DDR, Kunst und Vergangenheitsbewältigung

So in the past week, many of my experiences have revolved around one (or more) of three themes: the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik-otherwise known as East Germany), Kunst (art) and Vergangenheitsbewältigung (best translated as "coming to terms with the past"- usually used in reference to the process of dealing with the Holocaust and Nazism in Germany).

die DDR

So early last week, I visited the DDR Musuem, an interactive museum that depicts everyday life in the DDR. In some ways, as evidenced by the following pictures, it was a lot of fun.

Here we are trying out a Trabbi, essentially the only car brand  in East Germany:

and enjoying our DDR living room:

But, in addition to lovely interactive DDR apartments and vehicles, the museum also described the political and societal oppression, censorship, and remarkable presence of the Stasi, the state police force. While I was certainly aware of some of these features of DDR life before visiting the museum, I don't think I had actually realized the extent of state control in the Eastern Block during the Cold War. And yet, in spite of all of this, the DDR was still a remarkably normal place for most people. Yes, the TV shows, newspapers, magazines, fashions, and available products were controlled by the state, but life goes on, popular culture (there were some examples of TV, music, etc. at the museum) was still entertaining and endearing (especially in the case of Rumpelkammer, a TV program in which an old guy-who reminds me a bit of Mister Rogers-shows and discusses clips from old films) and at least everyone had enough to get by.

I left the museum feeling much more educated about the DDR and life during the Cold War. Among this new information the following interesting fact: the U-Bahn (subway) line I take to school every day runs through former East Berlin between two parts of former West Berlin. During the Cold War, the line continued to run but didn't stop at stations in the East, leading to these stations being called Geistbahnhöfe (ghost stations). I also left the museum feeling even more conflicted regarding my views on incorporating socialistic elements into governments and societies today.

Speaking of the DDR, I also took a guided walking tour of Prenzlauer Berg, one of the sections of Berlin on the East Side. It's a really interesting neighborhood of the city to walk through due to its, in typical Berlin fashion, ever-changing history. The area was originally settled in the 1800s, and the cool thing about Prenzlauer Berg is that these original buildings are still there today (due to the neighborhood not being as heavily bombed by the Allies during WWII). Here's an school that was opened around the mid-1800s:

During the DDR, Prenzlauer Berg was largely ignored by the government, so most of the housing was not modernized:

and due to the cheapness of this housing, Prenzlauer Berg was home to the DDR's art subculture and political resistance movements. Since the fall of the wall, it's been really gentrified and is filled with young families and trendy shops today.

Kunst


This week, I also took a guided tour visiting private galleries and art spaces in Mitte, the area of the city where the Goethe Institute is located. Also part of the DDR, this part of town became a huge art center immediately following the reunification of Germany, due to its cheap, non-residential buildings. While it's now been similarly gentrified into trendy shopping, there are some parts of the city that remain cool 90s art centers, such as this Hof (courtyard) which is actually protected from development as a cultural site:

This sculpture moves when you put money in it:

It was really cool to see some hidden art centers that were off the beaten path.

I also visited the Neue Nationalgalerie, another modern art museum. I went on a tour with Goethe which was great for understanding the pieces better. While the museum included some pieces from the usual modern artists, such as Picasso, Warhol, etc. and this completely amazing light installation:

it also had a lot of German art from both East and West Berlin which dealt with the aftereffects of WWII. It was interesting to see here, and at other art museums, how artists responded to and dealt with the traumatic events of WWII through art, as well as to see how East and West German art diverged as the nation was divided. 

Vergangenheitsbewältigung

So, as I mentioned before, Vergangenheitsbewältigung is the process of coming to terms with the past. Over the past week through both a guided walk run by Goethe about National Socialism and my own visit to the Holocaust Denkmal (memorial) I learned more about the past the Germans have had to bewältigen and ways this process has unfolded. 

While the walk didn't include many physical sites due to the destruction of Berlin during WWII, I still found it to be really interesting. Even if Hitler's bunker isn't around today, it's still chilling and a bit exciting to hear the story of his suicide while standing on the ground where the bunker stood. Some of the few relics of National Socialism remaining today include the German Finance Ministry building (originally the home of the Nazi's Ministry of Aviation-kept intact by the Allies as a landmark for bombing missions):

and the walls of this subway station which are made of the marble from Hitler's office:

1933-1945 was certainly a chilling period of German history which Germany has had to come to terms with. One of the sites dedicated to this purpose is the "Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas" (translated as the Memorial to the Murderd Jews of Europe), often called simply the Holocaust Denkmal. Built in 2005, it consists of 2, 711 large concrete slabs placed at varying heights and angles. From the Wikipedia article about the memorial, the slabs "are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent an apparently ordered system that has lost touch with human reason." After experiencing the memorial today, that's a pretty accurate description. I have never felt quite the way I felt today at any other memorial. I felt uneasy, confused, lost, morose, and alone while walking through the concrete slabs that completely engulf you. Here are some photos, even though there's no way to really adequately depict the experience:

There was also a small museum underneath the memorial which provided a timeline of the Holocaust and included a wide diversity of personal experiences, stories, and accounts of Holocaust victims, which I found very moving.

Upon leaving the museum around 5:30pm, when it was already dark, the fastest way for me to reach the U-Bahn was to walk back through the memorial. In the dark, I found the memorial to be chillingly scary. There is definitely a sense of not knowing where you are or what is coming in the dark, an experience not helped by the sounds of small children playing throughout the memorial. Overall, the memorial was a very unique experience unlike anything I've experienced before. 

On the topic of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, Berlin has also placed gold plaques (called Stolpersteine) throughout the city to remember Holocaust victims. While Stolpersteine exist throughout Europe, almost 3,000 have been placed throughout Berlin. They sit where Holocaust victims lived and include their names and eventual fates. Here's an example:

It's simultaneously a subtle and yet jarring way of remembering these individuals. On almost a daily basis while walking through the city, I'm shocked into remembering the Holocaust by suddenly seeing a set of gold plaques in the ground. And yet, in terms of actual size, the plaques are fairly small, being only 4 inches in size. Although it's startling to run across them, I think it's an ultimately important way to remember.