Germans Put Flags on Brooklyn Bridge

It was the Germans! Two Berlin artists have claimed responsibility for hoisting two white flags onto the top of the Brooklyn Bridge last month, causing a security panic and investigation from New York police. Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke say the flags were meant to celebrate "the beauty of public space" and the anniversary of the death of German-born John Roebling, who designed the famous bridge. The artists say they hand-sewed the two flags into all-white replicas of an American flag and have the original flags ready to return. “This was not an anti-American statement,” Wermke says.