The Berlin Wall, East Berlin

The Berlin Wall was a physical and metaphorical symbol of political division in Germany from 1961 - 1990. It was built with the sole purpose of keeping two groups of people from interacting with one another. It signified the power of the East German regime (a regime that sought to suppress any opposition within its government and among its people). It said to the world, "you are not welcome, and you are not to interfere." It was, to say the least, political.


When The Berlin Wall came down, everything changed - the German people, the German government, the whole world. Politics between Western and Eastern Europe, between the United States and the Soviet Union, was completely redefined.


However, not all of the wall was dismantled. Large chunks of it remain along the former border of West and East Berlin - the most famous points are at Checkpoint Charlie and the Spree River. Berliners didn't want the wall completely destroyed because the people wanted a reminder of their past (a sentiment that was shared all over the world).

Graffiti played a significant role in the history of the Berlin Wall. When Berlin was divided, graffiti was sprawled across the wall on its West side - whether or not it was the intention of the people spraying their aerosol cans, it was a symbol of protest against the East German government. People could not graffiti on the East side of the wall because of the laws against freedom of expression (the only kinds of art that were acceptable in East Berlin were the kinds that were deemed "appropriate" (aka pro-regime) by the East German government).


Now, the section of the wall along the Spree River is called the East Side Gallery. After the wall came down, artists from all over the world came to paint murals on the wall's East side. Graffiti artists are still active on the wall - many of the original murals have been tagged and covered with graffiti. A lot of people were very unhappy about this (there is a group committed to restoring the artwork on the wall - here is a link to their website).

However, people do not focus on the fact that much of the original murals in the East Side Gallery were graffiti murals - some of them were made (at least in part) with aerosol cans. In these cases, graffiti art is a political symbol in the same way it was when West Berlin protesters used it. Graffiti has continued to be part of urban life in Berlin, in positive and negative ways, but its past and present significance makes one thing clear: it is both a tool and a symptom of politics.