8-9 November 2019
The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th 1989 was a historic event that deserves to be commemorated all over Europe and the Western world on its 30th anniversary. Just two months earlier, in August 1989, over two million Baltic people participated in a mass demonstration, the Baltic Way, demanding freedom just like the Germans.
The conference is organised by The Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory and the Open Estonia Foundation with the aim of honouring the event that reshaped the political map of Europe.
The first day features the opening speech by Toomas Hendrik Ilves (President of Estonia 2006‐2016, distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, USA) and panel discussions with Dr. Anna Kaminsky (managing director of the Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung, the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED‐Dictatorship in Eastern Germany), Wolfgang Templin (German publicist and former politician, co‐founder of the Federal Foundation for the Reconciliation of the SED Dictatorship), Raivo Vare (Estonian economy expert, entrepreneur, 1990-1992 Minister of the State, 1996-1999 Minister of Roads and Communications), Filip Pazderski (Senior Policy Analyst of the Democracy and Civil Society Programme, Poland), Martin Noorkõiv (Civic activist and CEO of Domus Dorpatensis Foundation) and Merle Maigre (Executive Vice President for Gov. Relations at CybExer Technologies).
Moderators: Evelyn Kaldoja (Chief Editor of the foreign news section of Postimees, Estonian largest daily newspaper) and Liisa Past (Chief National Cyber Risk Officer, National Security and Defence Coordination Unit at Government Office, Republic of Estonia).
On November 9th a discussion will be held between the former President of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves and historian Timothy Snyder (Professor of History at Yale University and a Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna).
The working language of the conference is English (simultaneous interpretation to Estonian).
NB! Participation by invitation only. If you have an interest in the topic and did not get the invitation, then please contact us: berlinwallconference@gmail.com
We would like to thank the Estonian Government Office, U.S. Embassy in Tallinn and entrepreneurs for their support in organising this event.
