Die Brucke .- the story of the Pichelsdorf bridge
Collage with magazine clippings and paint on canvas and with a child uniform coat on a metal hanger from a Hitler Jugend Boy during WW2. The Hitler Youth units in Berlin, numbering 3500-5000 played an important part in its defences. When Berlin was cut off and surrounded from all sides, the Havel river bridges became a crucial life line over which outside relief/help could possibly come. These were also used to allow the escape of emissaries and couriers from the High Command on critical missions. The Pichelsdorf bridge (now perhaps called Freybrucke?), towards the end, became a focus of last hope..like a desperate lifeline. The High Command was hourly expecting Wenck's army to appear at the banks of the Havel. If they did, they would need to cross over into Berlin with equipment and supplies. A battalion of HJ boys ( 16-17 year old and some os young as 10 years old ), numbering 500-600, were deployed at the bridge to hold it open for as long as possible . Out of 5000 HJ troops, less than 500 survived by day 5 of bombardment. They were offered to surrender several times; they refused. When the Soviet Army took over their positions in a final hand-to-hand assault, only a handful was taken alive, still defiant, facing battle-hardened men, some of them the age of their fathers. A Soviet medical officer, while tending to a wounded 10-year-old, remarked in German, “Look what a mess you got yourself into, boy. You should have stayed home with your grandparents.” The HJ spat in the doctors face, hissing, “Heil Hitler!” While these kids held the bridges, Nazi bosses were using the bridges to escape from Berlin, leaving their brave tin soldiers to die. 250 x 120 cm Price 6000 Euros
