'Scenes from Behind the Wall'

“Scenes from Behind the Wall” is a historic photography exhibit with a Floyd connection.   Scheduled to open on February 4^th at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts, the exhibit features images of East Germany, taken by Helmut Brinkman and Page Chichester just after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989/90.  Chichester, a photo-journalist and past editor of Virginia magazine, is the brother of Lee Chichester, Jacksonville Center’s developmental coordinator.

The black-and-white photograph series documents what life was like in East Germany under Soviet rule, which occurred for four decades following the end of WWII.  The exhibit was shown at the Virginia Museum for Fine Arts in Richmond and throughout the region from 1994 to 2009 as part of the museum’s Traveling Museum and Media Services.  In 2009 the large crates of photographs were delivered to Chichester’s mother in Roanoke.  Page Chichester, who grew up in Culpeper, currently lives in Germany, as does Brinkman, a German native.  “We’ve known it was available.  It was a matter of scheduling it in,” said Lee Chichester about the exhibit. 

The opening reception, which is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the 4^th, is creating a buzz of interest around the center and beyond.  It will feature traditional German refreshments and a gallery talk by Floyd Countians Barbara and Clemens von Claparede, West Germany natives. The von Claparedes will reflect on their memories of the Berlin Wall and discuss how it affected their lives. 

Tom Freudenthal will also be on hand at the gallery talk, which will begin at 2:30.  “He was a newspaper editor in Berlin during the waning days of the wall,” said Jacksonville Center executive director, John McEnhill.

Holding up a photograph taken by Brinkman of children chiseling away at the wall, Chichester explained that everyone on both sides of the wall took part in chipping it away before heavy equipment demolished it. Chunks of the wall were sold as souvenirs and some of it was saved for museum purposes.  “Barbara has a piece she plans on bringing,” Chichester said.

The exhibit photographs reveal how far behind the time of the world that East Germany had fallen, Chichester said. “It was like time had not moved forward at all since the 1950’s.”  Describing the East Germans from the stories her brother told of his photo journey, she said the authorities were unwelcoming and suspicious, but the people were wonderful. 

“They were really excited about having access to a whole world that they had been deprived of, but they were also concerned.  There were a lot of adjustments on both sides of the wall that had to be made for reunification.” Challenges were related to the communist indoctrination of East Germans and the wide economic gap between the east and the west, Chichester explained.  “It’s only been recently that Germany is beginning to feel like one nation again.” 

Chichester noted that the exhibit experience is enhanced by her brother’s narrative and her sister-in-law Katharina’s perspective, which is outlined as a travelogue/dialogue in a 20-page catalog that will be available at the showing. Their narratives add context to the striking images, Chichester said.  “As a German from West Berlin, Katharina remembers when the wall went up and what life was like.” 

The concrete wall, completed in 1961, was built to stop emigration from East Berlin into West Berlin. “It divided families, a nation, political ideology and infrastructure,” Chichester said.  She described “No Man’s Land,” the space between two walls where East Germans attempting escape would be tripped up by mines and wire and shot by guards in towers.  “It’s important for us to remember,” Chichester added, referring to the expression, ‘if you don’t remember your history, you’ll be doomed to repeat it.’

Barbara von Claparede explained how Berlin, the nation’s capital pre-WWII, was an island separated into East and West and surrounded by East Germany territory. She recalled the fear she felt traveling with her family through strict check points at the East Germany border to visit her grandmother in West Berlin. Visits were strictly timed and West German families were thoroughly searched. “They went through every tiny thing in our backpack while we were standing out in the cold. I can’t even describe the fear,” von Claparede said about one particularly tense border crossing when her grandmother was dying.

Von Claparede remembers her family putting together yearly packages of coffee, flour, lard and chocolate (only allowed items) and sending them to East Germans they didn’t know.  “Every time we drove through the east zone we had packages of chocolate wrapped in newspaper. When we passed through bridges we could see East German kids standing on the bridges and we threw the chocolates out and could see the kids running down to get them.  It was all in secret. If the Stasi (the East Germany ministry for State Security) saw it, we’d be busted.”

Back home in West Germany, von Claparede, like other German children, was not taught about Hitler in school.  “It was taboo,” she said.   The lack of public acknowledgement of WWII history, coupled with the horrific stories her parents told of Hitler’s reign, made the Berlin Wall even more scary and confusing for von Claparede as a child. 

Jacksonville Center gallery coordinator, Lore Deighan, says that having the von Claparede’s input will personalize the exhibit experience for her and bring a better understanding of that time in history and the emotional impact it had on those who experienced it.   “It captures a time and place that is very different for me,” she said.

McEnhill is so excited about the reception that he worked his vacation around it, to assure that he could attend.  Recognizing the historic importance of the exhibit, he plans to notifty schools and encourage school groups to attend.  He sees the exhibit as a welcome addition to the center’s gallery programming.   “This show is the start of an exciting change in the gallery program.  I encourage the community to keep an eye on the Hayloft Gallery exhibits this year. They’ll be something for everyone,” he said.