“Tear Down This Wall!” And Eat Cake.

On the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, GW commemorated the historic occasion by hosting “Tear Down This Wall” Cake Party in Kogan Plaza.

The cake made by Fancy Cakes by Leslie. Photos by Erica Mills.

The cake party was the concluding event to a weeklong commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which also included a vigil and candlelight procession, a symposium on the fall, and various film screenings.

The Monday event kicked off with the presentation of a Berlin Wall replica made entirely out of cake, complete with graffiti and soldiers. The cake was made by Fancy Cakes by Leslie, a bakery and specialty cake shop in Bethesda, Maryland.

“We’ve been planning [the commemoration] for a couple of months,” said Cathy Zeljak, a faculty member of Gelman Library and one of the people in charge of planning the week of events. “We got the inspiration for the reenactment of the fall using cake when walking through Leslie’s Fancy Cakes.”

After the presentation of the cake, Ronald Reagan (rather, someone wearing a mask of Ronald Reagan) delivered excerpts from his speech at the Brandenburg Gate, including the infamous line, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

"Ronald Reagan" cuts the cake.

Following the reenactment of the speech, the cake was cut and served to participants and on-lookers in Kogan until the cake itself looked like the rubble of the destroyed wall.

As everyone ate, Pink Floyd’s performance of “The Wall” played on a projector in the center of Kogan.

“I think [the cake reenactment] is a fun idea,” said A.J. DeWerd ’10. “It’s a nice way to wrap up the week’s events. It has all been very educational, so it was nice to celebrate since today’s the actual anniversary.”

Jeff Richards ’13 also enjoyed the light-hearted atmosphere of the cake celebration. “I think it was a good idea because it draws more of a crowd,” said Richards.

Following the presentation and serving of the cake, a documentary titled “When the Wall Came Tumbling Down: 50 Hours that Change the World” was shown next door in Gelman Library.

Overall, those in charge found the twentieth anniversary commemoration to be a success.

“We’ve been really happy with the turnout,” said Zeljak. “The University helped us a lot with getting the word out.”