Home Uncategorized Lollapalooza Berlin faces harsh criticism
Last year, the Chicago-based Lollapalooza series expanded to

Lollapalooza Berlin faces harsh criticism

Home Uncategorized Lollapalooza Berlin faces harsh criticism

Last year, the Chicago-based Lollapalooza series expanded to Europe for a multi-day festival in Berlin, Germany. But as Lollapalooza Berlin enters their second year, things have become more difficult for the organizers. Next to some renowned headliners such as Radiohead and Kings Of Leon, numerous dance acts such as Major Lazer, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, The Chainsmokers or Paul Kalkbrenner have been announced on their line up.

Originally planned to take place at the “Tempelhofer Field” like last year, the organizers had to come up with a new venue due to the previous location now being used as a refugee camp. If this isn’t bad enough, the Lollapalooza direction chose a highly inconvenient place for this year’s edition: Treptower Park.

Now if you are not familiar with Berlin’s parks, here’s the reason why this choice is both inappropriate and disrespectful. The park’s prominent feature is the Soviet War Memorial, built to commemorate the 80,000 Soviet soldiers who fell in the Battle of Berlin in April–May 1945. It was opened four years after the war ended on May 8, 1949. Hosting an event on this ground means inviting festival-goers to dance on “graveyards”. After some heavy protests from the public, the issue even caught the attention of political authorities from Russia, Ukraine and eight other Ex-Soviet states, who describe the choice of the organizers as “absolutely inadequate and unacceptable as well as disturbing in honor and remembrance of the fallen soldiers.” 

A decree of the final approval remains to be done, but we can only hope that the Treptower Park won’t be approved for obvious and sensitive ethical reasoning.

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H/T: rbb-online

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