The Angel on the Wall
At Bernauer Straße in Berlin two symbols meet. They tell a story of people who stand tall against that which seems unpassable and unsurmountable. This is the story of the angel on the wall.
By Árni Svanur Daníelsson
The Wall
The Wall is no more. It fell on an eventful night in November 1989 and the world watched. Yet parts and pieces of it remain. Some are still standing where they were erected. Some have even been rebuilt to ensure the memory remains with us as a people so that we can learn from this collective experience.
We know where it stood and the Wall remains a site for various kinds of pilgrimages. You can travel around it on foot, on a bike, in a car — thinking along the way about how it affected people, about the society that erected the Wall. Thinking about the people who stood on different sides of the Wall.
What were their stories?
How did they feel?
The Chapel
The Berlin Wall Memorial is at Bernauer Straße. Close to it is a small chapel called Kapelle der Versöhnung – The chapel of Reconciliation. It stands at the site of a church by the same name – the Church of Reconciliation. The chapel shares a relation to the Cathedral of Coventry in England and in it we find a so-called Coventry cross, made of nails from the old Coventry cathedral.
In itself this makes the chapel special, but there is more. On the altar in the chapel there is a crucifix. It shows a small and rather frail figure of Christ. Hanging. Still alive.
The Cross of Christ has been interpreted in various ways throughout history. Put quite simple we can say: In the first centuries of Christianity there was the image of Christ as the lamb sacrificed on the cross. Then there was the image of Christ who is on the cross victorious over sin and death. In the middle ages there emerged the image of Christ as the mediator, who steps in and pays the dues of sin so that mankind can be forgiven and God and human can be reconciled. Later there emerged an image of Christ as the divine teacher who performs the ultimate act of self-sacrifice and non-violence on the cross.
The symbol
What about the cross as a symbol.
What kind of symbol is it?
We know that during the time of Jesus and the apostles the cross was a symbol of oppression. It was a cruel instrument of torture, one that led to a public and humiliating death. It was also a way for authorities to send a message: This can happen if you step out of bounds.
Why then did the Christians embrace the cross and use it as a symbol of their religion?
The reason is the belief that Jesus not only died but was resurrected, a belief that inspired Paul to write in his letter to the Corinthians (15:55):
“Where, Death, is your victory?
Where, Death, is your power to hurt?”
And in the Gospel of Luke we read of angels who say to the women who come to the tomb of Jesus (24:5–6):
“Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? He is not here; he has been raised.
So the cross became a symbol of defeat that turned into a victory.
The Angel
The Wall is no more. It has been broken and where it once stood the unified city has taken over. Yet parts of it remain. And they are symbolic. They represent oppression and freedom at the same time.
Some parts of the Wall are gray and cold. Others have been decorated. Some by well known artists. Others by unknown artists. They are covered in graffiti. The East Side Gallery is perhaps the best example of this — but we also find examples of the expression of artists at Bernauer Straße.
One such decoration stands quite close to the Chapel of Reconciliation. In front of it is a a memorial with photographs of those who lost their lives at the Wall. They were murdered as they fled from oppression.
If we look through the photos we see an image.
Of an angel on the Wall.
It is yellow.
And chubby.
Like a small cherub.
And it represents freedom.
A minute’s walk away is the Chapel.
And there we find Christ.
Nailed to the cross.
The message
If you happen to find yourself in the Chapel at dusk.
The sunset makes something magical happen.
The sun shining through a window casts a shadow on the wall.
And as the earth moves the shadow moves with it.
And we learn the truth about Christ on the cross in the Chapel.
He isn’t stuck there.
One of his hands is free.
And what does he do with it?
He blesses.
That is the message of the cross.
It seems to me that perhaps Jesus on the Cross in the Chapel of Reconciliation and the chubby Angel on the Wall are waving to each other. And at the very least they correspond to each other. In the same manner as the Cross and the Wall correspond to each other.
So these two, the Cross and the Wall, are the same or at least similar. They are symbols of pain and oppression, symbols of a lack of freedom. But the story and their significance doesn’t end there. They are also symbols of the fight against oppression and the victory over it, symbols of freedom and possibility. Of the possibilites that people like you and I have to create and to live and to experience that which is greater than ourselves.
So at Bernauer Straße in Berlin two important symbols meet. The religious symbol of the cross and the human symbol of the Wall. They meet and tell the same kind of story, a story of people who stand tall against that which seems unpassable and unsurmountable. Of people who stood against violence without resorting to violence, who pushed until the Wall collapsed and became a symbol of freedom and not oppression.
That is the story of the Angel on the Wall.
