Today’s Berlin is still covered in wounds from the Second World War – including graffiti! When the Red Army fought its way through the Nazis’ last stand in Berlin, the battles left pockmarks on a number of buildings in the city. Machine gun fire, artillery fire and shrapnel ate deep into stone facades that still bear witness to the fierce battle for Berlin today. These are particularly Museum Island are highly frequented and represent a silent memorial to German National Socialism.
Graffiti in the bear cave
One of the most interesting and controversial scars from the aftermath of that battle can still be found in the Reichstag building: After the building was taken by the Red Army on May 2, 1945 and the battle for Berlin came to an end, the soldiers left their mark in the form of graffiti to say: “I was here!”.
Using burnt wood and colored chalk, Soviet troops of all military ranks immortalized themselves on the walls inside the Reichstag building. More than 700 names can be identified among the graffiti , along with vulgarities and reflections of the soldiers now that the draining war had come to an end.
The capture of the Reichstag building was one of Joseph Stalin’s most important military objectives in Berlin, mainly because of its symbolic power and its reputation as “Hitler’s bear cave”. An allegory that can also be found several times between the graffiti, but is in fact not quite true: In fact, the building was a thorn in Hitler’s side, because it represented the values of democracy then as it does today.
Nevertheless, the parliament building was one of the top targets and, according to Stalin’s plans, was to be taken on May 1, 1933 – regardless of losses. However, the project could only be realized one day later than planned.
Reunited and rediscovered
In the post-war period, the Soviet soldiers’ markings were quickly forgotten. Makeshift repairs in the form of cladding covered the graffiti for half a century. Only then did the reunified Germany set about restoring the parliament building.
British architect Norman Foster was commissioned with the renovation. in 1995, he removes the disguises and is surprised to discover the graffiti of the Soviet soldiers. Deeply impressed by his find, he decides to adapt his blueprints in order to preserve the Cyrillic characters on the wall.
However, his appreciation of the historical markers remains anything but undisputed: Politicians Johannes Singhammer (CSU) and Horst Günther (CDU), for example, are in favor of a predominant Removing the graffiti from. They argue that the Reichstag is first and foremost the home of parliament and not a documentation center.
The lettering remained, partly at Moscow’s insistence. government agencies intervened and demanded either that the historical testimonies be preserved or, alternatively, that the wall segments be handed over to a Russian museum. In consultation with representatives of the Russian embassy, some obscenities were then removed from the walls to honor German-Russian friendship.
Today, the graffiti can still be seen in the Reichstag at guided tours can be visitedthrough the parliament building .