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Space II

For the paternalistic leaders of the East, the space at the Mauer was a form of protection, a buffer zone to keep the Cold War wolf, or should I say travelling salesman, away from the door. According to Eastern authorities, the Mauer was put there to protect the East against the influence of the Nazis, who had been so willingly recuperated by the West after World War II. The Wall was somewhat more like a condom, then, a device that allowed the East to stay in bed with the enemy while protecting itself from their opponents disease. As Dick Hebdige puts it, the Berlin Wall was an "antifascist protective rampart." ("Guilt Trips; Coming Up Against The Wall", Art + Text, 36, pp 52-69 ).