Check Point Charlie Monument

Checkpoint Charlie at the height of the Cold War
Gerhard Shroeder's Socialists will have their last swipe at Americans.  The City of Berlin's Socialist government plans to bulldoze the monument at the infamous Checkpoint Charlie on July 4th.  After public outcry from families of the victims memorialized there and veterans groups, the government changed the demolition time from 4 o'clock in the morning on July 4th in Germany to the same time the following day, out of concern for the bad publicity, apparently.  It is still the 4th of July in the US, however as David's Medienkritik points out.  Go to David's post and find out how you can express your outrage and pass the word!

The Checkpoint now: Crosses for those who died trying to escape Communism

Update on Thursday, June 30, 2005 at 04:11PM by bbmoe

It never fails.  We put everyone on high alert and it turns out that this memorial isn't official.  It's sort of an urban art project (a very nice one) but the artist leased the space and the lease is up.  The City of Berlin, in its infinite wisdom thought that July 4th was the perfect day to BULLDOZE A BUNCH OF CROSSES.  Those Socialists, such comedians!

There is actually an official memorial/museum for Checkpoint Charlie elsewhere.  This seems like a very nice commemoration, very heartfelt on the part of the artist, and God knows that there are few enough artists wanting to commemorate freedom.  Usually when artists and cities collaborate for art in public spaces, arrangements are made for dismantling the artwork, if it's to be displayed for a limited period of time. That kind of planning would have been especially appropriate in a case like this.  As it is, a bank owns the lot and leased it to the artist for six months.  When the lease was up, the bank asked her to clear the land and she sued to keep the memorial there.  The courts upheld the bank's position, as they should have apparently.   To use the sentimental appeal of the memorial to try to take property away from the rightful owner is rather sleazy.

Comments

[The Redhunter]

Thanks, bbmoe. I saw the stories in the Washington Times and WaPo. Neither story was very clear, though, on what was going on.