A statue, which is under monument protection, but disappears without a trace. An old and forgotten bust, which suddenly is standing at the entrance of the Volkspark. Lenin’s existence in Potsdam is a succession of mysterious incidents and even journalists, politicians and public authorities lose track of it. But let’s analyse these paranormal phenomena closely… Weiterlesen
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When he was young, Lenin had to read and investigate in far stranger places than a university library. From December 1895 until February 1897 he stayed 14 month in a remand prison accused of political agitation, so he had to carry on with his researches behind bars. It’s been told that his first political essays were written there with invisible ink. In February 1897 he was proscribed for three years to the little town of Shushenskoje in Eastsibira (approximately 600 km from the nearest train station), where he set up a little study-room in the little house, in which he lived under constant surveillance of the police, with the purpose of continuing his investigations and his own writings. But it wasn’t until 1900, when he left Russia and began his European exile, that he was able to return to his routine of visiting libraries, in order to work quietly among the smell of old books. Weiterlesen
In October of 1943 a train coming from the Russian city of Pushko arrived at the train-station of Eisleben. The wagons were filled with scrap metal bulky metallic objects, spoils of war from the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The whole shipment was meant to be taken to the Krughütte, a production plant nearby, in order to be melt down. The soviet forced laborers, which were unloading the wagons, didn’t believe their eyes, as they suddenly found in middle of bells, artillery shells and pieces of boats a three meter high statue of Lenin, made of bronze. Their national hero had come to support them in these hard times – it was a miracle! They decided to hide the statue under a mountain of scrap and saved it from destruction. Weiterlesen
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Now that he was relegated from the central spots of the capital, Lenin has got to hang around in remote ruins. In Bernau there are two parcels with big building blocks, which were the headquarter of the Heeresbekleidungsamts – something like a national clothing agency – during the Third Reich. After the war, the Red Army took over the place. The 90. Armoured Division was the last group to use the installations, before they were abandoned in the year of 1993: Where once was a direct train track, in order to deliver asap the new fancy uniforms or the most modern weapons, trees and bushes are growing now completely unwound. And in the buildings, in which generals were discussing the posible development of a third world war, now prevails the decay and a grave silence, which is only interrupted by some distant footsteps and you ask yourself if it’s only the echo of your own ones or maybe the ones of a soldier, which was left behind… Weiterlesen
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Vogelsang, the name sounds very poetic and the landscape around this little village in the region of Oberhavel is quite idyllic. The forest with its tall trees could be part of a fairy tale and actually it conceals some hidden surprises. If you walk from Vogelsang heading north you will get to the ruins of a desolate and decaying military area. During the times of the Democratic Republic of Germany it belonged to the soviet army and there were up to 15.000 soldiers and civilians living in these buildings. During the climax of Cold War nuclear missiles were kept in Vogelsang, in order to be able to attack Paris and London, if the situation would get serious. After using this area for almost 40 years, the soviet army abandoned it in 1994. For two decades it served as exotic, alternative and – because of the rest of ammunition that was spread all around the area – totally forbidden – therefor more demanded tourist attraction. Weiterlesen
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In the form of a statue, Lenin is known almost exclusively in a heroic pose and with a serious look – the great founder of the first socialist state in the world. But in Gera we can find something completely different: In a shady corner in the backyard of the historical court complex in the district of Untermhaus, Lenin is sitting with a very human, quotidian posture and a thoughtful expression. It’s not a big hero, who is represented, but rather a thinker. And the knitted red sock on his left foot definitely completes the uniqueness of this figure, which seems more an existential piece of art than an image of a politic revolutionary. But it’s doubtful that the red sock actually intended to complete this piece of art. It’s rather probable, that this little piece of clothing knitted by the members of a cabaret group, which plays here in the summer season, is a satirical allusion to the pejorative expression „red sock„, used in the past to ridicule left orientated politicians. Weiterlesen
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After his bust was removed from the congress center, Leipzig still had some panels reminding of Lenins stops in this city between 1900 and 1914, engineering his revolutionary ideas and plans. But now the boards that pointed out the spots, in which Lenin used to work and celebrate meetings in Leipzig, also disappeared. Leipzig is officially a Lenin-free-city (again, after many decades). Weiterlesen
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In every corner of the little town of Wünsdorf you can still find traces of the Soviet occupation. Here was located the biggest military area of the Red Army outside the Soviet Union: 590 hectares with 1000 buildings were surrounded by a wall of concrete, and completely inaccessible to the German population. More than 50 000 Soviet soldiers and civilians were living here and there were daily trains directly from the so called “Russian Station” to Moscow. But actually the military use of this territory began much earlier: In the beginning of the 20th century an infantry school was built here. During the III. Reich it was expanded by the Wehrmacht, who installed many important services here such as the intelligence headquarters. In 1945 the Red Army conquered this complex and a few months later the high command of the Soviet Forces in Germany moved to Wünsdorf and continued to expand the military area so that outside the large wall there were still 6.200 hectares for military training being used by the occupying forces. During the times of the GDR, Wünsdorf used to be called the “Little Moscow“. Weiterlesen
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From the top of his red colored pedestal the stone-faced Lenin is looking at the abandoned sports field, which was also used as a parade ground. Once upon a time, soldiers used to march here in neat uniforms and greet their hero with dignity and respect, but now the communist revolutionary can only address himself to the trees and bushes. This entire complex is a representation of oblivion, in which you can still though perceive a glint of the past glamour of the headquarter of the Soviet Army in Germany. Weiterlesen
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The train, which left Zurich the 9th of April 1917, returning a group of Russian socialists, which were living in exile, back to their home country is one of the most important happenings in the 20th century history: This was the train, which took Lenin to Russia, where he would use the politic instability in order to put into practice his revolutionary plans, prepared for year in the libraries and political circles of Zurich. This train crossed Germany from the Swiss border to Sassnitz, where it was loaded on a ferry boat and driven to Sweden, from where ir would finally head towards Petrograd (today St. Petersburg). The Austrian author Stefan Zweig wrote a short-story about this historical episode, which is part of his book Sternstunden der Menschheit. Weiterlesen
LENIN IS STILL AROUND 