White Crosses (in German:Weiße Kreuze) is a memorial for those who died during theCold War at theBerlin Wall. It is located at the shore of the riverSpree inBerlin next to theReichstag building, which housesthe German parliament. Established by the private groupBerliner Bürger-Verein on the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Wall in 1971 it was first located east of the Reichstag on a fence directly in front of the wall. After theGerman reunification in 1990 it kept its location until construction of the new government buildings next to the Reichstag was started at the end of that century – Berlin was chosen to be the new capital of Germany.[1]
During construction the memorial was moved to a location south of the Reichstag next to theTiergarten. On the 50th anniversary of theUprising of 1953 in East Germany a second set of crosses was erected on the riverbank, which is slightly north-west of the original location. The opening speech was given by then President of the BundestagWolfgang Thierse.[2]
The names of 13 victims are inscribed on both sides of the 7 crosses. One cross is devoted to the unknown victims of the wall.[1] The selection contains the first and last victim who were killed by gunfire. Most of the victims died between 1961 and 1965.
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| Memorials, museums and galleries | |||||||||||
| Border crossings | |||||||||||
| People who died breaching the Wall | |||||||||||
| Others associated with the Wall | |||||||||||
| The Wall in speeches | |||||||||||
| In popular culture |
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52°31′11″N13°22′37″E / 52.519635°N 13.376831°E /52.519635; 13.376831