Gardeners don't fight wars: Prussia's Arcadia behind barbed wire - An exhibition in Sacrow Manor, Potsdam Bettina Greiner / Berlin Center for Cold War Studies / ambur! Institute for Social #esearch $As if %ou had slit a &aintin! b% #embrandt with a 'nife$ ( the Prussian Palaces and Gardens alon! the ri)er a)el, toda% a *+ESC- erita!e Site, were for ./ %ears a border re!ion between the two German states0 Walls, fences and death stri&s sliced through this uni1ue culti)ated landsca&e, created durin! the rei!n of 2riedrich Wilhelm "3 b% Peter 4ose&h 5enn6 and Prince ermann )on Pückler-Mus'au on both ban's of the ri)er alon! the lines of En!lish landsca&ed !ardens0 8he Prussian arcadia sur)i)ed the monarch%, Weimar #e&ublic, the +a9i dictatorshi& and e)en World War "" lar!ely intact ( until August :;, :<=:, when the &ar'lands at Babelsber!, the +euer Garten, Sacrow, Glienicke and Pfaueninsel became a theater of the Cold War, the border between East and West bisectin! them strai!ht through the middle of the ri)er0 8he scars of the East German border re!ime that took the li)es of at least nine &eople in this area alone can no lon!er be seen toda%0 8he old &ers&ecti)e relationshi&s amon! the man% &alaces and other historic showplaces alon! the near and far ban's of the a)el and 4un!fernsee 5a'e ha)e li'ewise since been restored0 8hrough +ovember :;, .>:=, B,#5"+ER ?-55EG KALTER KRIEG @ B,#5"+ C,+8ER 2-R C-5A WAR S8*A"ES .>:B Bettina Greiner Gardeners don‘t fight wars thoroughly worthwhile exhibition at Sacrow Manor ouse tells the stor% of the eastern &ar'lands' brutal destruction ( and their &ainsta'in! restoration since the fall of the Wall on +ovember <, :</<0 It's told b% Western and Eastern landsca&e !ardeners who held res&onsibilit% for the &ar' facilities for decades on their res&ecti)e sides of the frontier0 -ne can only &a% homa!e to their dedication to this historic !esamt'unstwer', which the% tried for decades to &rotect a!ainst disfi!urement b% the state that, on the East German side, 'new onl% one objecti)eD to shield the $anti-fascist bulwar'$ a!ainst $border )iolations0$ 8o create a clear field of fire a!ainst those tr%in! to esca&e, some ;> hectares ( nearly two-thirds of the eastern &ar'lands ( were turned into a lunar landsca&e0 Centuries-old trees were felled, !ardens destroyed b% herbicides then tilled, flattened and &a)ed over0 Concrete walls, mesh fences and barbed wire s'irted the area, watchtowers were built, canine &atrol areas installed and, at the ri)er's ed!e, mats of nails0 Moreover the historical )isual axes to the other side ( in the West ( blocked b% construction or left to become over!rown0 An%one !oin! for a stroll in the +euer Garten should under no means be able to see across the border0 Accordin! to the East German readin! of histor%, Prussia was the forerunner of the +a9i state0 Prussia's le!acies were therefore accorded hardly an% landmar' &rotection, which was wh% the !ardeners had few means to resist constant demands for the ex&ansion of the border fortifications0 8he% watched helplessly as the destructi)e &rojects &rogressed0 It is, howe)er, their &roud achie)ement that the historic 2 B,#5"+ER ?-55EG KALTER KRIEG @ B,#5"+ C,+8ER 2-R C-5A WAR S8*A"ES .>:B Bettina Greiner Gardeners don‘t fight wars dair% wor's built accordin! to &lans b% Gottfried 5an!hans in :B<> were rescued0 It was a similar stor% with the Church of the #edeemer in Sacrow, built in :/EE b% 5udwi! Persius0 Its tower became &art of the border defensesF the &rogressi)ely deca%in! church na)e was marooned in no man's land directly on the a)el. Both of these jewels were )isible from the West, their destruction would ha)e harmed East German%'s efforts at international recognition0 It was an ar!ument that the !ardeners found effecti)e0 State leader Erich onecker e)en e)entually &ermitted the restoration of the church's roof in the mid-:</>s through &ri)ate donations from West Berlin0 8he thirst for international recognition &la%ed into the !ardeners' hands in other wa%s too. When *+ Secretar% General ?urt Waldheim )isited East German% in :<B=, three %ears after the state's official inclusion in the international communit%, he was housed in the Cecilienhof &alace ( the site of the :<EG Potsdam Conference0 Situated in the +euer Garten at the 4un!fernsee la'e, his lod!in!s looked out directly onto a concrete wall, the unsi!htliness of which he immediately commented on0 What ensued can be retraced in the files0 2or the followin! :; %ears, until the fall of the Wall, a s&ecially established state commission re1uired that the inner façade of the wall be &lanted with !reener%0 Yet because of border !uards' extensi)e use of &esticides, nothin! !rew there an%more0 $2or us !ardeners it was a &ri)ate trium&h,$ recalled one of the &artici&ants0 After the Berlin Wall fell, their life's dream, the healin! of this culti)ated landsca&e, was fulfilled0 With the same commitment with which the% had 3 B,#5"+ER ?-55EG KALTER KRIEG @ B,#5"+ C,+8ER 2-R C-5A WAR S8*A"ES .>:B Bettina Greiner Gardeners don‘t fight wars earlier used their resources as !ardeners to caricature the state fren9% for securin! its borders, the% now set about restorin! the de)astated s&aces alon! historical &lans0 8he exhibition also traces these efforts with abundant documents, &ictures and films0 In the &rocess, )isitors learn a thin! or two about landsca&e architecture and the !ardenin! arts0 And, an%one strollin! afterward through Sacrow Par' or ta'in! the water taxi to Moorla'e or the dair% wor's on the far ban' will be !rateful. ere, somethin! has !rown together that belon!s together0 8oda% in Prussia's arcadia, nothin! recalls the border and its brutalit% that di)ided a &eople and a landsca&e0 8he exhibition curated b% 4ens Arndt GJrtner führen 'eine ?rie!e0 Preußens Ar'adien hinter Stacheldraht is open through :; +ovember .>:= in the Sacrow manor house LSchloss Sacrow), Weinmeisterwe! /, :EE=< Potsdam-Sacrow. -r!ani9er is the non-&rofit association Ars Sacrow e030 You can find e)ents accom&an%in! the exhibition here0 Ar0 Bettina Greiner, historian, wor's for the ambur! Institute for Social #esearch and is coordinator of the Berlin Colloquia on Contem&orar% istor% and the Berlin Center for Cold War Studies0 She has written on &olitical re&ression and Lcam&M im&risonment in the 8wentieth Centur%0 4 B,#5"+ER ?-55EG KALTER KRIEG @ B,#5"+ C,+8ER 2-R C-5A WAR S8*A"ES .>:B Bettina Greiner Gardeners don‘t fight wars Recommended Citation: Bettina Greiner, Gardeners don't fi!ht warsD Prussia's Arcadia behind barbed wire - An exhibition in Sacrow Manor, Potsdam , ></0//2>:=, htt&D//www.berliner'olle!0com/en/blog/gardeners-dont-fi!ht-wars- &russias-arcadia-behind-barbed-wire-exhibition-sacrow-manor- &otsdam L&lease add the date of the last call to this &a!e in bracketsM0 5.