Round table "The Fall of the Berlin Wall: Past, Present, Future"

On the 6th of November the Centre held a round table called "The Fall of the Berlin Wall: Past, Present, Future", dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

During the academic section of the round table professor Alexander Semenov and Centre assistant Yana Kitaeva submitted a report titled "The German Question in Teymuraz Stepanov-Mamaladze’s Diaries". 
The "The Fall of the Berlin Wall: Past, Present and Future" Round Table was held with the support of the Yeltsin Presidential Centre, the Yeltsin Fund and the Russian representative office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Germany).

The report was based on the diaries of Teymuraz Stepanov-Mamaladze, a former personal assistant and speechwriter of Edward Shevardnadze, a Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.

This unique source presents an opportunity to look at the history of German reunification from a new perspective. Stepanov-Mamaladze was not a typical employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, and thus he could observe all the dynamic transformation of foreign policy like an anthropologist in the field.

During his work at the ministry, Stepanov-Mamaladze witnessed the demolition of the Berlin Wall and this "peaceful revolution" was reflected in his notes. After the November events Stepanov-Mamaladze paid much attention to negotiations between European countries and the USSR aimed at establishing  the political and military status of the new Germany. However, he did not perceive the unification of Germany as the first impetus to create a European Union. The fall of the Berlin Wall signified the annihilation of the Second World War’s place in memory--the memory of the Soviet victory over fascism.