This week Berliners have been celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This concrete barrier, which split the city into a West Berlin – controlled by the USA and its allies, and an East Berlin- where the Soviet Union dictated all aspects of daily life, was one of the most poignant symbols of the decades-long Cold War.
A series of events across Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe earlier in 1989 led to the eventual breaching of the Wall in central Berlin, allowing throngs of East Berliners to stream freely through the broken barrier and into the streets of West Berlin on the evening of November 9th, 1989. It was a pivotal moment in history that sent shock waves around the world and set the stage for peaceful revolutions all across Eastern Europe, finally leading to the break-up and decline of the Soviet Union.
A young Iranian immigrant and artist, Kani Alavi, watched that evening’s jubilant chaos in the streets from his apartment window, just opposite the famous central Berlin border crossing known as Checkpoint Charlie. What the young artist witnessed that night, and on those that followed, moved him to spear-head an effort to preserve a portion of the wall in order to create an open air gallery where artists could celebrate the triumph of freedom over oppression.
As you might imagine, this was no small effort. When the wall came down and East and West Germany began the process of reunification, developers descended on the prime city-center parcels of land that had remained dormant for decades. In the end, Alavi and his allies were able to persuade the government to set aside an almost mile-long stretch of the wall where they created the East Side Gallery.
Artists from all over the world were recruited to come to Berlin and paint sections of the still-standing wall. In total, there were 118 artists from 21 countries who came to share their own personal images, a true reflection of the freedom of speech and self-expression that had once been forbidden on the wall’s eastern side. Alavi’s own work, It Happened in November, is one of the most prominent scenes now viewed by around three million tourists each year.
The efforts of Alavi and his group to create the East Side Gallery resulted not only in preserving a rich piece of history, but they also established one of Germany’s most visited tourist sites. Alavi’s concept, and the smashing success of Berlin’s East Side Gallery, has also been used as a model for other cities across the globe who sought to create outdoor street art districts.
Note: I shot these photos of the East Side Gallery in 2015 and it will be obvious to the viewer that the murals painted twenty-five years earlier in 1990 have not all aged well. Nonetheless, this section of the old Berlin Wall has continued to provide a space for self-expression, regardless of critics’ opinions.
And, additional selections:
Travel Tip: If you find yourself in Berlin and decide to visit the East Side Gallery, go in the early morning. The light will be angled for the best views, plus you’ll be far more likely to snap shots of the murals without unwanted tourists crowding your lens. I went in the afternoon, the light wasn’t good and there always seemed to be at least one tourist posing in front of the most interesting murals.