Marking History

The memorial project is primarily aimed at commemorating the peaceful revolution of 1989, when popular protests by East Germans forced the state to open the Berlin Wall. That proved to be a pivotal event in the former communist East Germany's rapid demise and Germany's reunification in 1990.

Ahead of the parliamentary discussions on Friday, Nov. 9, the 18th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, a German historical foundation devoted to preserving the often grim memories of the GDR sponsored a contest for German students to come up with possible monument designs.

Bernadette Boebel's winning concept features two steel semicircles placed 10 meters (33 feet) apart, but which appear to join together when viewed from atop a plaque explaining the events of 1989.

The 25-year-old's design, together with others from the competition, is intended to serve as an example of what form the memorial could take.

While the initiative to create a monument to "freedom and unity" has the support of both Germany's two largest political parties, there is disagreement over whether it should be built in Berlin and over precisely what it should commemorate.

Steel tubes everywhere

Supporters argue that Germany, especially considering the prominence of memorials to the Holocaust, also needs to commemorate its democratic traditions and triumphs.

"How a country deals with its past speaks volumes about how it sees itself," Bundestag President Norbert Lammert said at the award ceremony in Berlin's St. Nikolai Church.

But critics say the project focuses on reunification at the expense of other important events and emotions of 1989.

"The design that won first prize is only about national unity," said Luc Jochimsen, a cultural spokeswoman for the opposition Left party. "We've got, God knows, enough of this sort of steel-tube construction elsewhere in Germany. I can't see where the idea of freedom plays any role at all."

The Left party, which is made up mainly of members of the party that succeeded the East German communist party and some former Social Democrats, plans to suggest alternative commemoration ideas on Friday that party members said would emphasize the original goal of the East Germans demonstrations: a desire for civil liberty and freedom from government coercion.

Choosing a location

Berlin may have been the setting of the most spectacular scenes from 1989 -- East and West Germans embracing at border crossings or climbing atop the Wall with hammers to pick away at a hated symbol of political oppression -- but Leipzig, where the mass anti-government demonstrations began, was the actual cradle of the social movement that led to the GDR's downfall.

Supporters argue that the monument has to be located in the German capital in order to function as a national statement.

"I'd like to put the courage of the people up on a pedestal," Lammert said at the award ceremony.

Others, however, would like to see that pedestal erected elsewhere.

"We think that Berlin is the wrong location," said Jochimsen. "We think the focus should be on Leipzig, not Berlin -- and on October 9 rather than November 9."

Oct. 9, 1989 was the date of the first truly mass demonstration in Leipzig, and the fact that police did not violently disperse protestors was considered crucial in keeping the confrontation peaceful.

Monument overkill?

While the vast majority of people agree that the events of 1989 were good for both Germany and the world, the issue of how to commemorate it remains controversial with some observers questioning whether Berlin needs another memorial.

"Hardly any of the memorials and monuments in Berlin get the sort of attention their creators intended," architecture critic Nikolaus Bernau wrote in the daily Berliner Zeitung, adding that the demonstrations were unlikely basis for a monument. "[The revolution of 1989] belongs to those events that have traditionally been celebrated very successfully with festivals and ceremonies, not with monuments."