The black spray painted eagle on the smooth side of the Berlin Wall remnant¹ represents the coat of arms of Germany, which is one of the oldest coat of arms in the world. Its precursor, the double headed eagle dates back to 1433 as the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Following the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, 39 German speaking sovereign states in central Europe formed the German Confederation and adopted the Reichsadler double headed eagle as its coat of arms. Due to internal rivalry, the German Confederation was dissolved after the victory of the Kingdom of Prussia over the Austrian Empire in 1866. The Kingdom of Prussia formed the German Empire which used an altered single headed eagle as its coat of arms. Variations of the single headed eagle have since been used by the following Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, and reunified Germany.

The four sides of the base supporting the Berlin Wall remnant has been spray painted to represent four major periods of the German nation. The black and white iron cross represents the Kingdom of Prussia which introduced the iron cross as a military emblem in 1813. The last German Emperor and King of Prussia was Kaiser Wilhelm II who abdicated the throne after losing WW1. His foreign policy decisions and expansion of the German navy had greatly antagonized Britian and France leading to a polarization of Europe ultimately plunging his country into WW1. The first world war formally ended on 28 June 1919 with signing of the Treaty of Versailles between Germany and the Allied Entente powers. The clauses in the Treaty of Versailles required Germany to accept responsibility for causing the war, disarm its military, concede territories, and pay reparations to compensate Allied Entente powers.

The effects of the Treaty of Versailles led to great resentment in Germany which powered the rise of the Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler who started the second world war. His wartime experience in WW1 where he was awarded the Iron Cross first class award reinforced his German patriotism and shaped his racially motivated ideology and political manifesto Mein Kampf. This period of German history is represented by the opposite side of the base which has a black Nazi Swastika spray painted on a red flag. The red blood drop on the rough side of the Berlin Wall remnant is meant to remember the casualties of both World Wars, from soldiers of both sides, to civilians caught in between and the victims of the Holocaust.

The end of WW2 caused Germany to be divided into western and eastern occupation zones, controlled by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. Berlin which was geographically in East German territory was also divided into East and West Berlin. East Germany officially called the German Democratic Republic (ironically a communist state!) was controlled by the Soviet Union who approved the construction of a wall dividing West Berlin from East Berlin and the surrounding East Germany on 13 August 1961. That's why the opposite side of the smooth wall has the yellow communist star, hammer, and sickle symbols.

The fall of the Berlin Wall led to the reunification of Germany, officially called the Federal Republic of Germany with the black-red-gold flag. The Berlin Wall's graffiti artwork inspired the use of spray paint for this piece.

Moving on from politics and wars, I also want to highlight Germany's other notable attributes particularly in culture and business. On opposite sides of the Berlin Wall remnant stands a nutcracker and smoker handcrafted in Erzgebirge.

The santa clause nutcracker is carrying gifts and a Christmas tree, aspects of our Christmas tradition which originally started in Germany since the 16th century. It is a widely held belief that it was the German Protestant reformer Martin Luther who first decorated a Christmas tree with lighted candles in his home to recapture the beauty he witnessed on a cold winter night where stars twinkled amidst the trees.

The bavarian smoker is holding a beer and pretzels. Germany is famous for the Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival held annually since 1810 in Munich, Bavaria. Beer drinking is such a large part of German culture, it has its own word “Bierernst“ which means "deadly serious" and translates literally as "beer serious." Apart from beer, Germany has many traditional food such as Brezeln (Pretzel), Sauerkraut (Fermented Cabbage), Kartoffelpuffer (Potato Pancake), and my favourite...Sausages! Did you know that there are more than 1,500 different type of sausages in Germany?

Volkswagen & Mittlestand

Germany is also famous for its strong export led economy fueled by giants like Volkswagen and the Mittlestand, small and medium sized companies which are generally private, family run, and specialise in exporting highly skilled manufactured products. I'ved used the Volkswagen Mr Bubblehead as an iconic representation of the world's top car manufacturer. The ...