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East Germany

“The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain” at the Wende Museum

November 22, 2019 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, The Wende Museum in Los Angeles has put on a special exhibition in collaboration with the Goethe Institut. “The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain“ is also part of Wunderbar Together and is on view until April 5th, 2020.

Medea: the controversial archetype of female strength and passion from the East. In the years before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, East European writers and painters often turned to ancient mythology to express their discontent with authoritarian rule. Their interpretations of mythological figures like Medea, Cassandra, and Penthesilea were crucial in shaping contemporary images for women, and sometimes they were straight-up punk. Working under the radar of the accepted art establishment, the artists in this exhibition provoked, protested, played with fire, and experimented while refusing socialist and bourgeois stereotypes.

The Medea Insurrection was conceptualized and curated by Susanne Altmann for the Albertinum (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden). It has been adapted by the Wende Museum for its Culver City appearance. 

The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain is part of Wunderbar Together: The Year of German-American Friendship 2018/19, an initiative funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, implemented by the Goethe-Institut, and supported by the Federation of German Industries (BDI).

The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain.

WHERE & WHEN:

The Wende Museum
The Armory, Culver City, California
November 10, 2019 – April 5, 2020

Image: ©The Wende Museum

Filed Under: Life in California, News Tagged With: art, Berlin Wall, East Germany, The Wende Museum, Wunderbar Together

“Liberty Train – Next Stop Freedom” DocuDrama at Alpine Village

November 11, 2019 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall the Consulate General of Germany and the German American School Association invite to a special film screening of “Liberty Train – Next Stop Freedom” at the Alpine Village, Sunday, November 17th, 2019.

The documentary reconstructs historical events that started with Hans Dietrich Genscher’s announcement on September 30, 1989, that the East German refugees occupying the West German embassy in Prague were allowed to leave for West Germany. Special trains should bring the refugees from Prague to West Germany but via the GDR. Dramatic events happen when the trains travel through East Germany, with people trying to jump onto the ‘Train to Freedom’ to the passengers inside fearing they would be taken off the train when Stasi members are getting on the train and start collecting passports.

[Read more…] about “Liberty Train – Next Stop Freedom” DocuDrama at Alpine Village

Filed Under: Culture, Life in California, News Tagged With: Berlin Wall, documentary, East Germany, GASA German American School Association, GDR, Liberty Train. Next Stop Freedom, Zug in die Freiheit

The Fall of the Berlin Wall – November 9, 1989

November 8, 2013 by Cornelia 3 Comments

English: The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989. Th...

30,415 GDR citizens fled to West Berlin in July 1961, which was the highest number of refugees per month since 1953. After that event the GDR started with the building of the Berlin Wall on August 13th, even though just in June 1961 First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, Walter Ulbricht, had declared “Nobody intends to build a wall”.

After years  of a divided Germany, dramatic events like the Berlin Blockade, and many  frightening attempts of East-Berliners fleeing the repressive country GDR, the Berlin Wall fell on November 9th, 1989 .

Anchorman Hans Joachim Friedrichs proclaimed then on ARD’s Tagesthemen, “This is a historic day. East Germany has announced that, starting immediately, its borders are open to everyone. The GDR is opening its borders … the gates in the Berlin Wall stand open.”

The Berlin Wall was a phenomena not only for foreigners, but also for Germans who were non-Berliners. It seemed strange how within a country one part of a capital city belonged to a different regime. The Berlin Wall and its historical situation inspired writers and filmmakers around the world, and continues to stay a topic of great interest even nowadays .

“Deutsche Lese-Ecke” on California Germans

Stay tuned for quite a different Berlin Wall story by CaliforniaGermans’ author Dieter Kermas tomorrow.

“Welche Mauer?”, a short story written all in German, will also start our “Deutsche Lese-Ecke” category, where you will be able to find periodic new postings of short stories, poems and excerpts of larger works exclusively in German.

Sources: Berlin.de, wikipedia
Photo: wikipedia
.
Related articles
  • Berlin Wall Dedication in Mountain View (californiagermans.com)
  • Where’s the Berlin Wall now? 10 surprising locations (cnn.com)

Filed Under: German History Tagged With: Berlin Wall, East Germany, Fall of the Berlin Wall, West Berlin

Berlin Wall is Making Headlines in Berlin, California and the World

April 12, 2013 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

 berlinwall_large

While the world witnessed how Berliners stood up for the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall not to be removed last month, two other Berlin Wall segments found a permanent home in Mountain View, California.

A few days before Easter shortly before dawn construction workers started with the removal of the famous ‘East Side Gallery’ in Berlin, the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall (1.3 km long), and an international memorial for freedom. The reason behind it: The East Side Gallery needed to make way for a luxury apartment complex. Despite days of protest and even a short-lived halt of the project, when politicians tried to find a solution for keeping this famous section of the Berlin Wall untouched, the developer was ultimately given permission to proceed with his project after all.

As the international community followed the unfolding of events, Berliners were stunned and plainly shocked.  “I can’t believe they came here in the dark in such a sneaky manner,” said Kani Alavi, the head of the East Side Gallery’s artists’ group. “All they see is their money, they have no understanding for the historic relevance and art of this place.” By mid morning people witnessed in disbelief how a 6 meter gap was guarded by a wooden fence and protected by police.

And…that’s not all. The controversial project continues to make headlines. Latest news unveil that the investor behind this project, Maik Uwe Hinkel, had apparently strong ties to East Germany’s communist party SED (Socialist Unity Party),and in fact may have been a spy for East Germany’s notorious secret police, the Stasi, so the news magazine ”SPIEGEL” in its report “Stasi Suspicions: Berlin Wall Developer’s Past in Question”.

Mountain View in CALIFORNIA becomes Home to two Berlin Wall Segments

On the other side of the world in the meantime two large segments of the Berlin Berlin Wall  Mountain_View,_CaliforniaWall found a permanent home in a much quieter venture and with much less media attention.

The more than 10 feet tall donated wall sections depict a caricature of Elvis Presley on one slab and a heart with the words “Wir lieben Dich” on the other. They were previously displayed at an office park, before they got donated to the city last year by the family of Frankfurt native Frank Golzen, who had purchased them after the wall came down in 1989.  “These pieces of the Berlin Wall remind me that freedom is not free. Freedom is paid for in blood,” said Bahl, a local resident who had urged the city council to pick a spot that offered good public visibility.  The famous slabs will now greet visitors to the public library at Franklin Street in Mountain View.

Villa Aurora in L.A. features Documentary on the Berlin Wall in May 2013

In connection with the Pacific Palisades Film Festival, Villa Aurora in L.A. is presenting the documentary “Bis an die Grenze – Up to the border”.

On the basis of extraordinary, widely unknown recordings and found footage, Claus Oppermann und Gerald Grote’s first feature film tells many impressive but forgotten stories about the rise of the Berlin Wall in 1961 to its fall in 1989, about the division of Germany and a bloody borderline through the middle of Europe.

In this unique film one can see how on the historical Sunday of August 13th 1961, the government of the German Democratic Republic lays the foundation stone for the “ugliest monument in the world”. An event that puts a whole city in a state of shock. The “atrocious century-construction“ is at first watched in disbelief. Then people start pulling their 8mm-cameras out of their cupboards to capture the images of the events.

“Bis an die Grenze – Up to the border”
A documentary by Claus Oppermann and Gerald Grote
(Germany, 2011, 95 min)
Thursday, May 2 @ 7:00 p.m. 
At Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles

For more information visit http://www.bis-an-die-grenze.de/
Free for members / General $ 5
RSVP required at infola@villa-aurora.org
 

The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining...
The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining part of the Berlin Wall. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Article Sources:
http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/2013/04/01/east-side-gallery-of-remaining-berlin-wall-dismantled/
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/27/17485506-historic-parts-of-berlin-wall-removed-despite-protests-over-luxury-building-project?lite
http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/shock-as-part-of-berlin-wall-knocked-down-to-make-way-for-luxury-apartments/story-e6frfq80-1226608053342
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_22829559/berlin-wall-sections-find-new-home-mountain-view
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/stasi-suspicions-east-side-gallery-developer-hinkel-past-in-question-a-893110.html
.
Related articles
  • Parts of Berlin Wall removed for luxury housing project (foxnews.com)
  • Fighting The Good Fight: David Hasselhoff Campaigns To Save Berlin Wall’s East Side Gallery (contactmusic.com)
  • German Work Crews Remove Part of Berlin Wall (world.time.com)
  • Berlin Wall section removed amid row (bbc.co.uk)
  • Berlin Wall section removed despite protests (guardian.co.uk)
  • Pre-dawn operation removes part of Berlin Wall (nzherald.co.nz)
  • David Hasselhoff to rock Berlin Wall protests (thelocal.de)
  • VIDEO: Hoff delights crowd at Berlin Wall demo (bbc.co.uk)

Filed Under: Attractions & Events, Culture, Germany in the News, News Tagged With: Berlin Wall, Berlin Wall in Mountain View, East Germany, East Side Gallery, Stasi

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