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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
barrier consisting of prefabricated L-shaped reinforced concrete slabs,
reaching 3,6 m high with sewage pipes cemented to its top, making
climbing almost impossible. It was accompanied by anti-vehicle obstacles
and ditches, control strips, patrol roads, trip flares, dog runs, signal fences
and an inner, 3–4 m high, wall (Rottman 2008) (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Berlin Wall at the Potsdamer Platz 1975. Photo: Edward Valachovic.
The days and weeks following the Socialist Party official Schabowski’s
announcement of the opening of the border on the 9 th of November 1989
saw the start of spontaneous demolition of the wall. Pictures of people out
in force, chipping away at the Berlin Wall were broadcast over the world.
We connect these pictures with happiness, freedom and democracy. Few
times in history have people so clearly demonstrated their hatred towards a
structure and such a clear wish of its removal. The official demolition was
then started in June 1990 (Klausmeier 2009:97). At this point the goal was
to remove the wall in its entirety. After the wall came down and Germany
unified major discussions were started of how Berlin should be developed in
the future (see discussion in Huyssen 1997). A surge of redevelopment took
off, eradicating the scars left in the landscape from 20 th century conflict.
What we see in Berlin today is what Huyssen calls the ‘desired identity’
(Huyssen 1997:68), the result of many conscious decisions of how Berlin
should look and how the past should be portrayed. The townscape was still
scarred by the destruction of World War II and how to handle the redevelopment
of these scars was far from clear. Discussions were also generated
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