Schlagwort: controversial

A Lenin monument that is none

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One of the most surprising chronicles of Lenin monuments in Germany is that of the statue ensemble „Hessendrescher“ in Groß-Gerau. This work by the artist Mario Derra has been standing in front of the historic town hall of this small West-German town since 2007 and shows five figures from the pre-industrial era: three peasants threshing grain and, a little further away, a woman with a child. One of the threshers clearly shows the facial features of Lenin: The leader of the October Revolution holds up the flail and appears relaxed despite the hard work. He probably already suspects that the oppression of the agricultural workers will soon be over. Weiterlesen →

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In the Ruhr Area

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Almost exactly 35 years to the day after the last inauguration of a statue of Lenin on German soil (Schwerin, 22.6.1985), a statue of the Soviet revolutionary leader was unveiled in Gelsenkirchen on 20 June 2020. The 1.2-tonne, 2.10-metre-high cast iron sculpture is located in front of the headquarters of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) at the corner of Schmalhorststraße/An der Rennbahn in the district Gelsenkirchen-Horst. Weiterlesen →

Grandfather Lenin

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The sitting Lenin from Bischofswerda looks grandfatherly. With a serene posture and a light smile, he looks contemplatively to the side. In his left hand he holds a book and marks the page with his index finger, as if after a short pause for thought he wanted to read on. In contrast to many of Lenin’s heroic representations, Manfred Wagner created this calm, reflexive figure in 1970. He was interested in presenting the person behind the hero. Weiterlesen →

Lenin’s spectacular comeback

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1_Revolutionsheld

The chronicle of the Lenin-monument in Großenhain in Sachsen resembles the plot of a Hollywood film. After the German reunification, the 4,80-metre-high concrete block weighing over ten tonnes was dismantled and hidden in a secret operation with the intention of preserving it from a possible destruction. For 25 years, the colossal monument was considered „disappeared“ until its surprising comeback in 2017 to be re-erected in front of the local Bunker Museum. Weiterlesen →

Lenin daubed with red ink

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Red is known to be the color of the Communist movement and of the Russian Revolution. But the act of vandalism carried out in 1990, in which the bust of Lenin in Sassnitz was daubed with red ink, was certainly not meant as a tribute to the Bolshevik revolutionary, but rather as an attack against him.

The sculpture, a creation of the Soviet artist N. Gaumig, was almost one meter high and stood on top of a two meter high pedestal. It was a gift of the Communist Party of the Lettish Socialist Soviet Republik, inaugurated the 11th of April 1970, on the occasion of Lenin’s 100th anniversary, right in front of the recently built secondary school (which was named after W. I. Lenin the same day).

The city of Sassnitz has an historical link to Lenin, since in April of 1917, heading towards Russia in order to start the revolution, he spent a night inside the train in the station of Sassnitz, before taking a ferry boat in order to get to Sweden and carry on the trip to Saint Petersburg. Due to this episode, the figure of Lenin became omnipresent in this little town: Besides the bust, a memorial stone was placed in the center of the village, while in front of the train station a Lenin-museum was opened. Finally, one of the six reliefs composing the Monument to the Victims of Facism was dedicated to him.

With the German reunification, the public worship to Lenin came to an end. The bust in Sassnitz was removed in January of 1993 and taken to the town depot, where it is still standing today, enrolled in a big plastic tarpaulin. The traces of the attack with red ink are still visible, what turns this monument into a unique relic that reflects the last decades of East-German history, from the foundation of the GDR and the origins of the Lenin cult until the protest against the Socialist government, the reunification and the damage or destruction of most of the symbols of the GDR. Due to its historical value, it could be a good idea to place this monument in a public spot again. It would certainly be a unique opportunity for many people to have a direct contact with the real traces of Eastern-German history.

DEUTSCH

Der rot beschmierte Lenin

Rot ist bekannterweise die Farbe der kommunistischen Bewegung und der von Lenin angeführten Russischen Revolution. Aber die bis heute ungeklärte Nacht-und-Nebel-Aktion, bei der die Sassnitzer Leninbüste im Herbst 1990 mit roter Farbe beschmiert wurde, war vermutlich alles andere als eine Huldigung an den Revolutionsführer. Sie scheint eher ein Angriff auf die Figur Lenins zu sein, die wie keine andere kommunistische Ikone nach der Wende den ostdeutschen Denkmalsturm zu spüren bekam.

Die knapp einen Meter hohe Büste wurde anlässlich seines 100. Geburtstags am 11. April 1970 vor der neuerbauten Oberschule (die an diesem Tag den Namen „W. I. Lenin“ bekam) festlich eingeweiht. Die auf einem über zwei Meter hohen Sockel aufgestellte Skulptur aus Stein war eine Schöpfung des sowjetischen Künstlers N. Gaumig. Sie kam nach Sassnitz als Geschenk von der Kommunistischen Partei der Lettischen Sozialistischen Sowjetrepublik. Schließlich hatte Sassnitz einen historischen Bezug zu Lenin: Er hatte hier im April 1917 auf dem Weg nach Russland eine Nacht im Zug verbracht, bevor er am nächsten Morgen in die Fähre stieg und dann über Schweden und Finnland sein Ziel Sankt Petersburg (damals noch Petrograd) erreichte.

Zu DDR-Zeiten war Lenin in Sassnitz vielerorts vorzufinden. Außer der Büste gab es noch einen Lenin-Gedenkstein,ein kleines Lenin-Museum und am Denkmal für die Opfer des Faschismus war ihm eins der sechs Reliefs gewidmet.

Doch die Wiedervereinigung brachte das Ende der öffentlichen Verehrung Lenins und so wurde im Januar 1993 die Büste in das Stadtdepot gefördert, wo sie noch heute samt roter Farbkleckse von einer Plane bedeckt aufbewahrt ist. Das beschädigte Denkmal spiegelt einen wesentlichen Teil der ostdeutschen Geschichte wider und erinnert uns an die Gründung der DDR und die Entstehung des Leninkults, sowie an die späteren Proteste gegen die SED, die Wiedervereinigung und die Beschädigung bzw. Beseitigung der meisten DDR-Symbole. Angesichts seines historischen Wertes wäre es vielleicht keine schlechte Idee, dieses Geschichtszeugnis wieder in der Öffentlichkeit aufzustellen. Selten bekommt man die Geschichte so unvermittelt zu spüren wie vor diesem Leninkopf…

The „x“ marks the spot of the former monument:

Photos from the town-archive in Sassnitz (so the upper b/w picture):

Special Thanks to: Dieter Holtz and Stadtarchiv Sassnitz

Residents save Lenin-monument

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In the small city of Bützow in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern there is still a street named “Leninring”, where a commemorative stone dedicated to the founder of the Soviet Union can be found. The monument stands in front of an apartment block with the typical Socialist architecture style and is in bad shape, partially overgrown with moss. But nevertheless the Communist revolutionary still seems to matter to the residents, who in the year 2011 rebelled against a proposal of the local CDU, to change the name of the street (which would also have meant the demolition of the memorial stone). Weiterlesen →

Lenin‘s head

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head

On April 29th 2016 the exhibition „Unveiled – Berlin and its monuments” was solemnly inaugurated at Zitadelle Spandau. Its main exhibit is a two-meter large head of Lenin with a weight of 3,5 tonnes. It is made of red granite and used to be part of East Germany’s biggest Lenin-monument. After the reunification, the statue was banished from Berlin, dismantled and buried in a forest nearby. This head was especially dug up for this exhibition and attracted a lot of popular and media attention. The explanation for this high interest was not only the figure of Lenin itself, but especially the amazing history of this monument, which could serve as the script for a Hollywood-movie. Weiterlesen →

Schiller vs. Lenin (ENG)

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Lernen

To imagine Lenin participating in some kind of competition or duel against Schiller sounds like one of the weird ideas of the British comedy group Monty Python, which are known for their absurd sketches, such as the one showing a football match between German and Greek philosophers. But as implausible as it may shine: In a small town in Thüringen Schiller and Lenin actually had to compete for a place on a little square. Weiterlesen →