The Vanderbilt Berlin Wall Project

The year 2009 commemorates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. As part of the Vanderbilt activities to celebrate this anniversary, a contest was started for writers in the German online literary forums Lese-lupe, Blauer Salon, ProLyKu, Lyrikecksil and the forum Otto Lenk. Of the submitted texts, a jury of peers and Prof. Dr. Justus Fetscher, the visiting Max-Kade Professor to Vanderbilt for Spring of 2009, have selected 49 texts to be included in this volume. Both poetry and prose, these texts re-flect thoughts, memories and human experiences during and after the Cold War. They show both the difficulty of bridging the gap of two separate German nations as well as the difficulties of reuniting a people after 40 years of separation.