Remembering Cold War Division: Wall Remnants and Border Monuments in Berlin

Abstract

Today Berlin's most famous symbol—the Berlin Wall—is almost absent from the city, lost amidst a cityscape striving for ‘normality’. However, this construct—representing not only the conflict of the Cold War, but also its curious stability—continues to provoke controversy, primarily in its role as an ‘unintended’ monument. This article examines the complex patterns of remembrance relating to the Wall and the GDR border which have emerged in Berlin since unification. Through two case studies of contrasting public memory projects—the Übergänge competition (1996–1999) and the Freiheitsmahnmal (2004–2005)—it asks how far memory, and thus identity, can be concretised in physical form and whether monuments can provoke the active experience of memory, thus recognising the fluidity and temporality of identity. The case studies demonstrate not only the highly constructed nature of collective identities, but also the benefits of a varied and decentralised memorial landscape, particularly in light of the large number and variety of interest groups, shifting political agendas, the demands of the tourist industry and frictions between East and West.

Keywords:

• Berlin Wall
• divided Germany
• GDR
• Eastern Germany
• monuments
• remembrance
• communicative memory
• cultural memory

Notes

¹ All translations are my own.

² Many examples of counter-monuments—installations which seek to invert common perceptions of monuments and thus question the permanence of memory—can be seen relating to the National Socialist past. Well-documented examples include Jochen and Esther Gerz's ‘Monument against Fascism’ in Hamburg-Harburg, which was slowly lowered into the ground between 1986 and 1993, and Micha Ullman's ‘Sunken library’ on Berlin's Bebelplatz, an underground room of empty bookshelves in remembrance of the Nazi book burnings of 1933.

³ ‘Wir befinden uns mitten im Prozeß des “Übergangs”—des Zusammenwachsens von Ost und West. … Zwar verschwinden die tatsächlichen Übergänge allmählich dort, wo eine kurze Zeit danach noch Mauer und Todesstreifen erfahrbar waren, durch hektische Neubautätigkeit. Baulich-räumlich wächst die Stadt wieder zusammen. Aber zwischen den Menschen und den beiden Gesellschaften liegt noch heute ein unendlich tiefer Graben.’ My thanks go to Elfriede Müller at the ‘Büro für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum’ (Kulturwerk des bbk berlins GmbH), who allowed me to access a number of files relating to the competition.

⁴ The prizewinners were: Susanne Ahner, Gabriele Bausch, (e.) Twin Gabriel, Thorsten Goldberg, Heike Ponwitz, Karla Sachse and Frank Thiel.

⁵ As stated on one of the temporary information boards about the Wall, erected on Friedrichstraße in 2006.

⁶ As stated on one of the temporary information boards about the Wall, erected on Friedrichstraße in 2006.