Remembering Cold War Division: Wall Remnants and Border Monuments in Berlin

Saunders, Anna

doi:10.1080/14782800902844644

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…"Die Mauer muss weg" was the cry from the very first, and East and West Berliners were soon wielding their chisels with delight. It was not until 1999 that Berlin completed its Wall memorial (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer) and an adjoining information center (Knischewski and Spittler 2006), but since then border museums, monuments, and memorials have mushroomed along the old German-German border (Knischewski and Spittler 2010), and a number of local, short-term projects have made visible the otherwise strangely absent Berlin Wall in the capital's cityscape (Saunders 2009). This article has traced the filmic representations of the fall of the Berlin Wall concurrent with the changes in the memorial landscape to argue that, in the realm of cinema at least, the fall has changed from a vividly remembered recent event to an uncontroversial occurrence that belongs firmly in the past.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Aesthetics of a Collapsing Border

Pedersen

2014

East Cent Eur

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This article is a diachronic study of the fall of the Berlin Wall as it has been represented in German fiction films from 1989 until 2010. The focus is on the formal features of the inclusion of the event in filmic narratives and on the reactions by film critics to the representations. By studying the aesthetics of representation and the reactions and expectations expressed by critics, it is possible to trace the ways in which the event has changed from a sacrosanct experience, vividly remembered, to a historical affair of little controversy. At the same time, the article also depicts a change in the representations themselves. Starting with gritty realism, the films turn to ironic hyperbole in their depictions of the fall from around 1999. After 2003, however, the unreal representations give way to generic dramas that adhere to strictly conventional narratives and aesthetics. This, the article concludes, coincided with the transformation of the memories of the event from communicative to cultural.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Aesthetics of a Collapsing Border

Pedersen

2014

East Cent Eur

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“…Those frontiers which are encountered are an inconvenience rather than a barrier. Visiting an ancient frontier is therefore an ambiguous experience (on border tourism, see Timothy 2001; on walls as heritage, see Saunders 2009). It is immediately comprehensible but simultaneously alien; a site of interest rather than immediate personal resonance.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Looking Ahead: Forthcoming Events

Witcher¹

2010

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites

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“…Others, such as Willy Brandt, thought it unwise to completely erase it from the urban landscape and campaigned to protect parts that were still standing. 12 Although groups of activists managed to keep parts of the Wall intact, notably at the East Side Gallery (at Mühlenstraße), Niederkirchnerstraße and Bernauer Straße, 13 only a fraction was preserved. Over the almost three decades of its existence, the Wall acquired a total length of 156.4 km, 43.7 of which ran through the city and 112.7 around the outskirts of the city.…”

Section: Overview Of the Memorial Ensemblementioning

confidence: 99%

Succeeding by Failing: The Bernauer Strasse Wall Memorial as Performative Memorial

Bertens

2021

German Life and Letters

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The Berlin street Bernauer Straße has played an important role in the history of the Berlin Wall, from its initial construction to its demolition. Nowadays it contains the longest remaining stretch of the border zone and an elaborate memorial has been constructed on the site. The memorial is a complex space: it seamlessly blends in with its surroundings, uses a range of media and serves multiple purposes at once. It is this apparent failure to represent a coherent whole that is paradoxically its main strength. A closer look at the workings of the memorial explains its success. The article presents an analysis of the memorial from three different perspectives: a discussion of the eclectic nature of the original Wall and the ways in which the memorial represents this, a look at the memorial as an archaeological site and, finally, an exploration of the performative nature of the memorial. Die Bernauer Straße in Berlin spielte eine wichtige Rolle in der Geschichte der Berliner Mauer, von ihrer Entstehung bis zu ihrem Abriss. Heutzutage befindet sich hier der längste noch bestehende Abschnitt des ehemaligen Grenzstreifens und eine umfassende Gedenkstätte wurde dort errichtet. Die Gedenkstätte ist ein komplexer Ort: sie fügt sich scheinbar nahtlos in ihre Umgebung ein, bedient sich diverser Medien und erfüllt mehrere Zwecke zugleich. Es ist dieses augenscheinliche Scheitern ein kohärentes Ganzes darzustellen, das paradoxerweise die eigentliche Stärke dieses Ortes ausmacht. Eine nähere Betrachtung der Funktionsweise der Gedenkstätte erklärt ihren Erfolg. Dieser Artikel bietet eine Analyse aus drei verschiedenen Blickwinkeln: eine Diskussion über den eklektischen Charakter der Originalmauer und die Art und Weise wie diese dargestellt wird, ein Blick auf die Gedenkstätte als archäologische Fundstätte und zuletzt eine Betrachtung ihrer performativen Eigenschaften.

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Remembering Cold War Division: Wall Remnants and Border Monuments in Berlin

Cited by 11 publications

References 4 publications

The Aesthetics of a Collapsing Border

The Aesthetics of a Collapsing Border

Looking Ahead: Forthcoming Events

Succeeding by Failing: The Bernauer Strasse Wall Memorial as Performative Memorial

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