Remnants of the Berlin Wall

But now some sections of the Wall are being hauled out of mothballs and are being erected again.

A 130-metre-long (425-foot) section of the infamous wall is being rebuilt at the former Cold War flashpoint. This is not merely a reconstruction but involves putting up original segments of the 3.6 metre high communist barrier removed after the wall's 9 November 1989 opening.

The project is sponsored by the Berlin Wall Museum whose director, Alexandra Hildebrandt, wants to create a memorial to victims killed while trying to escape to the West.

But critics, such as Maria Nooke of the separate Wall Memorial movement, accuse the project of being more like "Disneyland".

Hildebrandt counters that the wall's "historic shadow is endlessly long" and insists the project in no way belittles or minimises the historic location.

The rebuilt Berlin Wall opens in two weeks and is due to remain standing at Checkpoint Charlie till the end of the year. During this time it will be painted by artists to look like the former Wall with its diverse collection of graffiti and political messages.

"The artists are from countries such as Cyprus, Israel and Korea. Countries which people are also confronted to separation," said Hildebrandt in an interview with the newspaper Die Welt.

Hildebrandt says she understands some Berliners may have problems with the project, but argues history will see things in a different light: "In 200 years, the Berlin Wall will be in history books next to the Great Wall of China...."

*quote1*On a more basic level, Hildebrandt said visitors to her museum often say they want to see more of the wall and especially more of it at Checkpoint Charlie.

The Berlin Wall, which once dominated the city, is now only visible at a few points throughout the German capital.

Surviving wall sites include: the Eastside Gallery, a kilometre of wall painted by artists stretching along the River Spree; Potsdamer Platz square where two remaining pieces of the Wall attract hordes of tourists to have their picture taken; and the Wall Memorial Museum situated in Berlin's central Mitte district.

Hildebrandt is herself deeply sensitive to abuse of the wall for commercial purposes.

Last summer, Berlin drama students dressed up as jack-booted East German border guards and charged tourists to pose with them for photos to the sound of the old East German national anthem.

An outraged Hildebrandt covered up the museum's former US Checkpoint Charlie guard station on the street with a huge tarpaulin rather than have it been used as a backdrop.

Checkpoint Charlie is the most famous Allied crossing between former East and West Berlin during the almost 30-year existence of the Berlin Wall.

*quote2*Following the 13 August 1961 building of the Berlin Wall, only diplomats, Allied military personnel and foreign tourists were allowed to use it, making Checkpoint Charlie a legend of Cold War cloak-and-dagger activities.

Berlin was divided after Nazi defeat in 1945 with troops from the US, Britain and France in control of the western sectors and Soviet troops in charge of the east - a status maintained through to the 1990 German reunification.

Hardline East German leader Walter Ulbricht built the wall in a bid to end a brain-drain which was bleeding his country dry. An estimated 2.7 million people fled to West Germany between 1945 and 1961. East Germany's population was about 16 million and labour shortages were becoming a crippling problem.

The 155 kilometre (96 mile) wall became a prison for the 2.2 million residents of West Berlin cutting them off the 1.1 million East Berliners. It also left West Berlin trapped deep behind the iron curtain in the middle of communist East Germany.

Construction of the wall led to dramatic scenes of East Berliners jumping out of windows from the upper stories of buildings while soldiers bricked up windows of the ground floor along the new frontier cutting the city in half.

More than 1,000 people were shot dead or otherwise died while trying to escape at the Berlin wall as well as across the German border and over the Baltic Sea.

Following 9 November 1989, the wall was attacked by thousands of Berliners and visitors with hammers and chisels. Nicknamed "the wall woodpeckers" the sound of steel ripping out pieces of concrete was one of the enduring noises in the following months.

Berlin's Mayor, Klaus Wowereit, says this was precisely the right way to begin destruction of what he terms "this unnatural entity." Wowereit warns against what he terms "folklorisation" of the wall but has not publicly expressed opposition to planned rebuilding of the Checkpoint Charlie segment which is sure to be a hit with tourists who play a big role in the city's economy.

For more information on the wall the see the following websites

• www.mauer-museum.com
• www.berliner-mauer-dokumentationszentrum.de

October 2004

DPA

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Life in Germany, Berlin Wall