ABSTRACT
The Berlin Wall, intrinsic symbol of the Cold War in Europe, is almost entirely absent from the iconography of East Germany. Until 1989 the very term was taboo in ‘the Workers’ and Peasants’ State’; instead, it was dubbed the ‘antifascist rampart’. But this odd state of affairs did not always apply. In the three years that followed the building of the Wall on 13 August 1961, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) did in fact make a considerable effort both to explain and to justify it. With this aim, it called in
particular on the Deutsche Film Aktiengesellschalf/German Film Stockholder’s Company (DEFA), the company that held the monopoly on film production. Reacting to events in a manner that was as speedy as it was surprising, the DEFAmade a series of films that attempted to legitimise the Wall. Three full-length productions directly evoke 13 August, of which the first, . . . und deine Liebe auch ( . . . and also your love), is certainly the most emblematic, proclaiming as it does both strong political commitment and a radical artistic approach. This Wall Film (Mauerfilm) reveals much about both the impact the building of the Wall had on the studio, the spin put on it by official propaganda, and the reception it received at the hands of the population of the GDR.
