Walls That Have Fallen, Walls Still to Fall

Former Chancellor of Austria Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel served as a keynote speaker. 

On May 16, 2014, the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University together with the Embassy of Austria hosted an all-day event commemorating the opening of the Iron Curtain on the Austrian-Hungarian border 25 years ago. The event, which took place at the School of Advanced International Studies of John Hopkins University, featured three individual panel discussions focused on “Remembering 1989: Opening of the Iron Curtain”, “1989 in the Context of Today’s Challenges” and “The wall still to fall – for a new generation”.  Former Chancellor of Austria Wolfgang Schüssel delivered the keynote address. In his remarks, he discussed the dramatic events of 1989 - the end of the Cold War era. One of the many highlights of the event was a wall erected in front of the SAIS building, on which guests were invited to leave their messages and thoughts about “walls still to fall.” As a symbol of change the wall was eventually knocked down. The event concluded with a live performance of the Blues/Rock band Misspent Youth.