TITLE

The Architecture and Message of the "Wall," 1961-1989

AUTHOR(S)

Schmidt, Leo

PUB. DATE

August 2011

SOURCE

German Politics & Society;8/15/2011, Vol. 29 Issue 2, p57

SOURCE TYPE

Academic Journal

DOC. TYPE

Article

ABSTRACT

The Berlin Wall was built three times: in 1961, in the mid 1960s, and again from the mid 1970s onwards. This article attempts to interpret each manifestation as political architecture providing insights into the mindset and intentions of those who built it. Each phase of the Wall had a different rationale, beyond the straightforward purpose of stopping the citizens of East Germany from leaving their own country and forcing them to suffer under communist rule. The deliberately brutal-looking first Wall was a propaganda construct not originally intended to exist for more than a few months. The functional but dreary Wall of the mid 60s was calculated to have a longer lifespan, but within few years it, too, became an embarrassment for the East German rulers. Yearning for international recognition, they demanded a smoother-looking, better designed Wall-supporting their fiction that this was "a national border like any other."

ACCESSION #

63157796

Tags: BERLIN Wall, Berlin, Germany, 1961-1989;  SOZIALISTISCHE Einheitspartei Deutschlands;  ULBRICHT, Walter, 1893-1973;  HONECKER, Erich, 1912-1994;  PROPAGANDA;  BOUNDARIES

 

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