Ampelmännchen

Walking through Berlin was a special, but strange experience. I shivered when we passed the Reichstag where Hitler took over in a democratical way. I had mixed feelings seeing how much of the buildings and culture of this city was destroyed by allied bombs in 1945. No city should ever suffer like Berlin. On the other hand, without these bombings the Nazi's might never have surrendered. This historical question of 'right' and 'wrong' was never more actual than in the streets of Berlin.

The post '45 history in Berlin was of course dominated by the erection of the Berlin wall in 1961. I will write more about the wall next week, when I can upload my photo's from the 'House at Checkpoint Charlie museum'. Still today, 18 years after the wall was taken down, you can feel the difference between the east and west. The luxurious Kaufhaus des Westens at the Kurfürstendamm is the most luxurious shopping mall of Germany. On the other side, at the Alexanderplatz, the eastern Kaufhaus is superfluous, but the quality of the products is still visibly less. The same holds true for the condition of the houses, metrostations and even the way the people look. One other remnant of the 28 year separation of the city is Ampelmännchen.

In West-Berlin, all pedestrian trafficlights depict the regular pedestrian figure. In the east, a funny figure was designed in the communist era that is called 'Ampelmännchen' (which means 'trafic light man'). All trafficlights in East-Berlin depict this little figure instead of the regular one. After 1989 the German government wanted to replace all the eastern trafficlights by western ones. In response, a nostalgic feeling arose. There is an ampelmann-website, and all over the city ampelmann-gadgets can be bought. Somehow, the residents of the former GDR feel that Ampelmännchen connects them to a past, which was horrific yet fills them with nostalgia at the same time. They host feelings of not being appreciated fully by their western neighbours and by not seeing a significant improvement in their living conditions under capitalism. Ampelmännchen is somehow a comfort to them, every time they cross the streets.

I too bought some Ampelmann items. Not just because I really like the little green figure with his dignitary hat and pace, but also because it occurred to me that Ampelmännchen is a great means to teach communism, capitalism, and the history of this devided city to my students this coming year.