The place that had the most impact on me during my Berlin trip was definitely the Berlin Wall. The wall separated the East and West Berlin physically and ideologically from each other from the year 1961 all the way to the year 1989, when it suddenly and unexpectedly fell. The wall was originally built to stop the flow of east Berliners and east-Germans to the western side and end the brain leak with them. The East Berlin started to suffer from the lack of workers when the labourers wanted to migrate to the West side to get better wages. According the the socialist propaganda, the purpose of the wall was to keep the fasistic influence away, but no matter what the label was, the wall limited human rights in a very significant way.
Nowadays, a part of the wall is covered with artworks celebrating the importance of freedom and peace and remembering all the victims of the division in Europe and everywhere in the world.
First of all, the wall is there to remind us how our freedom feels.
The fraternal kiss typical in socialist countries. The text is saying in German and Russian: “My god, help me to survive this deadly love”.
The Berlin wall was a symbol of the division in Europe, and also its fall symbolised the fall of socialism. When you think about it, this was reality not so long ago. I was a toddler when this happened, and yet I understood the profound meaning of the fall. Especially for someone who values freedom almost the most of all things, visiting the wall was something I will remember for the rest of my life. I, who love travelling and have moved to another countries to work there, could have been born in a different place and at different time. I could be surrounded by walls, bounded by limitations. Unfortunately, this is still the reality for too many people.
There are still walls to take down between nations – both visible and not visible.
Place: East Side Gallery, Berlin
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