co-sponsored by NYU’s Deutsches Haus and Columbia’s Department of Germanic Languages and Literature, is free and open to the public. For more information, call 212.998.8661. For a pdf of the complete conference schedule, click here.

Among the conference sessions is “Wither Germany?: The Minor Cinema of the ‘Berlin School’ and the Question of the German People,” which includes a lecture by Marco Abel, a professor of English and Film Studies at the University of Nebraska, a screening of the film “Toyland” (“Spielzeugland”), which won the 2009 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short, and a conversation between Abel and “Toyland” Director Jochen Freydank (October 23, 10:45 a.m.).

The conference will also include a roundtable discussion, “Post Wall Politics in Germany and Beyond,” comprised of Hauke Brunkhorst, a professor of sociology at the Universität Flensburg, Andrew Arato, a professor of political and social theory at the New School for Social Research, and Columbia Political Science Professor Jean Cohen, who will moderate the session (October 23, 3:45 p.m.).

The conference’s keynote address-“One Germany-A Reunited Nation?”-will be delivered by Gesine Schwan, co-founder of the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance, on October 22, 7 p.m. at Columbia’s Altschul Auditorium in its School of International and Public Affairs (420 W. 118th Street, 4th Floor/between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive). Schwan previously served as coordinator for German-Polish relations for the Federal Republic of Germany and ran for president as a member of the Social Democratic Party in 2009.

This conference is made possible by a contribution by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany.