Wake Up and Change!

* This is part of a series on the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – and my attempt to document the events of the weekend, where 20 years before, a peaceful revolution brought about a big change which helped to end the cold war, and bring about a new Europe. Many more of the events are in the full flickr set here. *

The West & East...
East v/s West Map W/ TV tower in the background, and a photo of one of the more famous Dissidents in Eastern Europe – Lech Walesa of Poland

As many of you know, this week is the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. As a part of the celebrations, the city put up a huge display on the protests and documentation on the “behind the scenes” movements that brought down not only the Berlin Wall, but most of “eastern block” communism as well. It’s an Outside “museum” and information type display, and very powerful. Why? because the entire display is on the main “protest grounds”, in the shadow of the TV tower.

The entire display is a series of 7 or 8 long panels in the shape of the old “concrete blocks” that held the wall together. It takes several hours to go through, but thus far has gotten lots of attention from locals and tourists alike.

History Signs

As you walk along, you learn about the history of Germany After World War 2 and how the city was divided. You also get to see photographs of the devistated state (a 1989 photograph of Potsdam’s famed Dutch section – never repaired by the DDR government-below) of Germany just after the war – and how much of it was questionable as far as saving goes:

Potsdam's Dutch Section

In addition, you see old photographs of the Berlin Wall – as it was (west looking east below) – not just a single wall – but two – divided by a death strip. The photo below is circa 1988 – and near Checkpoint Charlie:

Berlin Wall 1988, from west berlincenter>

It talks about the movements for change – led by churches and students alike – and shows examples of notebooks, banned / smuggled books, and yes, even invitations to “workshops” on how to achieve Peace.

Protest Sign
Invitation to the Peace workshop in East Berlin’s Chruch of the Redeemer in July 1983. UP to 3000 people from all over East Germany met up every year at the Berlin Peace workshops. These major events provided UNCENSORED information, and space for public political debates.

In the end, as the 1980’s continued, it talks about how Gorbachev brought about “glasnost” to Russia but there was still no such “openness” here in Germany. It sheds some light on the frustrations of the people in the GDR, and even continues to talk about the support from East German activists and how they encouraged each other – and yes, even those very far away (Tieneman Square, China) – through protests, sit ins, and yes, even flyers distributed at youth clubs like the one below –

Protest Support Flyers for Tieneman Square
Flyer for a protest against the mass murder in Beijing, 9 of June 1989 in East Berlin. The Demonstrators were immediately arrested, interrogated and fined. This flyer was distributed at a local youth club – the manager of the club was dismissed the next day.

As time went on, the protests grew bigger and bigger:

A wall of Memories

Until on the night of November 9th, 1989, crowds stormed the Berlin wall, climbed on top and around it and began chisseling it apart. In the “wee hours” of the morning, the wall was finally broken through – to great celebrations.

I was in middle school at the time – and lucky enough to be going to “high tech high”, where my school let us watch CNN news every morning for 15 minutes. I remember going in to school, and the teachers not saying a word, but instead of just the 15 minutes – letting us watch through the morning as we had eagerly watched the weeks prior – and getting to see the first handshakes through the wall and the extasy on the faces live. I know for me, it filled me with elation and hope – because it was a peaceful protest that had brought about change.

20 years on, I have the privledge of living in what was “west germany” and working in what was “east germany” with many wonderful colleagues who grew up on both sides of the wall. To them, it was a normal part of their lives – and a “homeland” and way of life that many have felt a loss deeper than we can imagine. When you ask them about it, they have fond memories of the DDR and the way things “were”. It’s a homeland that is lost, and yet a freedom that they have gained (some more eagerly than others) that they hope is never again taken away. Culturally, I think that there is a “guilt” over WW2, and yet a knowledge that Berlin – as a city, and Germany – as a Nation is still healing. However, they are continuing to do so, and progress has been made every day.

I guess, to those who missed the live tv coverage and/or weren’t there -the spray painted graffiti just outside the “open air” museum at Alexanderplatz really says it all. One night, they went to bed living in a “communist” DDR, and when they woke up the next morning, they lived in a nation no longer divided by a wall – a nation that took back all her people with but promises of Democracy, dreams that can be fullfilled, and hopes that can be realized. For those from the DDR, it really was a matter of “wake up and Change!”

Wake UP and CHANGE!

PS. On a personal note – Tonight is my first “official” celebration – U2 is putting on a free concert at the Brandenburg Gate – and I have tickets. An Irish rock band, they had relocated to Germany – just at the time the wall fell, seeking a new sound. That sound became the album “Achtung Baby”. The concert is free in celebration of the Wall’s Fall, and being flimed, live, for the MTV european music awards – held in Berlin later that night. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of photographs and more to discuss this weekend.

Share

Unity Day Marionettes

* This is part of a series on the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – and my attempt to document the events of the weekend, where 20 years before, a peaceful revolution brought about a big change which helped to end the cold war, and bring about a new Europe. Many more of the events are in the full flickr set here. *

Giant Puppets - 1

Back in October, between the 2nd and the 4th, there was a huge event known as Unity Day. Beginning at Berlin’s city hall and moving throughout the city, celebrations were designed to celebrate the re-unification of Germany (19 years ago) as it related to the beginning steps taken 20 years ago (with the fall of the Berlin Wall). As a part of the celebrations, the city hired a group from France – the “Royal de Luxe” – to bring over to giant Marionettes (some 50 meters high) to walk through the Brandenburg gate, along Unter Den Linden, and then back again – climbing on board a ship to head back to France. It was a “modernized” tale about a young girl from East Germany, who is seeking her Uncle who was in West Germany – and finds him after years of separation. As the Giant Puppets search for each other, they passed lots of landmarks (and hundreds of thousands of parents and children) along the way.

Giant Puppets - 2

I saw them on the last day, after they’d “discovered” each other, climbed (ok were attached to a crane and gently lowered down) to an awaiting barge – where they could promptly float off into the “sunset”, to live happily ever after.

You can find more on the puppets themselves and the newspaper article at: The Local

For even better pictures – I have to point to my friend, Andie’s blog -“the Giants are Coming” where he actually got photographs of these giant beasts “walking” through the city, handlers “on swings” in tow.

Share

Treptower Park, Molecule Man, Bridge at Sunset

(Please note that these are old imported blogs from My Space.  The links may not work correctly.)

Ahh I’m so behind.  I had a week off on holidays – and still have
pictures from my birtdhay trip to process.  However, due to a request
from the photo group – I’m trying to get the ones from the photo group
processed and up first.   So, thus the reason for multiple back-dated
blog posts on the same day.  (no, it’s not your eyes – I really did
enter these in May… but out of my diary from April.)

After the trip to the Pergamon on Thursday, I wound up out with the photo
group.  Initially the weather wasn’t very good – and it looked like it
was going to rain.  A stiff breeze continued, but as the day wore on,
blue skies and sun decided to make an appearance and set us up for a
great sunset.  Yeah, I’m loving the ToytownGermany Photography group –
we’re a good bunch of people, I’m learning alot, and well,
opportunities abound.

The photos are in the following sets:

Treptower Park & Communist Memorial

Molecule Man (Random Art statue)

Oberbaumbrücke & East side Graffiti

Highlights from them include the following:

IMGP9087
Soviet Soldier Kneeling (notice the other through his boot)

IMGP9093
Treptower Park, Monument and Memorial (at the far end, center)

IMGP9098

Tilted Communist Flags (with kneeling soldiers – notice the hammer & sickle at the top of flag)

IMGP9135

The Soviet Soldier – caring enough to stop in the middle of battle, pick up a (his?) lost child, and fighting.

You can actually go up the stairs to view inside the above monument –
it’s Russian, and says something about dedicated to those who fought
facism and died.

IMGP9109

Inside the memorial

From there, we walked along the river Spree and up to the Molecule Man
statue. It’s 30 meters tall (4 stories), weighing 45 tons, and made of
aluminum. This statue is the brain child of American artist Jonathan
Borofsky and has been in the Spree River since 1999. With 3 aluminum
“men” that unite to make a whole, the artist reminds us “that both
people and molecules exhist in a world of probability and that the aim
of all creative and intellectual traditions is to find wholeness and
unity within the world”.

Molecule Man Tryptic

Molecule Man x3 Composition

There’s more in that set including an abandoned ship and a few other highlights but that’s the main thing in there.

After a few minutes, we continued along the East side where there is
lots of Urban art (when does graffiti turn to urban art? When it looks
like this!!)

I Love You
I Love You, earflaps

The Rave
The Ravers

Flying Fish Right
Flying Fish – (airplane with fish?)

Solyent Green Is Humans (full)
Solyent Green Is Humans (full building)

Soylent Green Is Humans
Solyent
Green is Humans (close) This is some famous graffiti artist – and it
was a statement on how People cannibalize each other in more ways than
one. Kinda creepy but cool. It’s visible from the Ubahn as you go by.

Not long after, the sun started to set, I decided to take photographs
of a beautiful bridge known as Oberbaumbrücke. There’s lots in this set
worth viewing! Anyhow, This was destroyed in WW2, but built back up to
resemble how it looked before…. with a series of towers based on an
ancient one in a town north of Berlin – Prenslau. A Ubahn runs across
the top of the bridge, and cars on the bottom.

Oberbaumbrücke Sunset
Sunset behind Oberbaumbruecke Silhouette(notice the train on top)

Arched walkway for Pedestrians
Arched walkway for pedestrians

TV tower & bikers
View of the TV tower at Alexanderplatz from Oberbaumbrücke

From there, I headed over to have a Doener with Paul and then home,
knowing that the Next weekend would be yet more photography – because
it’s a 3 day weekend.

** Several of these are available as prints for sale in my store!**

Share