Category: History Listing Date: 2011-08-15
Berlin Wall Exhibit
The Price of Freedom
A peaceful setting in a beautiful park in Rapid City, South Dakota is an unlikely location for this historic display. For the people that take the time to find it, or those that find it by accident, the images and their captions are thought provoking if not a little unsettling.
If the exhibit was on the schedule of places to see, then the sections of wall might be recognized when entering the park. One of the pedestals displays the words "Berlin Wall" and is visible as you get closer. Others display photos and captions of events that occurred during the time of enforcement. Images of those trying to escape and those who had resigned themselves to their plight are stark reminders to those old enough to remember. For visitors to this place that have only read about the wall in history books, this is an opportunity to touch part of history.
"The Berlin Wall Memorial Given to Rapid City by Generous Citizens Mindful of the Price of Freedom." These words and the names of those generous citizens are display within the exhibit. In an area with so many attractions and local history, including The Shrine of Democracy - Mount Rushmore, The Berlin Wall Memorial is a reminder to all who visit it, to always be mindful of the price of freedom.
In 1961 a wall was erected in the city of Berlin to keep East Germans from leaving into the west. During the Cold War it was a physical and symbolic boundary between democracy and Communism. Barbed wire, existing buildings, and concrete walls poured under the eyes of the German Democratic Republic controlled movement from east to west. It is two sections of that concrete wall that now reside in a Rapid City, South Dakota park.
