Marx-Engels-Forum is a public park in the central
Mitte
Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding.
It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzb ...
district of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, the capital of
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. It is named for
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
and
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ,["Engels"](_blank)
'' The Communist Manifesto
''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Comm ...
'' of 1848 and regarded as two of the most influential people in the
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
movement. The park was created by the authorities of the former
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
(GDR) in 1986.
Design and construction
In 1977, the sculptor Ludwig Engelhardt was appointed as director of the project to redevelop the park as a tribute to Marx and Engels. While the adjacent Nikolaiviertel was to be rebuilt, the GDR authorities in 1977 set up plans for a green space between the
Palast der Republik
The Palace of the Republic (german: link=no, Palast der Republik) was a building in Berlin that hosted the ''Volkskammer'', the parliament of East Germany, from 1976 to 1990.
The Palace of the Republic, also known as the "People's Palace", was ...
and the
Fernsehturm. It consists of a rectangular wooded park with a large, circular paved area in the center with Engelhardt's sculpture of Marx and Engels. Behind the statues is a wall with reliefs showing scenes from the history of the German socialist movement. The inauguration took place in 1986. The bronze sculpture, larger than life-size, depicts Marx seated and Engels standing upon a small platform, gazing fixedly towards the east, “past the stelae and toward a socialist paradise.”
In Engelhardt’s statue, Marx and Engels are situated at eye level, accessible to pedestrians and available to touch. The leaders are depicted in a humble, solemn manner, which is sometimes interpreted as symbolizing the waning power of East European Communism.
Minister of Culture Hans-Joachim Hoffmann said of the monument, “We will soon have a Karl Marx monument and this Karl Marx monument will make clear the contrast with this Frederick the Second that is about to be erected, because it will be clear that we will not be looking up Karl Marx’s nostrils; rather, we will be able to hold conversations with him and with Friedrich Engels and there will be a new spirit, a new art, a new understanding of the portrayal of great social issues of the time.”
Location
The Marx-Engels-Forum lies on the eastern bank of the Spree river. It is bound on the south-west by the river, to the north-west by Karl-Liebknecht-Straße, to the north-east by Spandauer Straße and to the south-east by Rathausstraße obliquely opposite of the Rotes Rathaus. Across the river it faces the site formerly occupied by the Palast der Republik (now demolished) and the reconstructed Berliner Stadtschloss.
Before World War II the area now occupied by Marx-Engels-Forum was a densely populated Old Town quarter between the river and Alexanderplatz, named Heilige-Geist-Viertel after Heiligegeiststraße (Holy Ghost Street) which ran across it between Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße (now Karl-Liebknecht-Straße) and Rathausstraße. This was supposed to finish the center appearance around the Berlin Stadtschloss
(Berlin Palace) fitting in with the planning of the pre-war Berlin. However, this area, including the main post office, was heavily bombed during Allied air attacks in 1944/45 and most of its buildings were reduced to ruins. After the war the ruins were cleared but nothing replaced them until the Marx-Engels-Forum was constructed.
Public reception and criticism
Engelhardt’s sculpture has elicited a range of reactions since its construction. Immediately after the statue was erected, the artist expressed his discontent with the little attention it was receiving. Engelhardt complained in a letter written to East German leader
Erich Honecker
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...
within the first six months of the statue’s appearance, “the silence surrounding our work was nearly unbroken.” Honecker in response ordered East Berliners, and later East German citizens, to visit the statue and surrounding area under threat of imprisonment.
Soon after, however, the monument to the two leaders became well-liked by the Berlin public. Its main audience consisted of locals, travelers, artists, and academics, who liked and somewhat pitied the two modest looking figures, at one point even nicknaming them ‘The Pensioners.’ After Engelhardt again complained to Honecker about this moniker,
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990.
The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
chief
Erich Mielke
Erich Fritz Emil Mielke (; 28 December 1907 – 21 May 2000) was a German communist official who served as head of the East German Ministry for State Security (''Ministerium für Staatsicherheit'' – MfS), better known as the Stasi, from 1957 u ...
was instructed to investigate and punish those responsible for creating the nickname.
After German reunification in 1990, the future of the Marx-Engels Forum became the subject of public controversy. The sculpture was vandalized with the phrase Wir sind unschuldig (we are innocent) scrawled on the pedestal. Engelhardt complained to German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
to no avail.
A survey conducted by the Berlin art journal ''Pan'' inquired about the public’s thoughts on the monument; 67 percent of respondents were in favor of keeping the monument standing while 23 percent advocated for its removal.
The former view eventually prevailed. The statues are now a tourist attraction, and a steady stream of people sit on Marx's knee to have their photos taken. With the planned extension of the U5 line of the Berlin U-Bahn turning the park into a construction site for several years, the Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit has recently launched a discussion whether to rebuild the medieval quarter afterwards.
References
*
External links
{{Commons-inline, Marx-Engels-Forum
Squares in Berlin
Buildings and structures in Mitte
Karl Marx