Most tourists that take the U-Bahn to Kochstraße go there to see Checkpoint Charlie but are missing one of the most bizarre landmarks in Berlin just a block away.
I was reading an article 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 former 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 daily, and the bizarre landmark always stays with me after I walk by it. And since the pictures I took gathered a curious audience online, I decided to write a post about them.
To explain the meaning behind the artwork, we have to go back 40 years and understand that this street is hosting 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 had 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 the top of the Taz building adds anything to this dispute? I don’t know and I don’t care.
I don’t know why this monstrosity exists, and it is hard to say anything about it, but I love that I used to walk in front of these bizarre landmarks every day.
If you want to see one of Berlin’s bizarre landmarks in all its glory, go to the corner of Rudi Dutschke Straße and Charlottenstraße and look beyond the trees.
There, you will 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
Berlin Bizarre Landmarks: The Giant Penis next to Checkpoint Charlie
Charlottenstraße 85, 10969 Berlin
