In 1989, singer/actor David Hasselhoff, best known for starring in Baywatch and Knight Rider, sang his way into the hearts of Germany with Looking for Freedom. He sang standing on top of the Berlin Wall on New Yea’s Eve that year. The song became an instant hit and topped German pop charts for eight weeks in a row. To many, it became synonymous with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Nearly 25 years later, Hasselhoff hopes to help save the Wall he once wished to destroy.
In the years that followed reunification, most of the Berlin Wall was destroyed or sold to museums across the world. Countless tiny fragments ended up on private mantle pieces. I certainly own a piece and like to recount how my husband and I hammered it out at dusk.
Only two large sections of the Berlin Wall remain in place as reminders that at least 136 people died between 1961 and 1989, trying to cross the monstrosity that divided East and West Germany for twenty-eight years. One of the two sections, the longest surviving stretch along the death strip and the second most frequented tourist spot in Berlin, is called the East Side Gallery. It is located at Bernauer Strasse in the north of the city. It is three-quarters of a mile long and decorated with dozens of paintings by artists from all over the world. Now, property developers want to tear down a 20-meter section of it to accommodate luxury building projects.
Demolition of the East Side Gallery was suspended earlier this month after activists formed a human chain in front of it. The scale of protests prompted Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit to oppose the demolition. Much will hinge on today’s meeting between the project investor, M. U. Hinkel, and the Berlin senate.
A section of the East Side Gallery was removed to make room for these condos, photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015
You may also want to visit http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berlin-wall-controversy/
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
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.
