The Berlin Wall 1979 to today. Photographs by Gottfried Schenk
The Berlin Wall: a place of suffering - When it was built on August 13, 1961, the Berlin Wall became a world-famous synonym for tyranny and inhumanity.
Image gallery
Motiv Einladungskarte (Bild: Gottfried Schenk)
Its horrific record shows 136 people killed by the use of firearms, plus around 200 who died while crossing the border, who fell victim to the strain of interrogations and body searches by the GDR border authorities.
The Berlin Wall: a place of miracles
The Wall Miracle of November 9, 1989 ended this painful chapter of German-German history. This also ended the separation of the people in East and West, who had become strangers to each other during the forty years of two states in the two different political systems. The commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the building of the Wall in 2001 provided the impetus to counteract this trend with a broad-based culture of remembrance.
The Berlin Wall: A place of remembrance
The historically significant event of the fall of the Berlin Wall will be 35 years old in 2024. To mark the occasion, the Mitte Museum is showing a selection of photographs by Berlin photographer Gottfried Schenk, who was a contemporary and eyewitness to the overcoming and dismantling of the monstrous structure. In a long-term project, he tracked down and recorded the remains of the Wall and memorial sites in the cityscape.
Opening
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 6:30 p.m.
Speakers:
Nathan Friedenberg, director of the Mittemuseum; Stefan Wolle, historian; Gottfried Schenk, photographer
Free admission
Registration not required
Additional exhibition
To mark the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, further photographs by Gottfried Schenk will be shown in advance from October 31, 2024 under the title Living with the Wall.
(OPENING LECTURES IN GERMAN)
