Following unsuccessful negotiations earlier this month between city officials and investor, Maik Uwe Hinkel, construction crews moved in at 5 A.M. last Wednesday and removed four additional sections (15.75 feet) of one of the two remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall, called the East Side Gallery. Hinkel says the segments had to be removed to provide access for his luxury condominium project overlooking the River Spree, a site that was once part of the infamous deathstrip. Although BBC News reports that the stretch was heritage-listed in 1991, the protection apparently applies only to the wall itself, not the land it stands on.
A section of the East Side Gallery was removed to make room for these condos, photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015
The East Gallery was recently restored at a cost of more than 2 million euros to the city of Berlin, and about 120 International artists covered it with colorful murals. Scenes include an East German Trabant car and a fraternal kiss between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German party chief Erich Honecker. Although Hinkel called the removal temporary on Wednesday, many Berliners worry that removal will turn out to be permanent, sacrificing history for profit.
“The Berlin Wall is the most significant symbol of the division of Berlin,” deputy director of the Berliner Mauer Stiftung, Maria Nooke said, according to the Huffington Post reports. “On the one hand it demonstrates the repression in East Germany, on the other hand it demonstrates how Germans peacefully overcame that repression. After a while there was a growing need to deal with that part of history and to preserve it for future generations.”
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Tags: Berlin Wall, Berliner Mauer Stiftung, East Side Gallery, Safe the Berlin Wall
