WHO:

The conference will feature high profile experts and scholars, including a keynote address by President Aleksander Kwasniewski, former president of Poland and distinguished scholar at Georgetown University. Other distinguished speakers include:

J. D. Bindenagel, vice president for community, government and international Affairs, DePaul University; and former U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in East Berlin, German Democratic Republic.

Andrei Grachev, former political advisor and spokesman for Mikhail Gorbachev.

Jack Matlock, former U.S. Ambassador to Soviet Union.

Hans Misselwitz, former state secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the German Democratic Republic.

Andrew Kohut , president of the Pew Research Center.

Kenneth Wollack, president of the National Democratic Institute.

WHAT:

Georgetown University will host a conference bringing together experts to discuss the collapse of communism in Europe 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The conference will include eyewitness accounts of what happened on the ground as well as assessments of what went right and what went wrong in post-1989 Europe.

WHEN:

Friday, November 20th from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

• 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. – Keynote address (President Aleksander Kwasniewski)
• 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Panel I: How and Why Did Communism Collapse? Eyewitness Accounts
• 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Lunchtime address: How Europeans Today View the End of Communism – Recent Survey Findings (Andrew Kohut)
•2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Panel II: What Did We Get Right and What Did We Get Wrong? Reflections on the Post-1989 Period in Europe

WHERE:

Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center
Georgetown University
37th & O Streets, NW
Washington, D.C. 20057

SPONSORS:

Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies
Georgetown University’s BMW Center for German and European Studies

COVERAGE:

Media interested in attending must RSVP to Rob Mathis at 202-687-4328 or rwm33@georgetown.edu. Press will need to present valid credentials on campus.