Berlin

Berlin: East Side Gallery

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Berlin’s East Side Gallery has been in the news lately.

At 1.3 kilometers long, it is the longest piece of the Berlin Wall still standing.  Soon after the wall came down in 1990, 118 artists from 21 countries each painted a segment of this portion of the wall and it was named East Side Gallery.  It is one of the largest outside galleries in the world.  Thousands of tourists walk the wall every year.  In 2009 the murals were renovated at a cost of 2 million Euros.

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It not only has artistic importance but obviously is of historic importance as well.  This particular segment was known as the death strip as several people were found dead after trying to escape to the West.

On March 1, 2013, a 23 meter section of the East Side Gallery was scheduled to be removed to make way for luxury apartments. None of the artists whose work was to be destroyed was informed of these plans. To date, the developers have removed one section of the wall, however, demonstrators and petitioners took immediate action and have managed to delay further demolition…. For now….  Demonstrators continue to be vigilant…

The majority of the wall was to be destroyed when it was dismantled in 1990.  However, much of it ended up in various parts of the world in courtyards and office buildings, museum, hotels, and universities…..   as…. Art….  (?)

There is one panel in the courtyard of the John Hopkins University SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations, in Washington DC.  There are two more segments in DC, one in the lobby of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trace Center, and eight sections are on exhibit at the Newseum.

But none are as lovely and interesting as the East Side Gallery.

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Berlin: Soviet War Memorial

Entrance to Memorial from Treptower Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Battle of Berlin marked the end of World War II.  It took place April to May 1945 and claimed about 80,000 Soviet lives.  Stalin was in a hurry to take Berlin because he wanted to get to their Nuclear research facility before the Americans arrived in order to find out what the Germans had discovered.  The Soviet Nuclear program needed a boost.  Because Stalin was in such a hurry, mistakes were made and an enormous amount of Soviet lives were lost.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are three memorials to the Soviet Troops in Berlin.  One is the Tiergarten Memorial near the Brandenberg Gate.  It is relatively small and compact and was built in 1945.  Another is the Schonholzer Heide in the Pankow district.  It was finished in 1949 and covers 30,000 square meters (98,500 sq ft).  The third is in the Treptower Park.  It opened in 1949 as well and was the main war memorial for East Germany.  Five thousand Soviet soldiers are buried there.

We visited on a warm summer day arriving after walking for miles and miles not knowing how far it was.  The park was lovely and the memorial was impressive, built to a grand scale.

 

 

 

Mother Russia weeping over her dead children