Herlinde Koelbl has been
photographing Merkel since 1991. Koelbl says that Merkel has always been
“a bit awkward,” but “you could feel her strength at the beginning.”Credit Photographs by Herlinde Koelbl / Agentur Focus / Contact Press Images
A
summer afternoon at the Reichstag. Soft Berlin light filters down
through the great glass dome, past tourists ascending the spiral ramp,
and into the main hall of parliament. Half the members’ seats are empty.
At the lectern, a short, slightly hunched figure in a fuchsia jacket,
black slacks, and a helmet of no-color hair is reading a speech from a
binder. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
and the world’s most powerful woman, is making every effort not to be
interesting.
...... Paragraph 1 of many!
Find out details of Angela's youth as an award - winning Russian speaker growing up in Brandenburg. Learn what she thought of rebellious West Germans in the '60's (The Baader Meinhof Gruppe) and of Americans. Read about her initially cold relationship with Obama, which has warmed considerably -- even while he's grown far less popular. Yes, there are clues to her private life. There is discussion of Germany's history and politics (including fascinating details about the destruction and rebuilding of the amazing parliament building, the Reichstag). We also learn how incredulous Germans initially were to hand their nation's government over to her. And how she's quietly relishing the country's stability now, which has fueled her popularity, while her opponents find she's made of Teflon.
Might she run for a 4th term? Certainly her success cannot last. -- Right?
Seeking inspiration for this doodle we took a short bike ride from our Mountain View, California headquarters to our local public library to study an actual piece of the Berlin Wall.
This graffitied chunk of concrete, once a literal division, has been
transformed into a symbol of unity, a reminder to passersby of the
triumph of the collective human spirit. It was moving to see it in
person and, appropriately enough, spray-painted on this special slab are
the German words “Wir lieben dich” — “we love you”. Determined to share this experience on the doodle and others like it around the world,
we enlisted several folks and are grateful for their help.
Our friends at veed.me arranged 17 international film crews to gather footage.
Morgan Stiff edited it all together. We’re especially indebted to Nils Frahm, who composed the video’s beautiful music.
Nils grew up in Germany and had this reflection of the event: I was 7 years old when thousands of East German signature cars arrived in
my hometown Hamburg and filled the air with odd smelling blue smoke.
I saw strangers hugging strangers, tears in their eyes, their voices tired
from singing. I was too young to understand, but I felt that life was
different now and that different was better.
Now it is our obligation to tell this story to all those who couldn't be there,
who could not feel the spark of the peaceful revolution themselves
and more importantly who can't remember how existence feels
when its incarcerated by concrete walls.
It is time to celebrate 25 years of unity. We couldn’t have said it better.Ryan Germick & Liat Ben-Rafael, Google Doodle Team
Welches ist dein Lieblingsfoto? Which of the above photos is your favorite?
Deutsche Welle published the photo below to accompany an article about the weekend celebration in Berlin. The tourist board reported that there were over a million participants. Some of the day's highlights were:
The opening of a new museum chronicling the lives of some of those caught up in fleeing this wall, including a two-and-a-half hour visit by Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" (which has become the European Union's anthem)
The release of those 7000 white helium-filled balloons which lined much of the old wall.
The Stasi files: Germany's 600-million-piece puzzle
By Laura Goehler, CNN
November 7, 2014 -- Updated 1517 GMT (2317 HKT)
Mugshots of Henning Frunder taken by the Stasi after his arrest.
HIDE CAPTION
Stasi files: History's biggest jigsaw puzzle?
<<
<
1
2
3
4
5
>
>>
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Henning Frunder was jailed in East Germany after his plans to leave came to attention of Stasi
Henning Frunder was only 21 years old in
1968 when he decided he wanted to leave Eastern Germany. Polish
fishermen were meant to take him and a group of students across the sea
to the Northern border of West Germany, but the group never made it on
that boat.
Letters to friends in the
West asking for money to pay for the journey ended up in the hands of
East Germany's secret police, the Stasi. A few weeks later, Frunder and
his friends were arrested, put on trial, and sent to jail for trying to
illegally leave East Germany.
Frunder spent months in a
Stasi prison before eventually being deported to Western Germany in the
fall of 1970. At that time he had no idea who sold him and his friends
out.
"We were not trained in conspiracy. Maybe we trusted more people than we should have with our plans," he says.
What was The Stasi?
The Ministery of State Security (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit,)
known as Stasi, was established in 1950 as the secret police and
intelligence service of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED,) East
Germany's governing party. It followed the model of the Soviet secret
police and operated as part of the GDR's massive security apparatus.
The Stasi was known to have widely spied on citizens in Eastern Germany
and to persecute those that opposed and showed subversive behavior
against the Soviet-backed SED-Regime. It functioned as both a domestic
and foreign intelligence service. Before the Berlin Wall came down in
1989, the Stasi had more than 90,000 full-time employees and an even
higher number of secret informants.
What Frunder knew was that it must have been someone that they trusted, someone who pretended to be a friend.
For over 40 years Eastern
Germany's Ministry of State Security, known as the Stasi, spied on its
citizens, often using so-called "informal employees" -- secrets
informants -- to report on their own colleagues, friends and family.
When the Berlin Wall fell
in November 1989, Stasi agents were given the order to cover their
tracks and destroy any evidence that would reveal names of secret
informants, documentation of dealings with the West, protocols and
recordings of trial proceedings -- none of it was ever meant to be seen
by the public.
Activists were able to
stop the destruction when they occupied the Stasi headquarters in
January 1990. Over 45 Million pages of Stasi files had been torn apart
and what the shredder could not handle had been simply torn apart by
hand.
Over 15,000 bags
containing more 600 million pieces of paper were recovered. In 1992, two
years after the German reunification, the Agency for the Federal
Commission for the Stasi Records (BStU) was put in place. Its task: Solve one of history's biggest puzzles.
Roland Jahn is the
Federal Commissioner in charge of the Stasi Records Agency. Jahn is an
ex-Stasi prisoner himself. He says the agency is doing an important job
in dealing with the past. "It is incredibly important for those
concerned to gain access to their files, people get a part of their
lives back that was stolen from them", stresses Jahn. He adds that the
agency providing access to secret police files is unique and serves as
an international role model.
So far 1.5 million
pieces have been put back together, most of them by hand. Currently
about a dozen employees are still manually trying to reconstruct the
files. With 600 million pieces left, continuing the task by hand seems
almost impossible.
"It is important that we
develop systems to speed up the process", says Jahn. In 2007 a computer
system was introduced to accelerate the process. According to the Stasi
Records Agency, the new virtual puzzle system has helped piece back
together four bags so far. To tackle the remaining 15,000 bags a "better
scanner technology has to be developed and put in place," says Jahn.
Decades after being sold out, Henning Frunder had thought he moved on. He didn't think he would ever find out who denounced him.
"Over time I stopped
wondering, I thought it would not change much", he recalls. In 1994 he
received first clues about who his betrayer might have been, but it was
not until 2011, over five decades later, that Frunder received a call
from the Stasi Records Agency. "Out of 15,000 bags they came across one
that had my name in it," he remembers. It was the file of
secret informant Aleksander Radler, a member of Frunder's student group.
Radler, nicknamed "Thomas," spied for the Stasi for over 25 years.
"When I learned that
Radler was living in Sweden, preaching the word of God as a priest, this
is when the outrage came," Frundler continues. But Frunder never
contacted the former spy. "He never showed any remorse, if he did, it
might be interesting to talk to him."
If you chose to live with a lie you damage our democracy. That's why it is important to uncover the truth, even if it hurts. (Stasi Records Agency Commissioner, Roland Jahn)
Even though the recovery
brought back old memories that Frunder thought to had been consigned to
the past, he still believes it is in the interest of society to
reconstruct the Stasi files.
"Looking back at my own
story, I think I was able to deal with it, because I was so young, I
hadn't built much they could take away from me. But he adds that "others
suffered more than we did and I am sure that there are many people out
there that have big blanks to fill, and recovering the Stasi files could
help bridging these gaps in the ordeal they went through."
Stasi Records Agency
Commissioner Roland Jahn sees the confrontation with the past as vital
for the future. "If you chose to live with a lie you damage our
democracy. That's why it is important to uncover the truth, even if it
hurts", he says.
Today, every citizen has
the right to request access to their files at the Stasi Records Agency
either online or in person. In over two decades more than three million
requests for files have been made, with more than 30,000 applications in
2014 alone.
If and when the
remaining 600 million pieces of Stasi files will be puzzled back
together, Jahn cannot tell. It will depend on available funds, public
and political interest and technology.
However, Jahn is proud
of what has been accomplished in the last 25 years. "Germany has shown
how to consistently face the past and deal with it, and being observed
by the international community, it has created something that is of
great importance today."
WASHINGTON POST 25 YEARS MAUERFALL:
also short video (at end) on white balloons illuminating the path of the Berlin wall after 25 years -- and SO much more!
John F. und die Gropiuslerchen -- Berlin, Berlin (Die Mauer ist weg) 1989
1. Hören Sie sich das Lied auf youtube an! Achten Sie auf die erscheinenden
Bilder.
Welche Bilder erkennen Sie?
Beschreiben Sie zwei davon: Wer / Was ist da zu sehen?
Was ist da passier? Wo ist das passiert?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN59HQ_XpcY (oben)
2. Hören Sie sich das Lied noch einmal an und danach diskutieren Sie in der
Gruppe:
Was bedeuten die fettgedruckten Zeilen in dem Liedtext?
“Ich bin ein Berliner!”: Wer hat diesen berühmten Satz gesagt?
In welchem Kontext?
Berlin, Berlin (Die Mauer ist weg) 1989
Today, in a world of freedom
the proudest boast is
--Wir sind das Volk! (x3)
Berlin Berlin, hey -- dein Herz kennt keine Mauern!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- es gibt nichts zu bedauern!
Berlin Berlin, hey
Berlin wird leben und die Mauer wird fallen!
Wenn es um die Freiheit geht,
Wir sind das Volk! -- Wenn es um die Freiheit geht,
Wir sind das Volk! -- Wenn es um die Freiheit geht,
Wir sind das Volk! -- Wir sind das Volk!
Und wir waren dabei.
Meine Damen und Herrn, -- Meine Damen und Herrn,
die Mauer, die Mauer muss weg, weg, weg
Meine Damen und Herrn, -- Meine Damen und Herrn,
Wir sind das Volk!
Und wir waren dabei.
Berlin Berlin, hey -- dein Herz kennt keine Mauern!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- du bist kein Tabu!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- es gibt nichts zu bedauern!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- bei einem Rendezvous!
Ich bin ein Berliner!
Völker der Welt, Ihr Völker der Welt,
wir Deutschen sind jetzt
das glücklichste Volk auf der Welt!
Völker der Welt, Ihr Völker der Welt,
schaut auf diese Stadt!
Herzlich Willkommen!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- dein Herz kennt keine Mauern!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- du bist kein Tabu!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- es gibt nichts zu bedauern!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- bei einem Rendezvous!
Entspannung, -- in der DDR
Entspannung, -- in der DDR
We are ready, -- in der DDR -- Entspannung...
Und wir waren dabei! We are ready!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- dein Herz kennt keine Mauern!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- du bist kein Tabu!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- es gibt nichts zu bedauern!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- bei einem Rendezvous!
Berlin Berlin, hey
Berlin wird leben, -- und die Mauer wird fallen!!!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- Herzlich Willkommen!
Berlin Berlin, hey dein Herz kennt keine Mauern!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- du bist kein Tabu!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- es gibt nichts zu bedauern!
Berlin Berlin, hey -- bei einem Rendezvous!
Border patrol guards had lost permission to shoot at will at border crossings in the spring of 1989. This inspired East-Germans to abandon their apartments and risk everything to live elsewhere. For better or worse, these people felt a need to leave the guided life available to them under Russian influence, and instead, wanted to be in charge of their own futures.
25 years later, there are plenty of people who miss the security they had under communism. The term for this is "Nostalgie," or nostalgia for the East (Ost).
Differences between the two styles of government are becoming even more clear now, with
the border disputes between Russia and the Ukraine;
attacks by radical islamic organizations against capitalist democracies;
Edward Snowden finding shelter in Russia after his revelations;
25 years ago the threat of losing everything were clear.
Here is a 2 minute news clip, which follows the emotions on both sides of this historical event from the perspective of the Soebel family. They were on a camping trip in Hungary 25 years ago, read about the offer to pass through a gap in the wall that afternoon on a flier posted to a tree in their campground, and took up the offer! Guards did not fire upon the picnickers in Hungary, who on the
afternoon of August 19, 1989, slipped through a momentarily-opened
border with Austria. Rather than just freeing a handful of citizens, hundreds slipped through that brief gap, setting the tone for what was soon to follow.
Pilpop filmt Berlin (in Miniatur?) "Little Big Berlin"
"I dedicate this film to Berlin where I have been living for 19 years
now. While the architecture of Berlin is stunningly beautiful, only its
inhabitants make Berlin the unique city that it is. In every corner
there is something new to discover. And the best thing to do is to film
it. Filmed with my beloved Sony HC9. Edited with Sony Vegas Pro
9.The miniature effect is called tilt-shift, which originates from a
particular lens that was used to photograph architecture. The miniature
effect is a by-product of that. It can also be achieved by digital
postprocessing. Music: "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Franz Lisz " -- Does life in Berlin seem that much different than our own? Different in which ways?
All sorts of press infos regarding the Fall of the Berlin Wall can be found here: HIER GIBT ES ALLERLEI PRESSEMATERIAL ZUM MAUERFALL
Mugshots of Henning Frunder taken by the Stasi after his arrest.
