A Wall Memorial: Berlin

Visiting Berlin in August 2011, exactly 50 years after the construction of the Berlin Wall began, was something incredibly moving for a girl who has a strange love for walls. We had to seek out the fragments of the wall that remained, and in the end we missed seeing the most famous section with the most popular artwork (as it was that much off the tourist trail..well for the directionless anyway).

We happened upon a fascinating photo exhibit with very detailed views and descriptions of the Wall taken from the perspective of the East. They had made up documentation by guards in East Berlin, marking the scope of the wall, escape attempts, and normal activity. The detail of the photos, the quotes used to describe each one, and the absolute expanse of the wall left me a bit shocked. I stood staring at one particular panorama and I felt like I stood in front of the Wall itself, running as far as the eye could see in each direction.

While there are drastic differences between the Berlin Wall and the peacelines of Belfast, there is something about division that feels so universal. I thought about the mapping and detailing processes occuring at the minute in Belfast to better define and identify the scope of the peacelines here. It helped me to see how important those projects are.

The next day we traveled to Bernauer Strasse to the Wall Memorial. I couldn't help but look forward to the day when Belfast is made up on wall memorials rather than walls. I looked from the cement slabs to the watchtower to the metal slates--all as a tribute to the memory of the walls. It was an excruciatingly hot day but looking around at the buildings and the cement, even with the green of the trees and the blinding sunshine, it felt like the coldest day of the winter.

I was reading a book on the Wall, trying to place it in the very limited European history in my mind. After my trip I finally finished the book, written beautifull by Frederick Taylor (The Berlin Wall: A world divided, 1961-1989, p.449). The closing sentiment shook me hard as he describes present day Berlin with its delightful cafes and carefree cyclists and eccentric culture saying 'sometimes we can believe...that the Berlin Wall was just a figment of somebody's mad imagination.' It gave me the chills to think that in my lifetime people died trying to cross the very short expanse between the two sides of the wall that I passed without even realizing. If you're my age and have very little historical recollection of Europe, Taylor's idea seems eerily spot on.

It makes me think that 20 years from now the landscape of Belfast or Jerusalem could be vastly different. It makes me think that one day, young people like myself can think about walls as unimaginable. As so cold and divisive, that they could not possibly exist in the world we have today.

But for now, I have to think if walls can come down in Berlin, then the work we're doing here and the work ongoing in other parts of the world are not for naught. I laugh to think that one day it may be difficult for a tourist in Belfast to find the peacelines. I sure hope so!