FAIRBANKS — The fall of the Berlin Wall two decades ago was arguably the result of a grass-roots effort to protest communist control and support German reunification.

Following a series of protests, on Nov. 9, 1989, a spokesman for the East German government declared that, effective immediately, all East German citizens were free to travel abroad without fear of being persecuted and without needing permission from the government. Later that evening, pictures were broadcast all over the world of thousands climbing and tearing down the Berlin Wall in the presence of helpless East German guards. In the following days, thousands of East Germans were free to come and go as they pleased, a practice that had been denied them for years behind the Iron Curtain.

Thousands of Germans, from both East and West, celebrated a new freedom and a new beginning for Germany.

“It was such an emotional experience, and, for many outside of Germany, it was associated with the breaking down of all sorts of walls both symbolic and physical,” said Josef Glowa, an associate professor of German at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

In the United States, many Americans celebrated the historic event, calling it the end of the Cold War. David Hasselhoff, an ’80s European pop music icon, sang on top of the wall to his German fans. Some historians have referred to the event as the end of history, marking a shift in global politics

“Above all else, it was an expression of hope,” Glowa said.

Glowa, who is Polish by birth, remembers the era well. He and his family came to Germany as refugees from Soviet-occupied Poland, leaving behind family members who stayed behind the Iron Curtain.

“More than the hope or what we thought was the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall was important because it brought our families together,” Glowa said.

Glowa recalled countless occasions where his family would have to send basic goods like blood-pressure medication, cough syrup, coffee and laundry detergent to his relatives still living in the Eastern Bloc.

“There certainly wasn’t the kind of freedom there that we enjoy here, but I think, for the average citizen, that wasn’t the most important thing,” Glowa said. “It was the basic things we live with in our daily lives that made it difficult. It was such a depressed economy in the East during the ’70s and ’80s. You simply couldn’t get a lot of things and you had no freedom to travel.”

To commemorate the fall, students and faculty members at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have built a replica of the Berlin Wall in front of the Wood Center and covered with graffiti highlighting the theme “freedom without walls.” The wall will be up throughout the weekend for people to add their own graffiti about the metaphorical barriers people face in their daily lives.

At 7 p.m. Monday, students and professors will host a panel discussion about the enduring legacy of the wall and how its fall has been a significant part of modern history. The discussion is open to the public and will take place in room 201, inside the Reichardt Building.

Faculty members who lived near the Berlin Wall as well as historians and political scientists will share some background on the historic event.

Following the panel discussion, students will then demolish the replica wall.

Glowa said there is much to be learned from the historic event.

“We all took away something different from that experience, whether we here watching it on TV or standing on the wall,” he said. “I learned that you don’t necessarily need leaders in high places to engineer or produce historical change. The average person on the street with small actions can change a lot if he works in solidarity with others.”

Glowa said he still isn’t sure that Americans or West Germans are aware of the significance behind the numerous anti-communist demonstrations in the late ’80s and how those protests inevitably led to the fall of the wall.

“Grass-roots movements can change a lot when thousands of people come together with the same goal,” Glowa said.