by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service
Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, is one of more than 25 U.S.
colleges and universities the German embassy awarded "Freedom
Without Walls" grants to help pay for campus activities that
celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Wartburg is planning activities Nov. 9-13 that will include a
charity run, a speech competition and a graffiti contest. The
Berlin Wall accumulated 28 years of graffiti that symbolized
artistic dissatisfaction with the seclusion it caused. The week
of festivities at Wartburg is to conclude with a gala
celebration. "This is a great way to showcase the talent of our
students and also to recognize our school's rich German
heritage," said Dr. Daniel J. Walther, Wartburg's Gerald R.
Kleinfeld distinguished professor in German history. Georg M.
Grossman, a Lutheran missionary from Germany, founded Wartburg as
a teacher training school in 1852. Wartburg is one of 28 colleges
and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
At the end of World War II the conquering allies -- France, Great
Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States -- divided
Germany into four zones. The capital, Berlin, was partitioned
into four sectors. The British, French and U.S. zones formed the
Federal Republic of Germany. The Soviet Union established the
German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the eastern zone, isolating
all sectors of Berlin within its territory. Tensions between the
powers mounted until the GDR constructed a wall around Berlin's
Western sectors in August 1961. The Berlin Wall stood as a symbol
of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the Western world
until Nov. 9, 1989.
Most students at Wartburg College were born in the years around
the fall of the Berlin Wall. "We are proud to support a new
generation of future leaders in their effort to discover and to
share what the fall of the wall means to them," said Klaus
Scharioth, Germany's ambassador to the United States.
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
