Why Marx and Engels Face West: The Statues Berlin Almost Removed

By Aad van der Drift - 0495 1989 BERLIJN Oost (april), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49925293

In a small park between Alexanderplatz and the Spree River, two bearded men sit on bronze chairs. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels — the fathers of communist theory — stare silently across the river toward western Berlin.

That direction isn't accidental. And it's become the source of one of Berlin's best jokes.

Built to Celebrate Socialism

The Marx-Engels-Forum was unveiled in 1986, just three years before the Berlin Wall fell. The East German government commissioned the sculptor Ludwig Engelhardt to create a monument celebrating the ideological founders of their state. The design was deliberately grand: Marx sits in the center, Engels stands beside him, and behind them are large steel reliefs depicting scenes of workers, revolution, and the socialist future.

The statues were placed facing west on purpose. In the GDR's worldview, the socialist east was looking toward the capitalist west with confidence — demonstrating that communism was the future and the west was the past. The direction was a statement of ideological superiority.

The Wall Falls. The Statues Stay.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the question of what to do with communist monuments became a heated debate. Across eastern Germany, statues of Lenin and other communist figures were torn down or quietly removed. Many people expected the same fate for Marx and Engels.

But Berlin had a different idea. Instead of removing the statues, Berliners proposed a much funnier solution: turn them around so they face east. That way, the joke goes, Marx and Engels would finally get to see what capitalism looks like.

The statues were never turned. But the joke stuck. And it captures something essential about how Berlin deals with its past: not by erasing it, but by laughing at it, questioning it, and keeping it visible as a reminder.

A Very Berlin Approach to History

Berlin doesn't demolish its uncomfortable past. The city keeps it on display. The Marx-Engels-Forum sits just meters from the Humboldt Forum — a reconstructed Prussian palace that itself replaced a demolished GDR parliament building. Within a few hundred meters, you have layers of history stacked on top of each other: medieval, Prussian, Nazi, communist, and modern.

Today, the Marx-Engels-Forum has become an unlikely selfie spot. Tourists sit on Marx's lap, pose between the two statues, and take photos with the TV Tower rising behind them. The monument that was meant to inspire socialist devotion now generates Instagram content. Marx himself might have had something to say about that.

The Reliefs Most People Miss

Behind the statues, there are large steel reliefs that most visitors walk straight past. These panels depict idealized scenes of the socialist project: workers united, families thriving, science advancing. They're a fascinating time capsule of what the GDR wanted people to believe about their system.

Look closely and you'll see images of happy factory workers, educated children, and peaceful international cooperation — a version of East Germany that never quite matched reality. The contrast between these hopeful images and the actual experience of life in the GDR is striking, and it's one of the things that makes this stop so interesting on the tour.

Visit the Marx-Engels-Forum on Our Free Tour

The Marx-Engels-Forum is Stop 5 on our free walking tour. We'll explore the statues, decode the reliefs, tell the joke about turning them around, and discuss how Berlin handles its complicated communist heritage.

Book your free spot now. 12 stops from Alexanderplatz to Hackescher Markt — including Berlin's most ironic communist monument. Tip-based, no fixed price.