East Side Gallery Archives - Walled In Berlin

Posts Tagged ‘East Side Gallery’

Bruderkuss (brotherly kiss) East Side Gallery

Monday, August 27th, 2018

One of the best-known murals in the East Side Gallery shows former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Soviet Union at the time, and Erich Honecker, former General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany engaged in a passionate kiss. In Germany, the painting is generally called “The Kiss” or “Bruderkuss” (brotherly kiss). The artist himself named it, “Mein Gott hilf mir, diese toedliche Liebe zu ueberleben”, which translates to “My God help me to survive this deadly love”. The artist placed the title directly on the mural, in both the German and the Russian language.

Bruderkuss – the best-known mural in the East Side Gallery in Berlin, Germany. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2014. www.walled-in-berlin.com

The Russian artist Dmitri Vrubel created the well-known mural in the early 1990s. All of the 101 murals in the East Side Gallery, including “Bruderkuss”, are painted on the east side of a section of the former Berlin Wall. His painting is based on an actual photograph taken by French photographer Régis Bossu. It was taken at the 30th anniversary celebration of the founding of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in 1979. In the photograph, the two Heads of State engage in the standard socialist greeting exchanged between two communist leaders of that era. The kiss is fraternal in nature. That is why the Germans call the painting “Bruderkuss”, brotherly kiss.

About the artist of Bruderkuss

Dmitri Vrubel was born in 1960 in Moscow into a family of engineers. https://theculturetrip.com/europe/russia/articles/5-things-you-should-know-about-dmitri-vrubel-a-must-read-artist-profile/As a teenager he started to paint and joined the Union of Artists when he was in his 20s. Soon thereafter, he opened his own gallery. After his wife left him, he devoted himself entirely to art and moved to East Berlin in 1990 to become a street artist. Vrubel has often been called a Bohemian artist because he likes being a free spirit. He loves to paint, write poetry and drink – not necessarily in that order – in his Berlin studio and has a penchant for creating provocative art, which sometimes ruffles feathers. Vrubel said about the “Bruderkuss” that he wanted to represent his undying love and fear of Russia and the Russian people.

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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: Bruderkuss, Dmitri Vrubel, East Side Gallery, Leonid Brezhnev, Regis Bossu
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Berlin’s East Side Gallery history

Thursday, August 23rd, 2018

The East Side Gallery is not a traditional indoor gallery. It is the world’s longest open-air art gallery. This artistic landmark was created in 1990, one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The concrete that now serves as the “canvass” for this 0.8-mile-long gallery was once part of the hated 12-feet tall wall that divided East and West Berlin. Today, it is a monument to the former east-west division and the longest continuous section of the Berlin Wall still in existence. During its almost 28-year existence, the Berlin Wall went through four major redesigns. The part of the wall that is now known as the East Side Gallery was built in 1975.

Section of the East Side Gallery in Berlin, Germany. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Where is the East Side Gallery?

The East Side Gallery is located in the Muehlenstrasse close to the historical Oberbaumbruecke, which spans the River Spree. At one time, the wall formed the border between the Soviet and the American sectors here. After the wall came down, most of it was quickly dismantled. But 118 artists from 21 countries came together and painted 101 murals on the east side of the wall. They chose the east side for their art because during the years of the Berlin Wall only the west side of the wall was covered with graffiti. The East side remained unadorned because it was inaccessible to the East German population during the division. After the fall of the wall, painting on the east side became possible, and with their creations, the artists expressed their euphoria over the peaceful dismantling of the Iron Curtain and their optimism for the new era of freedom.

One of the famous murals in the East Side Gallery is the “Bruderkuss” (brotherly kiss) by Dmitri Vrubel. It depicts Leonid Brezhnev, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, kissing Erich Honecker, former General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party.

Tags: Berlin Wall, Bruderkuss, Dmitri Vrubel, East Side Gallery, Erich Honecker, Iron Curtain, Leonid Brezhnev, Oberbaumbruecke
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Berlin Wall Controversy

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013

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.”

You may also want to visit http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/save-the-berlin-wall/

Tags: Berlin Wall, Berliner Mauer Stiftung, East Side Gallery, Safe the Berlin Wall
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Save the Berlin Wall?

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013

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.

You may also want to visit http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berlin-wall-controversy/

Tags: Berlin Wall, David Hasselhoff, East Side Gallery, fall of the Berlin Wall, Looking for Freedom
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