Artists demand OK to rebuild part of Berlin Wall

By Adam Williams

BERLIN (Reuters) - Politicians and artists urged Berlin's authorities on Monday to let them rebuild the longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall before it decays beyond recognition as a reminder of the city's grim history.

In the spring of 1990, when most of the city was itching to tear down its most hated symbol, 118 artists from 24 countries flocked to Berlin to paint murals on a 1,300 meter (1,500 yard) section of the wall, turning it into the East Side Gallery.

Exactly 46 years after the Wall was built around capitalist West Berlin -- ostensibly to protect communist easterners from its influence, but in fact to prevent them fleeing there -- the gaudy Gallery is now one of Berlin's top tourist attractions.

But the steel reinforcing the inside of the wall is rusting, and wind, rain and pollution -- alongside years of vandalism -- have left many of the works all but unrecognizable.

Some 3 million euros ($4 million) have been raised to pay for the reconstruction, but the city authorities have yet to give the go-ahead.

"The wall is in a deplorable condition," said Joerg Flaemig, a local development official. "To make sure the East Side Gallery stays standing, it needs to be completely rebuilt."

Many of the Gallery's 106 murals inspired by the collapse of communist East Germany became instant icons, known throughout the world. But in the euphoria of the moment, little attention was paid to the future.

The famous painting of East German leader Erich Honecker and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev exchanging a fraternal communist kiss is pockmarked with holes, and a crack runs the length of Brezhnev's face.