A Concrete Piece of Freedom
Freedom: A slab of the Berlin Wall that was donated to Miami Dade College was unveiled at Wolfson Campus on the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
An authentic, 12-foot-tall, 3-foot-wide, four-and-a-half ton section of the historic Berlin Wall stands near the corner of NE Third St. and Second Ave. at Wolfson Campus as a permanent symbol of freedom.
The massive section of the wall was unveiled on Nov. 9., before hundreds of attendees, on the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
Everyone clamored for a better look; kids were perched on their parents shoulders, cell phone cameras were a flutter and a gaggle of journalists jostled for position to get a better shot.
A light drizzle forced onlookers to pop open umbrellas to get a respite from the rain.
“It is more than ironic that it is raining here today, and it was raining as the wall came down 25 years ago,” said Gaby Brehme, a German living in South Florida who came to the ceremony.
The event, a collaboration between MDC and the German Government through the German Consulate in Miami, was filled with free food and beverages, such as pretzels, German beer, and Bratwurst, a German sausage.
Free T-shirts and German flags were distributed. The air smelled of beer, as folks hugged and sang along boisterously to polka music, which was performed on a nearby stage.
People of all ages danced, ate, drank, and waved their flags as the festivities continued throughout the afternoon. Some wore gold, red, and black to represent the colors of the German flag. They even posed to form a human representation of the flag. The people in red T-shirts stood on the escalator. People wearing black and gold T-shirts stood on either sides of them.
“The human flag which the people at this event created was symbolic,” explained Kurt Freiter. “The red symbolized communism and the black and gold symbolized how democracy overcomes communism.”
Construction of the Berlin Wall began on Aug. 13, 1961. It divided East and West Germany as both a physical and symbolic boundary between democracy and communism during the Cold War. The wall held millions of people captive under Soviet rule. It was destroyed on Nov. 9, 1989. Today, many sections of the approximately 1,000 mile wall are positioned throughout the world signifying freedom and democracy.
Miami Dade College is the only educational institution in the region to receive a piece of the Berlin Wall. Panels behind the wall in building 1 explain the chronology of events surrounding the erection and dismantlement of the wall and the key players.
“It is an important symbol for students,” said MDC President Eduardo J. Padrón. “There are many students who are dreaming of freedom. It is also important for the city of Miami because it is a symbol that walls can be broken down.”
