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 Lenin's Granite Head Unearthed - Berlin, Germany
N 52° 32.441 E 013° 12.750
33U E 378776 N 5822678
Two newspaper articled about the long journey of Lenin's head to a museum
Waymark Code: WM101FY
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date Posted: 02/08/2019
Views: 4
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During the era of communism, statues of the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin were erected at thousands of public places between Cuba and North Korea. According to the Guinness Book of Records, in 1989, there were 6,000 of them worldwide - only Buddha could claim more more statues than Lenin. Then, in 1989, when almost all communist regimes were topples within just a few months, most of the statues were toppled too. And when people started thinking about preserving a piece of their past - no matter how bad and how wrong it might have been, it was almost too late.
This is the story of East Germany's tallest Lenin-Monument, adored in communist times, then blown to pieces and buried in a forest and 24 years later dug up and placed in a museum.
When Lenin's granite head was "excavated" and put on display, almost every German news media reported it. We found two very well written articles (unfortunately only in German) that were published around the time of the excavation. One is an online article by Deutschlandfunk, the other one is a newspaper article by Berliner Zeitung. |
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 Model of Berlin's Lenin Monument at the exhibition "Unveiled" (Our picture)
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We also found an online article in English langue by i24NEWS (our default article) that perfectly summarizes the story.
The original monument, created by Soviet sculptor Nikolai_Tomsky, was 62 ft (19m) tall. It was placed at a central square in East Berlin in 1970.
Communism ended in 1989, Germany (and Berlin) were reunited in 1990, and in the same year, Berlins city council voted to remove the statue. It was broken up into 130 pieces, which were buried in a fores at the outskirts of Berlin.
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 Lenin Square in East-Berlin 1970
Source: Deutschlandfunk Article |
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 Demolition of the statue in 1990
Source: Deutschlandfunk Article
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In the years that followed, there was a lot of discussion about the question how we were supposed to process our past (and learn from it), if we completely blast it away. In 2014, the idea of an exhibition, covering monuments of all era's of Berlin's turbulent past was born. As part of that exhibition, it was decided to excavate the head of the Lenin statue and make it part of the display.
The two articles mentioned were both written to mark the excavation and transport to the museum.
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 Excavation of the statue's head in 2015
Source: Deutschlandfunk Article |
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 Exhibition "Unveiled" in 2016
(our picture)
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The exhibition Unveiled - Berlin and its Monuments opened in 2016 in a museum at the Spandau Citadel (coordinated of the waymark). It is a unique collection of monuments throughout Berlin's past, covering 700 years of monarchy, a short-lived first republic, two dictatorships and finally a peaceful, democratic reunion.
Here, the 6,000 lb head rests on its side, somehow very visibly illustrating the end of an era and Lenin's fall from grace. Some people ironically call it "the best Lenin-Statue ever."
Copies of both original articles are in the gallery.
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Type of publication: Internet Only
When was the article reported?: 09/11/2015
Publication: i24NEWS
Article Url: [Web Link]
Is Registration Required?: no
How widespread was the article reported?: international
News Category: Society/People
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