Leipzig’s spark extinguished

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„From the spark the flame will strike“ was the slogan of the Decembrists, who were the first to fight the tsarist regime in the 19th century. Lenin was inspired by it when he worked in exile in 1900 on the publication of a newspaper to unite the Russian workers‘ movement. It was given the title „Iskra“ (Engl. „Spark“) and was initially published in a small print house near Leipzig. In the former building of this print office, the first permanent museum exhibition on Lenin outside the Soviet Union was created in GDR times. Weiterlesen

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The NVA glass painting

The central figure of the four-part glass painting is a soldier of the GDR-Army (NVA) next to the state symbol, a golden wreath of ears of corn with a hammer and a compass. On the right side Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels can be seen, while on the left a side portrait of Lenin appears in front of a sea of red flags. From the thematic point of view, it could be a typical work of art of the GDR, especially since it is located on a former barracks of the NVA. However, a closer look raises doubts, because both the sketchy style and the deplorable quality of the colors do not fit the art historical context. Weiterlesen

Leipzig’s monumental Lenin in Pirna

How Germany’s largest bust of Lenin ended up in the Saxon district town of Pirna three decades after the reunification is one of the many surprising chronicles of German monuments to Lenin. The bronze sculpture, two and a half meters tall, two meters wide and weighing nearly four tons, was erected in 1981 in front of the Kremlin-like Soviet pavilion at the Old Exhibition Center in Leipzig. It is a work of art by sculptor Georgij Neroda and a copy of the world’s largest bust, a bust of Lenin by Neroda in Ulan-Ude, Siberia. It shows Lenin with slightly Asian features and a friendly look. Weiterlesen

The Lenin Statue of the Socialist Youth Organization

In the permanent exhibition „Our History – Dictatorship and Democracy after 1945“ in the Zeithistorisches Forum Leipzig there is a larger-than-life statue of Lenin. However, not much is known about this black statue made of zinc alloy. Neither its creator, nor the year of its erection, nor its former location are documented; all that is known is that it came from the holdings of the socialist youth organization Free German Youth (FDJ). Weiterlesen

Lenin in the Officers‘ House

In contrast to other Soviet Army sites that today are crumbling apart, the Officers‘ House in Brandenburg an der Havel is in a perfect state of preservation. The association „Jugendkulturfabrik“ is based there and uses the facilities for cultural events. The history of the house and especially the Soviet period is not forgotten, but deliberately emphasized, so that Lenin is also still a present figure. Weiterlesen

Lenin relief brought back to light

Old photos of the Soviet barracks in Möhlau show a relief with a side portrait of Lenin. For years it was thought to have been lost when the Soviet army left, because the remaining stele was blank. But after a quarter of a century of weathering, the top layer of the stele began to peel away and surprisingly, the red colour of the former monument and the outlines of Lenin’s head appeared, although diffuse and blurred. We immediately set out in the hope of restoring the original relief.

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The hidden mural

On the former airfield in Sperenberg (Brandenburg) there is still a flaking Soviet mural with Lenin inside an abandoned building. It is a difficult discovery even for experienced Urbex explorers, because the corridor to the room can only be reached through a small hole in a wall. But first you have to find the right building in this vast ghost town. Weiterlesen

Kopie eines Reliefs

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Die Gemeinde Dallgow-Döberitz liegt südlich von Falkensee, nur wenige Kilometer von Berlin entfernt. Im dortigen sowjetischen Kriegsfriedhof  – einer von den vielen hierzulande – liegen 628 im Kampf um Berlin gefallene Soldaten und Offiziere der Roten Armee und einige Armeeangehörige, die nach 1945 auf deutschem Gebiet stationiert waren und hier verstorben sind. Das Ehrenmal entstand unmittelbar nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg und steht unter Schutz des deutsch-russischen Kriegsgräberabkommen. Es wurde 2014 gründlich saniert. Weiterlesen