Berliner Baere

The symbol of Berlin, the bear, can be seen throughout the city: on seals, on flags, and, most significantly this summer, in the form of 8 foot tall painted statues throughout the city. The main collection of these painted bears is headquartered at the famous Humboldt Universitaet, the university where Einstein, Marx, and Engels, among others studied. The courtyard at Humboldt holds so much history; it’s the spot where the infamous book burning occurred under Hitler (for which there is a wonderfully poignant memorial: a sheet of clear glass built into the cobblestones where one can look down below ground and see empty book shelves, alongside a quote from Heinrich Heine which says when you destroy books, you destroy humanity – though it sounds much more poetic auf Deutsch) where books written by Jews, Communists, and others were forever destroyed. There, in that very courtyard is a ring of painted bears – about 150 in all – each decorated by the different countries of the world. The bears range from humorous – the Cuban bear with a cigar in its mouth – to sublime – the Japanese bear in all white, except for a red circle on its paw – to the strangely abstract – Canada’s broken pottery covered bear. Initially organized for the World Cup, but still standing now, it is as much a fascinating cultural-political installment in which one can observe the differences in how countries around the world choose to represent themselves, as it is visually stunning. It also serves as yet another example of the layers of meaning that permeate all throughout Berlin; in just the last century, that square has been host to some of the world’s greatest thinkers, suffered one of the world’s worst attacks on academia and social thought, has been held hostage during the Cold War as Berlin lay divided, and now, represents a celebration of the world cup, the countries of the world, and truly of the city of Berlin.

On a side note, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this blog has been named a “blog of note” by blogger, and I am thrilled to be receiving comments from people reading the blog from all around the world. I started this blog just to share stories with family and friends back home, but I am really excited to be able to share stories and pictures of perhaps my favorite city in the world, Berlin, with all of you. It’s been great reading everyone’s comments; please continue to do so…thank you!

Now, onto the bears!