Berliner Mauer
So: fall of the Berlin Wall. 20 years ago. I thought that this was really telling. (Really photo-heavy, but worth it. Also 12-15 do fun fade-y things.)
And what I'm finding awesome is that though my memory card wiped after we were in Berlin and my pictures all disappeared, I've been to these places. The Brandenburg Gate had a giant soccer ball eclipsing it, because of the 2006 Weltmeistershaft for soccer. But Potsdamer Platz? Checkpoint Charlie? I've been there.
I guess what's so amazing is that seeing this now, in the newspapers, in various LJ's, I'm struck by the fact that we're still living history. It was only 20 years ago. The 23rd photo gives me chills - 19 people died the year the wall came down, trying to get across. I (almost) understand the fear, the anxiety, and the lack of control that the East German government felt, as they desperately tried to hold onto their citizens. And yet, installing a "death strip" (17th)- knocking down a full block of buildings so that there was an empty space, and installing automatic guns that shot anything that moved along that piece of land - seems so frightening, so horrifyingly wrong.
Just the contrast in the 7th picture - I'm definitely reading into it, but I see the people who are going about their daily lives, and the people's lives are on hold as they watch life being lived. The border guards are almost blending into the Brandenburg Gate, and even the sky on their side of the wall is washed out and blank. Personality disappears in that green-khaki. I see the life/watching in 10, too, though 10 almost looks like the 4th wall is being broken.
And number 34... XD
'Es begann in Polen'.
Because clearly, EVERYTHING begins in Poland.
And what I'm finding awesome is that though my memory card wiped after we were in Berlin and my pictures all disappeared, I've been to these places. The Brandenburg Gate had a giant soccer ball eclipsing it, because of the 2006 Weltmeistershaft for soccer. But Potsdamer Platz? Checkpoint Charlie? I've been there.
I guess what's so amazing is that seeing this now, in the newspapers, in various LJ's, I'm struck by the fact that we're still living history. It was only 20 years ago. The 23rd photo gives me chills - 19 people died the year the wall came down, trying to get across. I (almost) understand the fear, the anxiety, and the lack of control that the East German government felt, as they desperately tried to hold onto their citizens. And yet, installing a "death strip" (17th)- knocking down a full block of buildings so that there was an empty space, and installing automatic guns that shot anything that moved along that piece of land - seems so frightening, so horrifyingly wrong.
Just the contrast in the 7th picture - I'm definitely reading into it, but I see the people who are going about their daily lives, and the people's lives are on hold as they watch life being lived. The border guards are almost blending into the Brandenburg Gate, and even the sky on their side of the wall is washed out and blank. Personality disappears in that green-khaki. I see the life/watching in 10, too, though 10 almost looks like the 4th wall is being broken.
And number 34... XD
'Es begann in Polen'.
Because clearly, EVERYTHING begins in Poland.