Berlin Wall Graffiti Was Protest Art

Monday, November 9, 2009, marks the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the physical and symbolic barrier that divided West and East Germany during the post-World War II era. The wall was erected in 1961 and torn down in 1989.

As a youngster, I lived in Germany in the late 1950s before the Wall was built, in the mid-1960s and later in the early 1980s during the Wall period, and have visited Germany a number of times since the Wall came down and Germany has reunified. This long span has given me time to reflect on the Wall from various aspects.

One of the most interesting aspects is the artistic. On the Western side of the Wall, the German people used the concrete ribbon that divided their country as a canvas for graffiti art that protested the grimness of the Wall as much as its geopolitical reality.

Graffiti have existed since ancient times. The Greeks and Romans used this type of street art. Though often considered merely a form of vandalism, graffiti often have served higher purposes, mainly to convey social or political messages, such as protest. Today such art often is associated with urban hip-hop culture and gang “tags” (or logos). But there also have been efforts at commercialization of graffiti, and the artform has been used as an element of community building, especially for disaffected youth.

More than mere street art decoration, on the Berlin Wall graffiti protested the political and social conditions of the postwar period that forced Germany to remain divided long after the thunder of World War II battles had died away.

Fragments of the Wall can now be seen in institutions around the world, including the Museum of World Treasures in Wichita, Kansas, where a section of the Wall has been placed by the American Overseas Schools Historical Society (AOSHS), on which board of directors I happen to serve at the moment.