148 Among the artworks commemorating the past of the buildings taken over by the University in 1957 as well as the fate of people under political tyranny are two sculptures of outstanding artistic expression: Arnd Wittig created a bronze group sculpture that was erected in 1962 in the former execution yard, today’s memorial courtyard. This sculpture references Auguste Rodin’s “Citizens of Calais”. In the north-eastern courtyard of the site, the figure “Namenlos – Ohne Gesicht, den zu Unrecht Verfolgten nach 1945” (Nameless − Without a Face, dedicated to the Unjustly Persecuted after 1945) by sculptor Wieland Förster has been on display since 1995. From the 1960s until reunification, the GDR’s “Kunst am Bau” program, which ensured that a small percentage of the construction costs were invested in site-related art – hence the English term “Percent for art” − was closely intertwined with changes in the propagated architectural style and the prevailing cultural-political views and directives. At the same time, the investment budget was reduced due to a decline in construction activity. Instead of being able to commission around 70 site-related works of art, as had been the case in the 1950s, the number was only half that from the 1960s. Whereas the focal point had previously been designs for murals and façades, now sculptures were increasingly integrated into the green spaces of the institutes and the dormitory buildings. In view of these tendencies, surprising exceptions are represented by the futuristic façade reliefs depicting “Bau-, Kern- und Astrophysik” (Construction, Nuclear- and Astrophysics, 1967–70), by the artist couple Elfriede and Siegfried Schade on the dormitory buildings at Fritz-Löffler-Strasse 12, alongside the staircase design (1960/63, built over in the 1990s) by the architect and artist Peter Albert in the dormitory on Christianstrasse (today St. Petersburger Straße 25) and the wall frieze “Zur Elektrotechnik” (1964) on C-wing of the Barkhausen Building by Kurt Wünsche and Harry Arnd Wittig: “Die Widerstandskämpfer” (Resistance Fighters) (1958), bronze, 220 × 325 × 200 cm, Münchner Platz Dresden Memorial, Münchner Platz 3, inv. no. KB92359 (Photo: Till Schuster)
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