A walkabout along ‘The Wall’

Exploring the East Side Gallery of Berlin

By Aysha Maryam Cassim

Berlin is a city that simultaneously frustrates and fascinates you. A glorious enigma inhibits this charming city, making it one of the most photographed tourist destinations in Germany. 

After a long day of sightseeing, I was sipping my coffee, watching the goings-on of passers-by through the windows of McCafé at Ostbahnhof. On that chilly March evening, with a camera in hand, I set out to explore the Berlin Wall in search of its lingering history and traces. 

Berlin was a city which was mired in military zones, divided by barbed wires and shattered with shards of hate and oppression. On 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall was collapsed into a yard of rubble. A year after, hundreds of people from 21 countries gathered in jubilation to express their euphoria through art. The Wall stands as a reminder of the Berlin’s agonised past. This iconic structure that separated East from West for nearly three decades is considered as an international memorial of freedom and human rights, today.

The lurid graffiti on the Wall resonates with its poetry. If it weren’t for the extravaganza of colours, the grey concrete mazes would have looked like lifeless slabs of grief. Erected by the GDR in 1961, the Antifascist Protective Barrier as the East calls the wall, used to be a blockade and a death strip for many.

Berlin suffered wounds of invasion, separation and repression. Some of the politically-charged graffiti on the Wall aptly illustrates the city’s torturous relationship with its own history. It relates the tragic stories of people who fled the East, their failed attempts at escapes, contrasting ideologies of capitalism and communism and post-war territory conflicts.

Berlin prides itself on its flourishing street art scene. Immigrants, hippies, anarchists and artists gravitate towards Kreuzburg in pursuit of leisure and creativity. Set in the heart of Berlin, the colourful district of Kreuzberg is awash with art and aesthetic appeal. 

Some of the trendiest ‘kafffebars’ and eateries can be found in this intriguing part of the town. The streets here brim with urban buzz and life. If you are heading towards Oberbaumbrucke Bridge in Kreuzberg, stroll past the legendary East Side Gallery. It is a must for any visitor to Berlin. 

The graffiti at the East Side Gallery stimulates interaction with the city. The remnants of the Berlin Wall that stretches along Mühlenstraße at the Spree River has been transformed into an extensive open-air art gallery. Every detail of the wall imparts an evocative message. 

As you go on your 1,300m-long walkabout, you’d able to read layers upon layers of history coalescing between its concrete canvasses. The moulted paint flakes reminds us the palpable erosion of time. The wall has witnessed a lot of social turmoil over the years. Tourists still continue to leave vestiges of vandalism by adding their own graffiti on the Wall.

In 2009, some of the defaced images of iconic murals were repainted and preserved under a restoration project. The souvenir shops in Berlin sell lumps of concrete that were chiselled off the historic structure. These inescapable fragments of past hold a special sentimental value for travellers around the world. 

I did not bring any keepsakes from the Berliner Mauer. I purchased a mini Trabant as a memorabilia and came back home with a record of photographic recollections of my journey. 

Here are some of my favourite murals of the Wall. 

Trabant breaking through the Berlin Wall

This painting by Birgit Kinder has to be my favourite out of all. The Trabant aka the DDR Trabi is a relic from East Germany. Trabis did not disappear with the fall of communism. Nowadays, classic Trabants are commonly seen around Berlin. Bespoke Trabi tours are available for tourists that let them drive a Trabant to experience what motoring was like on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

When Communist-built cars started rolling across the border between East and West Germany in 1989, these little Duroplast cars emerged from the streets of East side. Although the Trabi is regarded as one of the worst cars ever made in history, there is a growing wave of nostalgia towards this two-stroke engine automobile.

“Lord, help me to survive this mortal love” 

‘The Socialist Fraternal Kiss’ depicts the kiss of death that divided people. Twenty-six years ago, just months after the wall was officially declared open, Russian artist, Dmitri Vrubel painted Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker locked in a kiss of socialist brotherhood. This painting became one of the most famous murals on Berlin’s East Side Gallery.

The German sentence “Du hast gelernt was Freiheit heisst und das vergiss nie mehr” was daubed on a wall of the former frontier of the Cold War. In English, it translates into “You learned what freedom means and don’t forget this anymore”.

For those who have lived through the brutish times of the war, the taste of freedom is priceless. This left an indelible mark in my memory as I bid Auf Wiedersehen to das capital of Deutschland.