60 years of the GDR

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic, which was founded just a few days after the People's Republic of China. Yet while the PRC is a power that is getting ever more important, the GDR ceased to exost in 1990. I first visted the GDR in 1979, the year of its 30th anniversary. Part of an official delegation from the British Youth Council we were shown the forward looking optimistic side of the GDR. Five years later I was a student in East Berlin with friends who were active in peace and human rights groups. In 1989 I was banned from the GDR - even after the opening of the Berlin Wall - and in 2009 I had the great privilege to take part in a symposium with Heino Falcke, one of the precursors of the peaceful revolution. Christoph Dieckmann, a journalist coming from east Germany, once said, "The GDR is a time, not a place".

The 40th anniversary is largely remembered for the civic rights protests that marked the event (and which sets the stage for the opening of Goodbye, Lenin) and the phrase Mikhail Gorbacehv is supposed to have uttered to the leaders of the GDR, "Life punishes thosewho arrive too late".

This is an extract from Time magazine about the 1989 anniversary:

The timing of Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to East Germany could not have been more awkward. On the 40th anniversary of the country's founding as a separate socialist state, the government in East Berlin found itself utterly humiliated. Like storm-besieged dikes, the borders of the country had sprung one leak after another, and thousands of refugees were pouring out. The routine anniversary visit threatened to turn into another diplomatic nightmare for the Soviet President, fraught with the kind of tensions and prodemocracy demonstrations that marred his trip to China last spring. It was Gorbachev's message of change, after all, that had largely inspired the freedom flight.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958775,00.html

Labyrinth of change

The Marienkirche in Frankfurt an der Oder has inaugurated a "Labyrinth of Change" to mark the 20th anniversary of the peaceful revolution. Helmut Kohl promised people in the GDR a blossoming countryside landscapes - but this rarely emerged. Instead this vision represents dashed hopes. The action artist Richard Gigantikow aka Reinhard Zabka - together with international artists - has symbolised this ebb and flow of emotions in a walk-in art installation as a labyrinth of change in the nave of St. Mary's. Just as then nobody knew what the next day would bring, so surprises are awaiting visitors walking through the interactive labyrinth ... Reflect, remember and wonder in and through the labyrinth of change ... .

An anniversary in Berlin, or Brasilia on the Spree

Today marks an anniversary in Berlin, no - not the 19th anniversary of German unity, but the inauguration of East Berlin's Fernsehturm (television tower) 20 years earlier in 1969 in time for the 20th anniversary of the GDR on 7 October 1969. Since then - and even more since unification- it has become as much a trademark of Berlin as the Brandenburg Gate. The Fernsehturm was part of an attempt by the GDR's rules, "secure" behind the Berlin Wall, to create a new "socialist" capital for the GDR and demonstrate the superiority of socialism over capitalism. However, as the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reports, Horst Oehlrich one of the building engineers who made the tower possible was missing from the official reception given by state- and party leader Walter Ulbricht for the engineers, architects and construction workers on 3 October 1969. «I refused to serve in the army because of my Christian convictions», Oehlrich told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. «That was certainly the reason why I could not be present for the the reception with Ulbricht.»

The television tower was just one part of a much wider programme of building a new capital for the GDR which in some respects mirrors the attempts of Brazil to build itself a new capital at Brasilia. Like Brasilia the socialist capital of the GDR was a political statement as much as an architectural ensemble, but while the Brasilian capital was hewn out of the jungle, the socialist GDR capital - on a much smaller scale - was hewn out of the rubble and remains of the centre of Berlin. There is it seems increasing interest in the motifs of modernism in GDR architecture, a couple of books have coined the term Ostmoderne, for example, while a recent book sets out motifs of Brasilia's architect "Oskar Niemeyer -a legend of modernism" - to be found in East Berlin. On the other hand there are also apparently motifs from East Berlin architecture that Niemeyer placed in Brasilia.

For the German speakers among you here is a book on the theme:
Symbolsuche. Die Ost-Berliner Zentrumsplanung zwischen Repräsentation und Agitation
(The search for symbols: Planning and the East Berlin centre between representation and agitation)

The planning of East Berlin's city centre is is like no other construction project of the GDR shows the close links between politics, ideology, economics and architecture. The plans for the "socialist transformation" of the area between Alexanderplatz and Kupfergraben, especially the history of the monumental tower that the SED wanted to erect on "Marx-Engels-Platz as a demonstrazion of their power and prestige demonstrate in an exemplary fashion the possibilities and chasms of political iconography. It was precisely the historic centre of Berlin, which was for more than forty years, the political centre of the GDR, that became the setting for an explosive debate about style in which both 'conservative modernity' as well as the planned city of Brasilia were the inspiration for a socialist symbolic architecture. Selected examples show the the evolution of DDR-representation architecture as an expression of personal and intra-party power struggles that raged particularly between Hermann Henselmann and Gerhard Kosel, between the local level and the state.

For English speakers, there is an article in English by Peter Müller on "Counter-Architecture and Building Race: Cold War Architecture and the Two Berlins".

PS: The picture shows the Marienkirche in front of the Fernsehturm. Originally the Marienkirche was to be removed from this showcase of socialist planning but it remained, a symbol of the place of the church in the GDR.

How a BBC journalist remembers 1989

Brian Hanrahan, who covered the 1989 events in eastern Europe for the BBC, has posted to the BBC News site an article of recollections from that time:

It was a baffling year - neither predictable nor inevitable. For those of us in the thick of it, there was a constant struggle to make sense of what we were seeing. Even those with the power to shape events were taken aback. The outcome was not what they had bargained for.

It was a year in which power was transferred away from repressive communist leaders who tolerated no questions or debate about their policies to mass movements which swept away governments and rewrote the map of Europe. Only China resisted the momentum of change by brutally suppressing demonstrations ... But at the beginning there was little to indicate that we were witnessing the collapse of communism, and the end of the Cold War. I have looked back through my notebooks and can find not a mention of the round table talks in Poland which began in February and would eventually lead to Eastern Europe's first non-communist government. Few thought it worth remarking on.

Hat tip to Anli Serfontein

East Germany - A Catholic Revolution?

Academics and others have been disputing for almost 20 years whether the events in the GDR in autumn 1989 can be characterised a "Protestant Revolution". Now, in a speech to mark the 20th anniversary this year of the opening of the Berlin Wall, the leader of the German (Roman Catholic) Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch has pointed to the role of the Catholic Church:

With the distance of 20 years, we can see that the various developments that came together on 9 November 1989 had begun much earlier. At a whole series of stages we encounter Pope John Paul II. Mikhail Gorbachev even wrote in his memoirs, "Everything that has happened in recent years in Eastern Europe would not have been possible without this Pope." Here I need only recall the first visit of Pope John Paul II in his Polish homeland in 1979, On the eve of Pentecost, he prayed: "Send forth your Spirit! And renew the face of the earth! This earth!“ Then, at the Victory Square in Warsaw, the Pope gave confidence to his compatriots, encouraged them to commit themselves to freedom and human rights, and with his prayer set in train a movement of "Solidarity" that could not be stopped even by violence and martial law.

Zollitsch is certainly right in this anniversary year with his reminder of the significance of the events in central and eastern Europe - particularly in Poland - for what happened in the GDR, events that are sometimes obscured by a focus on 9 November and the Berlin Wall. This was not just (or not even) a German-German affair. At a later point in his speech Zollitsch refers to the role of the churches in what he terms the "German Revolution":

It is correct to say that at its origins the German Revolution of 1989/90 was not a Christian revolution. But neither should one ignore that the churches opened their doors as the crisis of 1989 arrived, as the oppositional groups first were at the peace prayers in the church and then went onto the demonstrations on the streets
The Protestant church had the advantage of being the bigger sister, and being better able to offer appropriate rooms and was all in all more generous when it came to offers church premises for non-religious events. But it is indisputable that both churches offered space and protection as the opposition in the GDR needed institutional support and personal help. In their attempts to achieve freedom and civic rights, the opposition looked to the churches, the people sought the presence of the church and their hopes were not disappointed. The courageous examples were contagious. This explains why a surprisingly large number of GDR Catholics, who because of political abstinence reaching back decades were largely immune to such developments, seized the opportunity to get involved in promoting freedom and unity, and to take on political responsibility, beginning with moderating the Round Table to standing as candidates in the elections that soon followed.

So it wasn't a Catholic revolution after all, but what is interesting in the cautious attempt to deal with the role of the Catholic Church in the GDR, noting that its policy of "political abstinence" had meant that Catholics were less likely to get involved, and that the Catholic Church was less likely to offer premises to non-religious events, by which is meant political gatherings for civic rights activists. Its a far cry from the statements shortly after the political changes of 1989, when the Protestant church was being criticised as too cosy with the GDR authorities and the Catholic Church being presented as a model of resistance.

Here is an extract from the H-Net review of Herbert Heinecke's book. Konfession und Politik in der DDR: Das Wechselverhältnis von Kirche und Staat im Vergleich zwischen evangelischer und katholischer Kirche:

While both churches adopted initially confrontational postures toward the establishment of SED rule, differences in their own histories and traditions, social positions and self-understandings led them to respond very differently to changing circumstances in the GDR. These differences became especially clear after the mid-to-late-1950s, when the relaxation of state anti-church activities made room for more nuanced church-state relations. They culminated in the late 1980s in the central role played by the Protestant churches in the emergence of East German civil society at a time when the Catholic church was still only beginning to come to terms with its place in the GDR.

:: Hat tip to Anli Serfontein for the speech

What does a world without walls look like?

That's the question posed by Rise&Fall, a mobile art installation and dance event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall. The exhibition features modern digital artwork interpreting the theme 'bringing down walls/breaking down barriers' (both literally and symbolically) and music performed by Turkish-German DJ/Producer, DJ Ipek Ipekcioglu (www.djipek.com). Events take place from 4 November to 1 December in New York, Miami, Boston, Washington, DC and Los Angeles. There's still time until 30 September for artwork submissions. Art from 11 countries relating to the theme 'breaking down barriers' has already been submitted. Artists, from amateur to professional, are invited to submit digital versions of their art produced in a full range of mediums along with a short description of what 'bringing down walls' means to them - either as directly related to the Berlin Wall or on a more symbolic, personal, cultural or social level.

The picture here comes from the Rise&Fall Web site: http://www.rise-fall.com/news_post.php?id_art=54

The Trabbi is back ...

The Trabant - the car that made a Skoda look like a luxury limousine - is back! 20 years after photos went round the world showing lines of Trabants queuing to get to the West, a former Volkswagen engineer is to unveil plans at the Frankfurt Motor Show to create a new eco-friendly Trabant. Actually it never went away as these photos taken this year in Jena and Budapest make clear.

Here's Chris Milton's report:

It’s being developed by an unlikely combination of specialist car manufacturer IndiKar, the former Volkswagen designer Nils Poschwatta and the leading miniatures manufacturer, Herpa.

But is there anything to differentiate the Trabant from its competitors?

Well, styling to start with. The Trabant has always had an uncanny resemblance to its western counterpart, the Mini and this new electric Trabant is far more pleasing on the eye that BMW’s take ... Then there’s the innovative solar roof. Many electric cars carry an additional 12V battery in order to power SatNav, heating and other low-voltage “necessities.” Not the Trabant. These will all be powered by its solar roof and, quite bluntly, if there isn’t enough sun then your air-con won’t work. Who needs air-con when it’s cloudy anyway?

Hm! Methinks the timing has something to do with the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall. Here's a photo of the new Trabant from the Web site of Indikar, one of the companies behind the project:



Strangely enough in this part of France we had a house up the road that used to have two Trabants in its front garden.

Photos of old Trabant (c) Stephen Brown.

P.S Here's a Wiki "Trabant" fact: In medieval German Trabant meant foot soldier or personal guard, ^[1] and here's one last photo of a Trabant this time from Jena in May 2009.