Marx-Engels Statue, Blood on Their Mouths

Marx-Engels-Forum is a park in the center of Berlin in what was formerly East Berlin. In 1986 the German Democratic Republic (GDR) established the park to showcase the sculpture of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of the Communist Manifesto. After the Wall came down in 1989 someone or some group painted the mouths of Marx and Engels with red paint to symbolize the devouring nature of the Soviet Union.

I took these photos on a working trip to Berlin. Looking through stock photos, I can find no other pictures of the statue with the symbolic blood. The “blood” must have been cleaned off very soon after it appeared.

Amid great controversy, the statue still stands in the park today. The paint is gone but the carnage it represents still remains in the memories of millions of people. 

Photo credit: Harold O. Wilson