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Für Frieden und Sozialismus

Today the Thälmannpark is already a listed monument. But in 1984 the newly inaugurated “Plattenbauten” (prefabricated modular buildings) were the showcase project of the GDR leaders and offered living space and comfort for 4,000 Berliners. The quarter was so important that it was even visited by the GDR sandman.
When Erich Honecker exclaimed “Raise your fist for comrade Ernst Thälmann” the covers fell to release the colossal head of the KPD leader – the manufacture of which had devoured GDR bronze production of the entire year. The creator of the memorial, the Soviet model sculptor Lev Kerbel, was also interested in an all-artistic staging. He felt his work was compromised by the gasometers in the background, and thus the motion to have them demolished gained momentum. This in return fired up the protest of the residents, who were happy that the gasworks had not contaminated laundry and lungs since 1981 but had nevertheless grown fond of the round towers. Some even regard their demolition and the accompanying quiet resistance as the beginning of the end of the GDR.
A glass window in the district office on Fröbelstrasse shows a coat of arms that never existed in this combination. Next to the water tower and the bear it shows a red flag waving in the middle of Plattenbauten arranged in the form of the Thälmann monument.