Aeroflot throws its iconic Berlin signage out with the trash
One of the last hammer and sickle emblems in Berlin has disappeared from its prominent place in the centre of the city.
The hammer and sickle – the symbol of communism and the Soviet Union – was removed from most public buildings across the former East Berlin after the fall of the Wall. Yet it remained on display in one very visible location – above the Berlin ticket office of the Russian airline Aeroflot on the busy central boulevard Unter den Linden.
Aeroflot’s logo still contains the hammer and sickle, a remainder from its time as the state airline of the USSR. The carrier continues to run regular services between Berlin and Moscow, and it kept a ticket office open in the heart of the city in a building that is part of the Russian Embassy complex.
It was here that the logo was proudly displayed at street level, just one block from the iconic Brandenburg Gate, which draws hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.
Several weeks ago Aeroflot closed its Unter den Linden office. The signage – illuminated blue plastic and metal lettering – was dismantled. Today all that remains are the ghosted outlines of the removed signage, and a note on the door informing visitors that the office has ceased operations. Aeroflot’s German office said the old sign and lettering had been thrown away as rubbish.
The hammer and sickle hasn’t made a full retreat, however. It can still be seen in the stonework of the façade of the main building of the Russian Embassy, next door to the old Aeroflot office.
That example of the symbol isn’t as prominent as the former Aeroflot sign. Its removal marks another erasure of the visual memory of Berlin’s divided era. - Joel Alas
