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"Wallpeckers", November 1989: Demolished Wall at Brandenburg Gate [40/47]

OBJECT INFORMATION

Info

January 1990
Berlin, Brandenburg Gate
Created By: Jürgen Lottenburger

License: Creative Commons License

A group of people standing along the perforated Wall; in the background a watchtower (left) and Brandenburg Gate (right)

Depicts

Berlin Wall (West), Berlin Wall graffiti (writing), chisel traces, group of people, steel reinforcement, Wall hole, watchtower

Context

Berlin Wall, Berlin Wall woodpecker, border guard, chisel, hammer, piece of the Wall, souvenir

Places

Brandenburg Gate

Text in image

We came / We saw / [we conquered]

Other items in this set

Memory

"Not long after the fall of the Wall, people hacked into the hated construction (in particular, the colourful Western side) with a hammer and chisel so that they could have some original pieces of the Wall as souvenirs. It didn't take long for the bulwark to resemble a piece of Swiss cheese. However, I also watched GDR border patrols confiscate the so-called 'Wallpecker' tools; they were evidently still struggling to see the harmlessness of it all."

Jürgen Lottenburger (West Berlin)