Poster of the Week

N.E.W.S.
Lex Drewinski
Silkscreen, 1990
Berlin, Germany

The Berlin Wall--which had divided East and West Berlin for nearly 30 years--fell on November 9, 1989, 25 years ago this weekend. The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) began construction of the fortified barrier in 1961 to prevent East German citizens from defecting.   

There are many dramatic photos of West Germans pulling parts of the wall down with hammers and machinery, but the wall's actual demolition by the East German military didn't begin until June 13, 1990 and was not completed until 1992. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.

As the world commemorates the destruction of one wall, other walls continue to be erected: The Separation Wall (also known as the Apartheid Wall) being built by Israel in the Occupied West Bank, and the border wall being erected between the U.S. and Mexico. When will we ever learn. 

CSPG's Poster of the Week by Lex Drewinski plays on both the headline N.E.W.S. made when the Wall fell, and the East-West divide.  It shows how after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, there was no longer an "East" as the majority of people living in East Germany wanted the freedom and lifestyles symbolized  by the West.