Berlin is celebrating 35 years since the fall of the wall this weekend, and the Mauerpark will commemorate its 30th birthday on 9/11. Our wishes to throw a wild party were dampered by the Berlin Bureaucrats who recently informed us that we did not have the necessary permissions to blow big bubbles and celebrate freedom with chaos and colors. There are plans for a symbolic self-organised-session to drink a mate at the Amphitheater at 3pm and share a moment together and an invitation to join us at sunset with Friends of the Mauerpark for the opening of a photo exhibition.
An exhibition of photos by Rolf Zöllner illustrates an unparalleled transformation of a place where the Wall once stood. Drop in to the vernissage from 4.00 pm on 9 November and find out more about the evolution of this extraordinary place and learn about how we can safeguard the spirit of this sacred grove and protect it from becoming a park for profit and politics instead of for the people
30 years of Mauerpark – from darkness to light
The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989. Five years later, on 9 November 1994, the first part of Mauerpark was opened. The no-man’s land where the Wall fortifications had once been – Germans called it more accurately the ‘death strip’ – was now every (wo)man’s park. The Friends of Mauerpark (Freunde des Mauerparks e.V.) invite you to come and celebrate the transformation with us.
The historic events of November 1989 are being commemorated at numerous celebrations in Berlin. The invitation to join in includes a call to ‘Uphold freedom’. Maintaining historical awareness is vital and linking commemoration of the past with a call to action in the present is what makes an act of commemoration meaningful. And that is exactly why Mauerpark is such an important place in the city: it commemorates the fall of the Wall every single day. Berlin suffers no shortage of symbols reminding us that it was once a divided city – Checkpoint Charlie or the Brandenburg Gate spring to mind. But they are now just Disneyfied versions of their former selves; Mauerpark is a living memorial. The Wall, which for 28 years divided not just Berlin but the entire world into East and West, has gone. In its place is Mauerpark where people from all over the world come together. It is not only an open space but a cultural space in which the values the East German people fought for back then are actually put into practice: freedom, participation and the right to think differently, to live differently, to simply be different. The Friends of Mauerpark work tirelessly to preserve this heritage of the peaceful revolution.
Rolf Zöllner has followed the development of Mauerpark from the very beginning. The photographer has lived near the ‘death strip,’ which morphed into Mauerpark, since 1989 and has documented it from its earliest days when local people started to plant trees and call on the authorities to turn it into a park. His photos show Mauerpark and its people in all their facets – quiet, romantic, challenging, protesting, celebrating, with others or alone. His photos testify to his authentic interest not only in artistic motifs, but in people. That’s why he knows the stories behind the images.
