The colossus in the park – The Thälmann monument in Berlin
In April 1986, a familiar scene unfolded in the heart of East Berlin. In the newly built housing estate in Prenzlauer Berg – a socialist showcase project with green spaces and a parade ground – party and state leader Erich Honecker inaugurated a monument. However, this was not just any statue, but one of the most important protagonists of SED historical propaganda: Ernst Thälmann. Accompanied by the usual prescribed cheering from officials, schoolchildren and members of mass organisations, the monument was ceremoniously unveiled on the occasion of his 100th birthday.
The larger-than-life bronze bust stands on a red granite pedestal as the new centrepiece of Thälmann Park. Thälmann gazes aloof into the distance, his fist raised in front of a waving flag. The monument follows the typical gesture of representative GDR monumental art: the intention was not to engage critically with history, but to stage political hero worship. Created by Soviet sculptor Lev Kerbel, the monument weighs around 50 tonnes and deliberately focuses on symbolic exaggeration rather than a realistic portrait. But who was the man to whom the SED leadership erected a monument here?
A contradictory biography
Ernst Thälmann was born in Hamburg in 1886 and grew up in modest circumstances. Politicised by his work as a dock labourer and his experiences in the labour movement, he took part in the November Revolution after returning from the First World War. In 1925, he became chairman of the Communist Party, which was closely aligned with Moscow. Thälmann played a key role in implementing the Stalinist course. He fundamentally rejected the Weimar Republic, and his uncompromising opposition to social democracy also contributed to the destabilisation of democracy.
After the National Socialists seized power in 1933, Thälmann was arrested as one of the most wanted political opponents. He spent eleven years in prison before being murdered in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944. Thälmann was thus both a victim of National Socialism and an opponent of the Weimar Republic – a biography full of contradictions.
The Thälmann cult in the GDR
By the 1950s at the latest, Thälmann had become a central figure of identification in the GDR. The SED stylised him as an anti-fascist hero and political role model – deliberately ignoring and distorting historical contexts. The two DEFA films »Son of His Class« and »Leader of His Class«, for which Walter Ulbricht personally contributed to the screenplays, made a significant contribution to this glorification.
The veneration of Thälmann was visibly expressed in the widespread naming of businesses, brigades, schools and streets, as well as in the pioneer organisation »Ernst Thälmann«, the largest mass organisation for children in the GDR. Today, the DDR Museum's depot holds numerous material testimonies to this cult – from pins and busts to stamp series and school and history books. This comprehensive state policy of remembrance ensured that Ernst »Teddy« Thälmann is still known to many people today, especially in East Germany. At the same time, the man behind the political symbol faded further and further into the background.
Dispute over demolition, preservation and reinterpretation
After German reunification, the Thälmann monument also became the focus of controversial debates. In 1993, the Berlin Senate decided to demolish it completely. Ultimately, only two accompanying bronze steles with quotations from Honecker and Thälmann were removed and taken to the Spandau Citadel. The monument itself remained standing, but was neither maintained nor cleaned for years and became increasingly covered with graffiti.
In the mid-1990s, resistance to this decline began to grow. In 2000, an action alliance of left-wing parties and initiatives was formed, which organised regular clean-up campaigns. In the meantime, government agencies took over the cleaning. Since 2014, the entire Ernst Thälmann Park estate, including the monument, has been listed as a historic site. Repeated discussions about redesigning the park have so far failed to produce any significant results.
The Thälmann Monument in the new episode of »Orte Ost«
The episode »Ernst Thälmann: The Myth Behind the Monument« from the GDR Museum's film series »Orte Ost« (Places of the East) uses the Thälmann monument as a starting point to shed new light on questions of remembrance culture. Historian Dr Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk traces Thälmann's life, discusses his political responsibility during the Weimar Republic and analyses how the SED ideologically reshaped him from the 1950s onwards.
On site, Kowalczuk focuses on current debates surrounding memory politics: How should we deal with monuments from the GDR? Should they be demolished, preserved or reinterpreted? The Thälmann Monument is not only a relic of past ideologies, but also a starting point for contemporary debates about history in public spaces. Standing in the middle of Berlin, it exemplifies the ongoing process of negotiating collective memory. Using this example, »Orte Ost« shows how historical myths can be questioned, places of remembrance critically classified and perspectives for a reflective approach to them developed.
