peter fechter (14 january 1944 – 17 august 1962) aged 18, one of the first victims of the berlin wall’s border guards while trying to cross over to what was then west berlin.
about 1 year after the construction of the wall, fechter attempted to flee from the gdr (german democratic republic) together with his friend helmut kulbeik. the plan was to hide in a carpenter’s workshop near the wall in zimmerstrasse and, after observing the border guards from there, to jump out of a window into the so-called death-strip (a strip running between the main wall and a parallel fence which they had recently started to construct), run across it, and climb over the 2 metre (6.5 ft) wall topped with barbed wire into the kreuzberg district of west berlin near checkpoint charlie.
when both reached the wall, guards fired at them. although kulbeik succeeded in crossing the wall, fechter, still on the wall, was shot in the pelvis in plain view of hundreds of witnesses. he fell back into the death-strip on the eastern side, where he remained in view of western onlookers, including journalists. despite his screams, he received no medical assistance either from the east or the west side. he bled to death after approximately 1 hour. as a result of his death, hundreds in west berlin formed a spontaneous demonstration, shouting “murderers!” at the border guards.
the lack of medical assistance for peter fechter was attributed to mutual fear: western bystanders were apparently prevented at gunpoint from assisting him, although according to a report in time magazine, a u.s. second-lieutenant on the scene received specific orders from the us commandant in west berlin to stand firm and do nothing. it also emerged during the trial that any aid attempt from the west had indeed been made impossible, but according to a report from forensic pathologist otto prokop, “fechter had no chance of survival. the shot in the right hip had caused severe internal injuries.” likewise the head of the gdr border platoon stated that he was afraid to intervene, because of an incident just 3 days earlier when a gdr soldier rudi arnstadt had probably been shot by a western federal policeman. nonetheless, the gdr border soldiers did retrieve peter fechter’s dead body an hour after he had fallen.
song: lovesick album: still lifes are failing band: the vanishing germany - 2004
lovesick, lovesick, lovesick, oh! lovesick in my heart oh no! lovesick, lovesick, lovesick, oh! lovesick in my heart oh no! lovesick in my heart, lovesick all alone i’m not gonna take your shit anymore get off of my tit! get off of my tit! you’re not my baby!
melting man by nele azevedo berlin, germany
an installation of 1000 melting men in collaboration with the wwf to highlight global warming.
song: caffeine album: you make me real band: brandt brauer frick germany - 2010
great artwork. pretty much alike 1984. (thanks to vainaspaver)
+: check out the website for larger versions of even more cities.
song: all that i wanted album: belfegore band: belfegore germany - 1984
: doppelgänger
(fiction, folklore, and popular culture) is a tangible double of a living person that typically represents evil. in the vernacular, the word doppelgänger has come to refer (as in german “doppelt(e)”) to any double or look-alike of a person.
the word is also used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection. doppelgängers are often perceived as a sinister form of bilocation and generally regarded as harbingers of bad luck. in some traditions, a doppelgänger seen by a person’s friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one’s own doppelgänger is an omen of death.
in norse mythology, a vardøger is a ghostly double who precedes a living person and is seen performing their actions in advance. in ancient egyptian mythology, a “ka” was a tangible “spirit double” having the same memories and feeling as the original person.
+: fetch, a doppelgänger or double in irish folklore.
little big berlin directed by pilpop using tilt-shift video/photography
music: hungarian rhapsody no. 2 artist: franz lizst
memorial by raquelfialho memorial to the murdered jews of europe, berlin, germany.
song: da da da (ich lieb dich nicht, du liebst mich nicht) album: trio band: trio germany - 1981
was ist los mit dir mein schatz? aha. geht es immer nur bergab? aha. geht nur das was du verstehst? aha. this ist what you got to know. loved you thow we didn`t show
