Stories of Europe 65 Years of the European Cultural Foundation
STORIES OF EUROPE 65 YEARS OF THE EUROPEAN CULTURAL FOUNDATION STORIES OF EUROPE 65 YEARS OF THE EUROPEAN CULTURAL FOUNDATION In 2019, the European Cultural Foundation celebrates 65 years since its launch. The celebrations coincide with the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and marks 80 years since the outbreak of World War II; it is also the 40th anniversary of the first European Parliament and the half centenary of Apollo 11’s expedition to the moon. These events have marked the history of Europe and the world, shaping its grand narrative. There are far more stories to be told, though, and these stories unfold in the anecdotal, the fleet- ing, the places, texts and artefacts that are often overlooked: in the chipped off pieces of the Berlin Wall, collected by the so-called Mauerspechte (of which I was one) in the days and nights following 9 November 1989. In the determined speech of Simone Veil, survivor of the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau, on the day she was elected as the first ever President of the European Parliament in 1979. In the 4/4 time signature of Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon, the first song ever to be played on the moon, while the Apollo 11 astronauts took their first steps on the cratered landscape. Similarly, we could be telling the story of the European Cul- tural Foundation as a post-war cultural project, founded in 1954, amidst the optimistic sprouting of pan-European ideas and institu- tions; we could tell you about the vision of its founding fathers, of a united Europe where citizens feel proudly European – a place where they can live, express themselves, work and dream freely, in diver- sity and harmony.
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