That was the mission for two artists from West Berlin among the pioonerng artists who painted Berlin Wall in the years before the fall. EuroparlTV went to Berlin to meet the artists, Kiddy Citny and Thierry Noir, as they re-paint the remaining wall and re

Reporter: Tearing down walls with a paintbrush

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/14804125/M003-0015-EN.srt

Twenty years on,   and part of the Berlin Wall still stands.

This piece of wall is even being   renovated, it's the East Side Gallery

that was given over to artists   a few months after the fall.

It was the occasion for EuroparlTV   to meet two of the pioneers

Stretching over 1.3 kilometres   the open-air gallery

is the longest remaining piece of the wall.

The east side was given to world artists   just months after the fall.

Today, they've returned   to give new life to the Gallery.

Kiddy Citny is not just part of the group of   artists who painted the wall after its fall;

along with French artist, Thierry Noir,   he painted the wall before it fell,

We always had to know   where we were exactly,

in case of emergency,   to find the quickest route to the West.

Kiddy Citny, a German native,   moved to Berlin in 1977

Thierry Noir, a French native,   a budding artist arrived 5 years later.

There were two or three bars   where the artistic scene would meet.

It was a small group of interesting people

who wanted to create a new kind   of music and art.

Thierry was also a member   of some of my bands.

So we performed music together,   and we painted together.

The back of my house was   5 metres from the wall.

It wasn't very enjoyable to have the wall,

it was really, how can I describe it?   'Hello sadness'.

You can really see how close the wall was   to the house

and there you can see Kiddy there   with an air rifle.

There you can see the soldier's   watchtowers.

dating back to the time when it was   courage based on hope that drove them.

"The Kings" symbolise that   every person should feel like a king.

our individual responsibility   to protect and to look after the world,

in order to maintain it   for the next generation

and to keep it as beautiful as it is -   or as it just about still is.

My painting you can see just behind me   didn't happen overnight.

So that the soldiers wouldn't   take me by surprise,

I had to reduce my painting   into small sections, to the minimum,

allowing me to paint as quick as possible.

Thierry and Kiddy are an integral part   of the Wall's history.

In 1990 they were an obvious choice as   part of the artists painting the Wall,

The East Side Gallery happened   after the Wall fell,

meaning it was no longer dangerous   to paint there.

This is a pictorial protest   against the walls of the past

and against the walls   which still separate people today,

for example in Korea, Mexico,   the United States, Palestine, Israel etc.

We want to tear them down   with the paintbrush.

Today it's crucial to bring colour   back to the Gallery.

Don’t make the same mistakes   made by your elders.

The faces hastily painted by these two   artists during the cold war,

have now become the artistic   emblem of the Berlin Wall.