The Reichstag graffiti
$52.50
(available to order)
Summary:
The walls of the Reichstag are covered with graffiti, written by victorious Soviet soldiers in 1945. Hidden for 30 years, the Reichstag graffiti were rediscovered by Norman Foster and his team when they began work on the building in 1995. They were preserved as part of Foster’s concept of the Reichstag as a ‘living museum’ of German history. Published at a time when the(...)
March 2003, Berlin
The Reichstag graffiti
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Price:
$52.50
(available to order)
Summary:
The walls of the Reichstag are covered with graffiti, written by victorious Soviet soldiers in 1945. Hidden for 30 years, the Reichstag graffiti were rediscovered by Norman Foster and his team when they began work on the building in 1995. They were preserved as part of Foster’s concept of the Reichstag as a ‘living museum’ of German history. Published at a time when the graffiti are threatened with eradication, this book offers an important visual and literary record. Deborah Lipstadt considers the arguments for and against the preservation of the graffiti: is the preservation, as some charge, "morally offensive" and "masochistic" or does it indicate a brave determination not to forget the tragedies of the past? And what does it mean and say about Germany today? Frederick Baker considers the graffiti as a monument to the individual and offers an historical account of the Battle of Berlin through the eyes of Red Army soldiers as they approached their ultimate goal, including the soldier who first raised the Red Flag above the Reichstag. This illustrated volume allows the inscriptions to be made accessible and understandable to a wider public for the first time.