Reunification & Silence
After 1990 the GDR broadcasters are dissolved and merge into the new public networks. Most of the Funkhaus empties out; corridors go quiet and the great halls fall into a long limbo.
Part of Funkhaus Berlin
4 moments in this segment.
- — The GDR broadcasters are dissolved. After reunification the East German radio and television institutions are wound up at the end of 1991; their successors and archives are folded into the new federal public broadcasters. The Funkhaus loses its purpose.
- — The networks move out. Through the 1990s the surviving radio operations relocate to other Berlin sites. Block by block the Funkhaus empties; the technical halls and offices that once ran the GDR fall silent.
- — Listed as a monument. The Funkhaus complex is placed under monument protection, recognising Ehrlich's architecture and the irreplaceable acoustics of its halls — even as much of the building stands empty and uncertain.
- — The long limbo. For years the vast complex drifts through changing owners and stalled plans. Artists and small studios rent corners of it cheaply, but the great halls mostly wait — a sleeping giant on the river. The subject dates from 2002; this photograph was taken in 2012.
