Indivisible Germany

During World War II the quadriga, the impressive figure of the charioteer Victory driving four horses, on top of the Brandenburg Gate was destroyed. Later, both the East and West German au­ thorities agreed to replace it with a copy of the original. The former possessed the molds; the latter supplied the metal for casting. The process of negotiation and production required nearly two years. After the new quadriga was mounted, it was found that the Commu­ nists had made an important change: the chariot driven by Victory was placed so that it faces east and not west as in former times. The wit of the Berliners is sharp. It soon became known along the Kur­ fiirsten Damm (and not quite so loudly along what was then Stalin Allee) that Victory was advancing to defeat the East. The Pankow regime had unwittingly created an apparently prophetic symbol of its impending collapse.