Stunning Absence
It’s odd when a hole becomes as historically significant as the builidng which once stood in it. Until three days ago, the Palast der Republik stood here, and over the last few days people have been coming to photograph the large expanse of dirt which remains.
Most peculiar of all was that the Palast still seemed to be present in its entirity, right up until the last week of demolition. The last remnants of the building were four immense concrete stairwells, which were chewed away by heavy machinery. Even in this massively reduced form, my brain seemed to interpolate the entire building back into existence. This can be said no more.