Telluride celebrates fall of the Wall with Baerbel Hacke

[click "Play" to hear Baerbel speak about living in divided Germany]

On Monday, November 9, starting at 6 p.m., Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Beloved long- time local/director of the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, Baerbel Hacke grew up in a divided Germany. She plans to share her experiences escaping from behind the Iron Curtain. Also on the FREE program, the film "Leipzig In the Fall," directed by Andreas Voigt and Gerd Kroske. "Leipzig in the Fall"  is a comprehensive documentation of demonstrations and other events in Leipzig from October 16 - November 7, 1989,  and includes interviews with demonstrators, members of the citizens' rights movement, officials, and bystanders.

In 1958, Baerbel's parents decided the family had to escape East Germany, because of the rise of Communism. They told their seven-year-old daughter she was going to an equestrian show for a day. Baerbel left her relatives, her friends, her toys without the chance to say goodbye. Once in West Germany, she ate her first orange. It was the taste of freedom. And not a moment too soon.

On Aug. 13, 1961, East Berliners woke to find themselves prisoners in their own country. During the night, the East German regime had sealed the border between East and West Berlin. What was at first a makeshift barrier of barbed wire became the Berlin Wall, a network of walls, fences and obstacles stretching nearly 100 miles. During its its existence from 1961 to 1989, the Wall stopped almost all such emigration and separated East Germany from West Germany. In the bad old days, the area known as the Death Strip ran straight through the middle of the square known as Potsdamer Platz. Today, where barbed wire, watchtowers and the Wall separated East Germans from democracy, modern skyscrapers glisten in the sun stylish Berliners sip coffee in hip cafes, and tourists applaud the renaissance of the city.

Baerbel Hacke moved to Telluride in 1983. For a preview of her account of her life while still living in Germany, click the "play" button and listen to her podcast.