Most of the tourists that take the U-Bahn to Kochstraße go there to see Checkpoint Charlie but they are missing one of the most bizarre landmarks in Berlin just a block away. I was reading about Germany’s ten most surreal landmarks when I saw one of my pictures there and decided that I needed to write about this place.

On the side wall of the Tageszeitung Building on Rudi Dutschke Straße, you can see a sculpture called Peace be With You by Peter Lenk. This weird art installation was erected in 2009 with a giant penis and an uncanny resemblance to Bild editor Kai Diekmann, whose offices are located across the street.




One of the most Bizarre landmarks of Berlin

Since I used to work in the building where this office is located, I saw this artwork every day and the bizarre landmark always stay with me after I walk by it. And since the pictures i take of it gather a curious audience online, I decided to write a post about it.

A photo posted by Fotostrasse (@fotostrasse) on

To explain the meaning behind the artwork, we have to go back 40 years in the past and understand that this street is hosts a 40 year battle between the left wing scene and the newspaper Bild, the most sold newspaper in Europe with a circulation of more than 3 million issues a day. This battle started in the 1960s when student activists held Bild and its headlines responsible for the death of Benno Ohnesorg and the attempted assassination of the student leader Rudi Dutschke. But this was the sixties and I imagined that this sculpture has nothing to do with what happened.

This is a dispute between Bild editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann and the legendary left-wing Tageszeitung newspaper. How does this silly sculpture of Kai Diekmann naked, wearing glasses and with a giant penis that extends all the way to top of the Taz building adds anything to this dispute? I don’t know and it is hard for me to say anything about it but I love the fact that I walk in front of this bizarre landmarks every day.

The Giant Penis next to Checkpoint Charlie

If you want to see one of the bizarre landmarks of Berlin in all its glory, go to the corner of Rudi Dutschke Straße and Charlottenstraße and look beyond the trees. There you will be able to see how weird Berlin streets can be. You can read more about the story and controversy behind this artwork on Spiegel Online: Berlin’s History Res-Erected: Giant Penis Sparks Bizarre Media War

The Giant Penis next to Checkpoint Charlie

Charlottenstraße 85, 10969 Berlin

 

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