The Reichstag Graffiti | David Jenkins (Jovis Verlag)

The Reichstag Graffiti | David Jenkins (Jovis Verlag)

Regular price €85.00 Sale

used book, in very good condition, like new !

only one copy available!!

Hardcover cover 

Half cloth in slipcase
22,9 x 28 cm
128 pages, approx. 81 col. and 56 b/w
English and German text
ISBN 978-3-931321-05-5
Published in 2003

In the Reichstag the walls speak. They are covered with Russian graffiti, written by victorious Soviet soldiers in 1945. Hidden for 30 years, the graffiti were rediscovered by Norman Foster and his team when they began work on the building in 1995. They were preserved as part of Foster’s concept of the Reichstag as a ‘living museum’ of German history. Published at a time when the graffiti are threatened with eradication, this book offers an important visual and literary record. Deborah Lipstadt considers the arguments for and against the preservation of the graffiti: is the preservation, as some charge, "morally offensive" and "masochistic" or does it indicate a brave determination not to forget the tragedies of the past? And what does it mean and say about Germany today? Frederick Baker considers the graffiti as a monument to the individual and offers an historical account of the Battle of Berlin through the eyes of Red Army soldiers as they approached their ultimate goal, including the soldier who first raised the Red Flag above the Reichstag. This richly illustrated volume allows the inscriptions to be made accessible and understandable to a wider public for the first time.

With an introduction by Lord Norman Foster and contributions by Frederick Baker and Deborah Lipstadt Photos by Reinhard Görner