Berlin, July 30, 2025 – On July 30, the rye field at the Chapel of Reconciliation, located on the grounds of the Berlin Wall Memorial, was harvested for the 20th time. The approximately 2,000 m² grain field in the former border strip is a significant part of the memorial site on Bernauer Straße: it symbolizes life and thus the overcoming of fear and violence at this historic location.
This year, around 200 kg of rye were harvested, about 60% of which will be milled into flour. This flour will be used to bake bread and wafers that are distributed to visitors of the Chapel of Reconciliation. Small sacks containing about 300 grams of grain each—enough for a meal or for sowing—are available at the chapel in exchange for a donation and travel from here to destinations around the world. As in previous years, part of the harvest will be used in the “PeaceBread” project, in which grain from eleven Central and Southeastern European countries—grown from rye seed originating at Bernauer Straße—is blended, milled, and baked into a pan-European “PeaceBread.” The straw from the harvest is partly incorporated into the soil to improve soil quality.
To mark this year’s 20th harvest, an exhibition on the history of the rye field is on display in the colonnade of the Chapel of Reconciliation until the end of October. It was developed in cooperation with the Chapel of Reconciliation, denkwerk/Michael Spengler, FriedensBrot e.V., and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Since 2006, the Faculty of Life Sciences at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin – Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences – has been responsible for the field, which was initiated in 2005 as an art project by, among others, sculptor and stonemason Michael Spengler. The faculty oversees the maintenance, harvest, and sowing, and conducts various research projects on the rye field. In 2023, pollinator-friendly alfalfa was planted to promote biodiversity and improve soil quality. With the next sowing, rye of the population variety “Conduct” will once again be sown across the entire area.
As early as the spring of 1990, some East Berliners planted lupines on the Berlin Wall strip along Bernauer Straße. Later, members of the Reconciliation Parish took over the sowing as part of their parish work – ensuring that something would grow again in the former death strip. In 2011, the rye field was integrated into the design of the memorial grounds. Today, grain has been sown, harvested, and sustainably processed here for 20 consecutive years.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all organisations and individuals for their great dedication, careful stewardship, and the successful harvest of this living symbol of reconciliation.
