Erasing the past – how to deal with Communist kitsch?
ADRIAN SCHIOP, DAN ALEXE AND THE BRUSSELS WAZ BUREAU 02.07.2010 @ 11:50 CET Eastern European countries have shown widely different approaches in dealing with the embarrassing heritage of the official art of the former Communist regimes. Some, like Romania, Poland and Estonia, have tried to erase everything, forcefully achieving a collective amnesia. Others, like Germany, Hungary and Lithuania, have banked on the tourist potential of Communist kitsch. Ideological body snatchers: a former Lenin statue bearing the head of Ion Luca Caragiale, a Romanian writer, in front of the National Theatre in Bucharest (Photo: Romania Libera) Description: http://ads.euobserver.com/www/delivery/lg.php?bannerid=343&campaignid=233&zoneid=35&loc=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwaz.euobserver.com%2F887%2F30410&cb=90f8b0dba2 Tourists coming across the massive twin-statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the heart of former East Berlin may think that the re-united Germany has been rather generous in preserving memorabilia from its Communist past. Not so. The much-larger-than-life monument on the "Marx-Engels-Forum" near the famous Alexanderplatz is an exception. In general, Communist kitsch and nostalgic artefacts have been thoroughly disposed of in the former GDR capital, as well as in other parts of what used to be the German Democratic Republic. A 19-metre-tall stone Lenin towering over of what is now the United Nations (formerly Lenin) Square was dismantled in 1991, cut into 129 pieces and buried in a field in the East Berlin suburb of Kopenick. Street names were only kept if they referred to the first two generations of Socialists: The Marxes, Liebknechts and Luxemburgs were mostly allowed to stay. But the Lenins, Dimitroffs and Ulbrichts had to go. The impressive Stalin-Allee, a model of Communist architectural megalomania, was re-baptised Karl-Marx-Allee. Even the much-loved Palast der Republik, nick-named "Erich's (Honecker's) lamp shop" for its plethora of chandeliers, was finally torn down. Meanwhile, remaining parts of the old Berlin Wall, particularly the graffiti-covered "East Side Gallery" have become major tourist attractions. And street vendors still do nice business selling Cold War memorabilia such as Russian uniforms and GDR medals. In Hungary, while symbols of Communism were officially prohibited in 1989 and monuments were rapidly torn down, some were kept and installed in an open-air "Statue Park," which boasts millions of visitors every year. The success of the initiative inspired a Lithuanian entrepreneur, who built a similar park, decorated with statues rented from the state for a period of 20 years. The former Yugoslav countries are a special case. The former Yugoslavia had more of a domestic-style Communism, centred on the figure of Josip Broz Tito. In Croatia, in Tito's birthplace, Kumrovec, the dictator's house is still a museum, visited by many nostalgiacs. One of the central and most beautiful squares in the capital Zagreb is still named "Marshal Tito Square." The square kept its name even during the recent Yugoslav wars and under the authoritarian regime of Franjo Tudjman. It is widely supposed that Tudjman did not want to change the name of the square, hoping that one day it would be named after him. (Unfortunately for Tudjman, after his death only a rather inconspicuous, small square was named after him.) Tito's villas on the island of Brioni are also tourist destinations. Bulgaria represents an intermediate case, having tried to erase most of the communist visual heritage, while keeping some samples. The main Communist monument that stood in the heart of Sofia, the mausoleum of the Stalin-era Communist leader Georgi Dimitrov, was blown up in 1999. Briefly after the fall of Communist strongman Todor Zhivkov, a statue of Vladimir Lenin was removed from one of Sofia's main squares and the red star was taken off from the top of the building which used to house the Communist Party Central Committee (and later became an office building for the members of Parliament). Similar symbols have been razed across the country. However, Stalinist-style monuments to the glory of the liberating Soviet Army have survived, and a gigantic one towers over Sofia's central park. Romania is probably the country which tried the most to liquidate the visual heritage of Communism, in spite of the tourist popularity of Ceausescu's palace (today the seat of the Parliament). Statues were melted down to make new ones, while the stone from many of the former monuments was used for construction work, or, at least in one case, for building a church (in the Transylvanian town of Oradea). Some strange metamorphoses have also taken place: in Bucharest, Lenin's statue was decapitated and received in exchange the head of the most famous national playwright, Ion Luca Caragiale. The resulting hyrid has been installed in front of the National Theatre in Bucharest, from where it watches over passers-by in the Lenin's unmistakable pose - one hand in its pocket, the other one pulling nonchalantly at the lapel of its jacket. It is hoped that this hybrid creature is ideology-free. The ideological body snatchers: a former Lenin statue bearing the head of Ion Luca Caragiale, a Romanian writer, in front of the National Theatre in Bucharest. http://waz.euobserver.com/887/30410
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