Berlin, November 9, 1989. As the Wall is crumbling, something epochal is about to happening: the whole world is changing, and the symbol of this revolution will not be a tank or a flag, but a small and noisy car, the Trabant 601.Birgit Kinder, a young East German artist has a brilliant vision and decides to immortalize it, her vision and that escape to freedom, in a work that will become legendary. Her Trabant breaks through the Berlin Wall with all the force of those who are fed up with borders and divisions. This painting, Test the Best, which appeared the following year on what remains of the Wall, is still one of the most powerful images of German reunification.This year, as we celebrate the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, it is impossible not to think of that little car that, more than any other, led the way to freedom. But what was so special about the Trabant? And what makes someone still remember it with affection, when for years it was seen as a symbol of narrowness and retrogression?
The Trabant 601: the car you don't expectFor those used to the luxury of modernity, the Trabant 601 might seem like a car to forget. But yet, in the decades of the GDR, this small vehicle with a 26-horsepower two-stroke engine was the dream of millions. Sure, today, a car that does 0-100 km/h in 21 seconds while leaving a trail of smoke behind it doesn't sound like much fun at all; it certainly couldn't fit into inner cities. But in the Berlin of the 1980s, the Trabant represented something very big: the chance to get around, to explore the world, even if it was limited, and to finally have a piece of the future in your hands. Even if this future was made of Duroplast, a reinforced plastic, not steel.Having a Trabant was not a rich man's whim, but an achievement. The waiting list for this small hatchback was up to 15 years. A wait that seems surreal today, but at the time was the norm for those living behind the Iron Curtain. Imagine ordering a car and hoping that when it is finally yours, you are still young enough to drive it. Still, when the Trabant finally arrived, for East Germans it meant freedom, even with its limitations, even with its slowness, it was the key to opening a window to the world.
The great escape ... with a small car.And then comes November 9, 1989. As the citizens of the East start to pass through the first gaps opened in the Wall, the streets fill with Trabants. Anyone who owns one begins the journey to the West, taking that smoky little vehicle with them. Suddenly, the Trabant becomes the symbol of the peaceful invasion: thousands of slow, noisy cars invade the highways of the West. And the West, with its Mercedes and BMWs, watches in disbelief.In all this chaos, Birgit Kinder has the brilliant insight. Not a Mercedes or a Porsche breaks through the Wall in her painting, but a Trabant. Why? Because the Trabant is the people, it is the common man making his way to freedom. His art tells of a no-frills escape, no cover heroics. Just a small car that finally runs into the unknown, beyond barriers, beyond history.After 1989, the Trabant quickly became obsolete. People in the East began selling them, or simply abandoning them to switch to more modern Western cars. But against all predictions, the Trabant did not disappear altogether. On the contrary, today it has become an icon, a cult object for collectors and nostalgics, both in Germany and abroad.If in Milan it was impossible to miss a Fiat Uno or a Golf GTI at the time, in post-Wall Berlin the “Trabi's” had become the symbol of a past that was being left behind, but which, deep down, no one wanted to forget entirely. Today there are gatherings of Trabant enthusiasts all over Europe, and many of these cars are lovingly restored as relics of a bygone era.
Beyond the Trabant: the message of Birgit KinderBut Birgit Kinder's art does not stop with her most famous painting. In 2009, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, Kinder retouched her work, adding a disturbing detail: behind the Trabant breaking through the Wall, cracks begin to close. It is a clear message: freedom is not guaranteed forever, and new barriers, physical or mental, can always resurface.Today, recently past the 35th anniversary of November 9, 1989, that painting still speaks. The Trabant, with its humility and persistence, has become much more than a car: it is proof that freedom, once won, must always be carefully guarded. Even with an engine that struggles to reach 100 km per hour.For us, accustomed to the fast pace and comforts of modernity, the story of the Trabant may seem almost surreal. Yet, there is something universal about that car: its ability to represent resilience and the desire for freedom, in any context. Like any great symbol, the Trabant breaks through barriers, literally and figuratively. Today, looking at it through Birgit Kinder's art reminds us that even the simplest dreams, such as driving to a better future, can change the course of history.
