Following the Alexanderplatz Demonstration, the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and the eventual re-unification of Germany in 1990; what insights do these events provide contemporary people considering the Berlin Wall?
What is the connection between protest and collapse of the Berlin Wall?
It seems, across so much hazy time and space of almost 30 years, that the politics of memory shape understanding. Historians see there is a huge disparity between conceptualized (mythologized) events and historical chronological occurances, although it appears many today do not. So then, perhaps the connection of protest and collapse is an ongoing series of questions, books, and exhibits...
If one looks to NPR or a number of other news outlets in the former first world, the complex string of protest, contingency, conjuncture and accident is somehow compressed into a theoretical narrative of "the fall of the Berlin Wall" wherin the good-West defeated the bad-East probably due to Ronald Reagan (44). Most often, these ideas are trotted out on anniversaries of 1989. Most contemporarily, the historically complex string is now further reduced to "David Hasselhoff brought down the wall."
However, a recent book by Julia Sonnevend dismisses such reductionist notions entirely. As she claims, "There was no Berlin Wall and it never fell. (45)!" While the first claim is an over simpification for the context of this exhibit- because in Berlin there most certainly was a wall, although not across the entire GDR and second world frontier- the notion that the Berlin Wall fell is patently mistaken.
Using Historical Thinking, one finds former-President Ronald Reagan's, "Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall." speech came in fact during 1987 (46). Alternatively, David Hasselhoff performing his international hit "Looking for Freedom" in a spectacular light-up jacket and piano-scarf atop the Brandenburg Gate came on 31 December, 1989 (47). Therefore, The Hoff did not hassle Communism- this explanation does not suffice. But aside from disproving what DID NOT bring down the Berlin Wall, what good is contemplating the wall today?
In the words of a 24 year old activist friend from Berlin (admittedly born long after reunification and deconstruction of the Wall),"Maybe, like, [the answer is] perhaps the Wall is just rubble but there's something [society] can build (off of). You know? (48)" This explanation neither mythologizes the Berlin Wall, nor does it erase its signifigance in a modern world. In short, this is a reasonable answer! Yet how can this be applied?
Recently, in September of 2017 the connection between protest and the Berlin Wall was employed- used- once again (49). Political group FEMEN's Ukraine chapter recently staged a political protest wherein a semi-nude "sextremist" activist dressed in quintessential DIY style Chuck Taylor tennis shoes and a Euro-Maiden crown took a hammer to a portion of the Berlin Wall outside of the German Embassy to Ukraine (50). The intent behind her protest was to call attention to socio-political exclusion of Ukraine from the EU, primarily as a result of interference by Russia: a symbollically fitting act given her space of occupation, means of protest, and political expression (51)
In closing: If there is anything to be revealed by connecting protest and collapse of the Berlin Wall, it is that protest is continually necessary and the Berlin Wall provides challenging insight and an enabling tool to use. Resisting physical/constructed walls today, perhaps, is cool because the citizens of the GDR resisted theirs first. To go from the world as-is to an equitable one, it seems, requires collapse.