Berlin had yet to recover from the devastation of World War II when it and the rest of Germany were divided up among France, Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union. The divisions that were created at this bargaining table made Berlin a city on the frontline of a struggle between two great superpowers. This tale of political unrest, dominance and oppression played out over the next four decades between the powers of East and West in the city of Berlin.

As a photojournalist and architectural photographer I’ve always been interested how history and a place can be so closely bound. Unlike the pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel Tower or Empire State Building, the history tied to Berlin is slowly becoming a quiet footnote. This project began after a life-long interest in modern European history, particularly the Cold War era. In 2008, following nearly two years of research, I set out to explore the neighborhoods of former East Berlin to create images for The Stones Have Memories. With guidance from historians at home and in Berlin, and from friends who lived on both sides of the Wall, I traced history that I felt was significant back to the location where it happened and photographed the place as it stands today. My guiding creative principal was to let the architecture speak for itself. Is it possible to document emotion without photographing a human face?

November 9, 2009, marks the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and end of the Cold War. An entire generation has passed since these events. I hope The Stones Have Memories can be both visually engaging and help to communicate a portion of the somber history of the Cold War in Berlin.