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By means of a giant poster Walter Uhlbricht addresses the inhabitants of the labourer's paradise: "Niemand hat die Absicht eine Mauer zu errichten!" We do not have to delve to deeply into the past to doubt the truth of this slogan. One day it seemed necessary to defend the German Democratic Republic against revisionist conspiracies of perfidious foreigners, who poisoned the minds of the inhabitants of the new utopia to the extent where they even braved the riscs of fully automatic machinegunposts and minefields to escape - toward the west! Once again we see the familiar, all too familiar historical footage of people struggling through the barbed wire, of Vopos on guard near the Wall and soldiers attempting to emit something like glory in a Prussian parade-march, of smug authorities in an official portrait not yet aware this would be used in evidence against them later on. These images are presented in isolating frames, relieved with colourful stripes and smudges as if they were part of a modern advertising campaign and accompanied by a beautiful song sung by a people's choir. But then it becomes clear that not everything in the garden is lovely. The pictures are shown haltingly and tentatively, while abundant use of the rewind button has been made, as if the documentary maker simply cannot grasp the enormity of these events. He even smashes the glass of the television screen with a hammer, an understandable expression of disgust, but also a classical mistaking of the messenger for the message. And how did it end? Under the barbed wire pigeons found a quiet spot and graffiti writers a morally correct target, until the Wall came down and the next chapter could begin.
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Erik Daams
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