back to the GDR by Hylke van der Heide

On a cold morning in January 2024 en route to the Reichstag in Berlin, I accidentally came upon a peasant protest in front of the Brandenburg Gate. A piece of recent history and pretty much one of the main elements of the city of Berlin is the history of its division that took place between August 1961 and November 1989. The flag lining all the cars is very indicative of the unrest of the past decade. Farmers from mainly eastern Germany, which not only lags behind the economy in the west but also has mainly an agricultural economy, almost get a strange feeling of nostalgia for the old days.

What is even more telling about this picture is that it was taken from the former West Berlin. Where Ronald Reagen gave the famous speech saying: ''Mister Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!'' barely 36 years later stands this tractor with the flag of the GDR. I can hardly imagine a greater stalemate between the 20th and 21st centuries.

I have been inspired all my life in people, history, psychology and symbolism. Personally, while making this picture, I could not stop my own euphoria. I dare say I really have an obsession with the former showdown of the 2 world's idealistic models of society and sometimes feel nostalgic for the time when we still yearned for true ideals such as freedom and fraternisation. 09-11-1989 one of the most beautiful moments in modern history