Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place vs. home

Posts tagged ‘Mitte’

25T28 Biedermann in Berlin Mitte: 2 sculptural examples

E27, B22.

Born in East Berlin in 1947, Karl Biedermann is a German artist, best known for his sculptures. I highlight here two of his works as memorials, both located in Berlin Mitte. The two locations are separated by a short 1-km walk.

A bronze kneeling torso appears on the west side of Zionskirche (Zion Church). The 1997 sculpture by Karl Biedermann is a memorial to Dietrich Bonhoeffer: theologian, pastor at Zionskirche, and vocal dissident who opposed Nazi programs of forced sterilization and euthanasia. He was arrested at his parents’ house in 1943, and executed for conspiracy at Flössenburg on 9 April 1945, mere weeks before the Nazis’ unconditional surrender.

At the north end of Koppenplatz (Koppen plaza) is what appears to be an open room with a table and two chairs; one of the chairs has fallen over. It’s as if the people who once lived here had to leave quickly and are now gone. This is “Der verlassene Raum”: Denkmal für die deportierten Juden, or “The deserted room”: a memorial for the deported Jews. It’s a reference to the nearby Scheunenviertel, once a thriving hub for Berlin’s Jewish community. Biedermann and landscape architect Eva Butzmann created the sculptural piece for Koppenplatz in 1996.

It’s my 2nd time at the latter sculpture, and the empty eerie feeling has never left me.

Memorial to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, by Karl Biedermann (1997), next to the Zionskirche.
On the granite base of the sculpture is the sculpture’s title and inscription: “Für Dietrich Bonhoeffer” (For Dietrich Bonhoeffer).
“Der verlassene Raum”: Denkmal für die deportierten Juden.
“The deserted room”, memorial for the deported Jews.

I made the images with an iPhone15 on 21 May (first two) and 4 June 2025 (last two). This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T14 The Mitte with allergies

E13, B08.

Today was a bad day. The trees around, they do rain with fluff. And lo, come forth the raging swells of sneezy and runny. Despite the nightly ritual of Loratadine in a tiny 10-milligram pill.

Yet, into Berlin Mitte I must go, into the warm springtime sun for an afternoon of fresh air and new tissues. 🤧

“Hey WeRoad: thanks, but I’m good. I’ve been here many times since 2002, and I’m content with meeting up with friends whom I haven’t seen in years and who’ve been here awhile.”
Der Himmel über Berlin / the sky over Berlin.
Große Hamburger Straße 29: eighty-plus years on, the holes and scars still look fresh.
Rossmann drugstore chain.
Gipsstraße 19.
Gipsstraße 27.
“Milk and honey taken far far away” / “Milch und Honig weit weit weggebracht” This piece of 1990s word-art at Sophie-Gips-Höfe is by American conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner.
That tower again, from Tucholskystraße & Oranienburger Straße.

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 21 May 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.