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Methoden der Implementierung | Marianne Randers / Milan Vukoman / Rikke Logtved | 2006


Mauer

City and memory_ The Berlin wall Concept

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The aim is to create glimpses of history that is connected to the Berlin Wall on a 1m2 area. The concept is to divide the 1m2 into four parts. These parts represent: seeing, searching, enlightning, reflecting.

Seeing is one part, it is an aquarelle painting with images, that in some way are

Searching is one part, it is a map to orientate in the painting. You can see the images trough the paper and find their numbers. The numbers direct you to the information on the enlightening part.

Enlightening is one part, it is a database that informs you about the different images and their coordinates.

Reflecting is one part, it is the quiet place meant for consideration.

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1_ B1 After the end of World War II in Europe, Germany had been divided into four occupation zones. The old capital of Berlin, as the seat of the Allied Control Council, was itself subdivided into the same four occupation zones. Although the intent was for the occupying powers to govern Germany together in the borders from 1947, the advent of Cold War tension caused the French, British and American zones to be formed into the Federal Republic of Germany (and West Berlin) in 1949, excluding the Soviet zone which then formed the German Democratic Republic (including East Berlin) the same year.

2_D4 Brandenburger Tor is a triumphal arch and the symbol of Berlin. It constitutes the monumental termination of “Unter den Linden”, the renowned boulevard of linden trees which led directly to the royal residence. It was commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II as a sign of peace. The design of the gate was based on the Propylea, the gateway to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The gate was closed when the Berlin Wall was built. “The German question will remain open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed” was how the Mayor of West Berlin, Richard von Weizsäcker, described the situation in the early 1980s. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 the gate was to symbolize freedom and the unity of the city.

3_ B4 Barricaded windows in Bernauer Strasse. On 21th August the people living in houses located on the border were expelled by force. The drains were blocked up and over 50 houses, 37 shops and 1 253 windows in Bernauer Strasse were walled up. Within a month 2 000 inhabitants had been driven out of their homes.

4_E2 The Trabant was an automobile formerly produced by East German auto maker Sachsenring AG. It was the most common vehicle in East Germany, and was also exported to other socialist countries. The selling points were that it had comfortable room for four adults and luggage, it was compact, fast and durable. Despite its poor performance and smoky two-stroke engine, the car has come to be regarded with affection as a symbol of East Germany and of the fall of communism, as many East Germans streamed into West Berlin and West Germany in their Trabants after the opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It was in production without any significant change for nearly 30 years. Since it could take years for a Trabant to be delivered, people who finally got one were very careful with it and usually achieved skill in maintaining and repairing it. The Trabant was not a particularly advanced car when it was launched; by the late 1950s small cars in western countries mainly used cleaner and more efficient four-stroke engines, like in the Volkswagen.

5_ C5 The symbol of Checkpoint Charlie. During the Cold War, Checkpoint Charlie was one of three crossing points between East and West Germany. Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of east and west, and - for the East Germans - a gateway to freedom.

6_F4 This sign was situated at the United States border to East Germany, called Checkpoint Charlie.

7_A5 Ampelmännchen was created in 1961 by traffic psychologist Karl Peglau. The Ampelmann was shown on pedestrian traffic lights in East Berlin and the red colour man signalised “stop”. K. Peglau theorised that people would respond better to the traffic signals if they were presented by a friendly character, instead of meaningless coloured lights.

8_A3 From 1948, Volkswagen became a very important element, symbolically and economically, of West German regeneration.

9_E5 The 9th of November 1989 was the date when the Berlin Wall fell.

10_ E3 Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche is located in Berlin at the Kurfürstendamm. The original construction was of impressive monumentality and size. Mosaics inside the church recalled the life and work of Emperor Wilhelm I. During World War II, the church was destroyed during a bombing raid in 1943. The only remainder of the old building is the ruin of the belfry. After the war, from 1951 to 1961, a new church was built right next to the site of the old one. The church was located in West Berlin and became one of its symbols.

11_F3 The Berlin Wall was started - initially constructed starting on the 13th of August, 1961.

12_A3 Karat was a band founded in what was then East Germany in 1975. One of East Germany’s best-known bands, Karat were also popular outside the GDR, with their most notable success their 1982 album “Der blaue Planet”, which was one of the year’s top sellers in West Germany.

13_C2 Painting on the Berlin Wall by Keith Haring 1989.

14_E6 Art on the Berlin Wall.

15_F1 The “Fernsehturm” is a television tower in the centre of Berlin, Germany. It is a wellknown landmark, close to Alexanderplatz. The tower was built between 1965 and 1969 by the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), and its image was used as a symbol of Berlin by the GDR administration. The tower is easily visible throughout the central districts of Berlin, and remains a symbol of the city. Construction began on August 4, 1965. After 4 years of construction, the “Fernsehturm” began test broadcasts on October 3, 1969, and was officially inaugurated four days later on the GDR’s National Day.

16_B3 For the young people living in West Berlin, there were many influences from the Western “production society”. James Bond was one of many cultural things that effected West Berlin.

17_D1 When the city was divided into sectors by the occupying Allies at the end of the war, the “Potsdamer platz” found itself on the boundary between the American, British, and Soviet sectors. Potsdamer Platz during the early years of the Berlin Wall. Enlarge Potsdamer Platz during the early years of the Berlin Wall. As Cold War tensions rose during the Fifties, restrictions were placed on travel between the Soviet sector (East Berlin) and the western sectors (West Berlin). Lying on this invisible frontier, “Potsdamer Platz” was no longer an important destination for Berliners, with the construction of the Berlin Wall on the 13th of August, 1961. Along this intracity frontier, “Potsdamer Platz” found itself divided in two. What had once been a busy intersection had become desolate.

18_B5 155 km. is the overall length of the Berlin Wall.

19_A2 Stamp Federal Republic of Germany in the year 1956.

20_E5 Watchtower in East Berlin.

21_C1 Currency from German Democratic Republic, called Mark.

22_B6 Description of the Berlin Wall technical principles.

23_B2 Walter Ulbricht (1893-1973) emigrated from Germany during the World War II, but returned to Berlin in April to rebuild the Communist Party (KPD). As head of the National Defence Council, set up in 1960, he was the main artisan of the building of the Wall.

24_C5 Sandmann was created in 1959 by East German TV, as a result of a race with West German TV, to prove socialism was more efficient than capitalism. East Germany won, and since then Sandmann has put several generations of East Germans to sleep with his bed time stories and dream powder. Sandmann is a fairytale character, but he inhabits the real world, an idealised version of East Germany. Sandmann is always at the right place at the right time; he drives a Trabant, he marches with the Jungpioneers, he even travels in Space! With daily broadcast Sandmann promoted the ideas of socialism to his audience; the East German children. He showed the future optimism, technical development and solidarity. 25_A1 Flag of the German Democratic Republic Province of East Berlin used until 1990.

26_B2 600 is the number of dogs protecting the border at the Berlin Wall.

27_D5 House in East Berlin.

28_C3 The bear is on the Coat of arms of Berlin.

29_F1 5043 Persons successfully crossing the Berlin Wall.

30_A4 The Berlin Wall was controlled by 14 000 border guards.