Deutschland: Berlin

 

We arrived at our next Germany stop midday on Tuesday - Berlin! Even though Chris lived in Germany for a few years, he had never been to Berlin. In fact, when he lived here, it was still West Germany and East Germany. 

Berlin is an odd mixture of very old buildings mixed in with lots of mid-century buildings along very new architecture and green spaces all side by side. Germany is often known to be a very clean country and I would definitely say that has been our experience. However, Berlin was not in line with all of the other places we have visited in that regard. 

The juxtaposition in this photo really exemplifies Berlin - old church, mid century TV Tower, tram lines running across the foreground, trees and the new high rises in the background. 

While just about every European city has a history to tell, our Nutter Butter stated it well when we were discussing Berlin, “It was refreshing to learn and read about modern history.” Chris and I also had a lot of memories of the whole locked down Eastern block and of the destruction of the Berlin wall. However, being in the area, seeing the remnants of the government control on their lives and reading through the details of the museum artifacts was quite astounding and sobering. 

Berlin is home to over 170 museums! They even have a Museuminsel - Museum Island - which sits along the Spree River. On Tuesday, we first visited the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German Historical Museum). It is currently located in a temporary location because its normal home, the historic Zeughaus is being renovated. This also meant a much smaller display of artifacts. Still, it helped me continue to piece together some small portion of how Germany’s became a country. 

East German propoganda

US Declaration of Independence written in German - issued to Pennsylvania residents who moved from Germany.

Painting depicts the one year celebration of the destruction of the Berlin Wall. The giant Pepsi represent Western influence coming into east Berlin.

Ortenburg Bible - Martin Luther Bible printed in 1500s - only 10 copies exist 

17th century engraved Ostrich egg

This wall of photos were photographs of a group of men called the journeymen. They were photographers who took on-location portraits of themselves and prompted the move away from studio portraits being the only option. It's obvious why it interested me...

Map of Berlin which was from the time of the Berlin Wall. You can see the yellow section on the left is West Berlin but no streets are mapped. A pink line notes the wall and East Berlin is clearly mapped. They were produced this way for East Berliners so they could not look up the street names in West Berlin. It was done to try and make efforts of escape more difficult.

Diary of a West Berliners who helped dig tunnels under the wall in an effort to help people escape.

Next, we headed to the DDR museum. This museum was dedicated to education about life in East Berlin under the socialist regime and control of the Deutschland Democratic Republic. It was a very interactive museum with first hand accounts that gave us a detailed glimpse into the daily lives of people living under this regime. The items that had the most impact on me were 1) the diary of shortages 2) the visitor log and 3) the travel cards. The diary of shortages was a personal account of items needed but that could not be obtained on a regular basis and without waiting in long lines. The visitor log was expected to be kept by each household and all visitors to the home had to be documented. The travel cards were granted to East German citizens if they applied for a vacation and were approved. However, vacation destinations were very limited and had to be within another socialist country if they were allowed out of the county at all. Most often them were to government sponsored company vacation homes that had to be shared with other coworkers or camping. 

The actual diary these excerpts were taken from was behind the interactive screen.

An actual visitor log

Afterward, we headed for a late dinner at a German restaurant selected by our Nutter Butter and we passed a variety of sites along the way. She tried Germany’s famous Currywurst, which she liked; Chris had some sort of schnitzel with mushroom gravy (his favorite) and I opted for salmon which was delicious! After dinner, we called it a night and headed back to our apartment which is located in the former East Berlin. 

Berlin Cathedral and the Berlin TV Tower

Spree River

Appetizers: Camembert Cheese and Potato soup that we shared.

Wednesday morning we headed out to make our way toward the Berlin Wall Memorial. We stopped along the way for a delicious pastry! 

The Berlin Wall Memorial was a completely outdoor site that contained original sections of the wall, remnants of the watchtowers and lights and historical markers/podiums that guided you through the history of the wall from inception (August 1961) to destruction (November 1989). As late as 1984 or 1987 the government was still adding extra fortifications to the wall. After seeing the city, it helped me understand that it wasn’t just wall construction that was needed for fortification. The river had to be blocked, subways had to be blocked, rail lines had to be blocked. Streets were suddenly barricaded right in the center. After WWII, Berlin (the capital) was divided into four quadrants just like the entirety of Germany and was to be managed, so to speak, for a period of time by France, Great Britain, USA and Russia. It was the quadrant managed by Russia that became East Germany and East Berlin. The control became stronger and stronger. The entire Berlin Wall Memorial was located in what was known as the “dead zone.” It was a wide expanse of land between the original wall that grew and grew to include additional fencing and then another concrete outer wall bordering West Germany. It was named the Dead Zone because armed tower guards had clear lines of fire if necessary for potential escapees. In this particular section of Dead Zone, there originally was part of a cemetery. When the wall went up over night on August 13, 1961 suddenly no one had access to their family’s grave sites. West Berliners had to obtain a “grave card” which gave them access. East Berliners were just out of luck. Eventually, they relocated the graves. It is unclear though if all of them were moved or if some were just forgotten. Families were also separated at the time the wall went up; there are just so many tragic stories. The more East Berliners tried to escape to the west side, the more fortified the wall became and the stronger the punishments became. One could be imprisoned for talking about leaving. It is estimated that around 100,000 people escaped Wast Berlin, many before the complete construction of the wall. A little over 5000 of those are estimated to have escaped over the wall or through tunnels under the wall which was the most popular form of escape. Many were killed trying to escape. The memorial is free to access and I highly recommend a visit if you get to Berlin. 

These two photos show the progression of fortification. The top photo is an early diagram of the wall and dead zone. The bottom is a later rendition.

Bergstraße - this street was simply walled off - remnants of the street, curb and sidewalk remain in the dead zone area

This is the wall bordering what was West Berlin

Window of Remembrance for those that died trying to escape to West Berlin

Remaining section of the wall that bordered East Berlin - everything between the two walls was the dead zone and contained watch towers, at least one tall fence, barbed wire, and a wide section of sand

After the wall memorial, we walked to Brandenburger Tor, the Brandenburg Gate. It was constructed in the 18th century as a grand entrance into Berlin and commissioned by King Frederick William II. Its symbology has evolved over the years. After WWII, it marked the line of Great Britain’s quadrant. After the Berlin wall was erected, it was in the dead zone between the inner and outer walls and sat isolated. During the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate became synonymous with freedom. Walls were torn down and people flowed freely! It was a location of huge celebration. 

The Victory Column is visible through the gate in the distance. 

On our walk to our next destination, we spotted a Volkswagon store and exhibit and decided to stop since my first car was a Volkswagon Beetle and our Nutter Butter’s current car is a Volkswagon Taos. The exhibition contained iconic items, symbols, music and people in history with one of those being the Volkswagon Beetle, of course!!

Limited edition Beetle called the Betzel. It was so named because the back window resembled a Pretzel.

Wow! Nice looking bright green Beetle in the photo - wonder who had one just like that?

I had a skateboard just like this but a different color.

We headed on our way and made one more detour - Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, a library!! The building was gorgeous! But alas, no entry into a reading room or books without a card! Boo hiss!

Finally, we made it to the next destination our Nutter Butter had selected - Berliner Dom, the Berlin Cathedral. Many buildings in Berlin were damaged or destroyed during WWII and the cathedral wasn’t spared. It didn’t suffer huge damage but because it was in East Berlin and atheism was promoted and religion discouraged, it sat in disrepair for quite some time and parts were open to the elements for years. The interesting fact to me about the cathedral is that it was created for and continues as a Protestant place of worship. Many cathedrals are Catholic and few are Protestant. The church was originally formed to serve the palace and was in various locations until this location and building commissioned in the late 1800s. It has a very large crypt in the bottom.

I love the walk signals here - a little girl in pigtails is the stop figure.

The Berlin Cathedral and TV tower peaking over the treeline.

The organ has over 7000 pipes with the smallest being around 2 inches and the largest being the height of a two story house!

After the cathedral, we headed to Alexanderplatz. What’s now a local shopping area and gathering place, it was the location of many government protests against East Germany in the late 1980s. We did a little shopping here and grabbed a snack. 

Erected in 1969, the world clock in Alexanderplatz constantly shows the time in 148 cities. The orangish part in the middle rotates. It doesn't, however, account for daylight savings time. It was another structure erected to try and show East Germany's advanced thinking in technology. Sadly, their residents could visit very few places shown on the clock.

Next we headed to see Checkpoint Charlie. It is a remaining US Army guard stationed that marked entrance into and out of the American quadrant. The US flag still flies over the station.

 

Our next stop was the Jewish Holocaust Memorial. The memorial is a field of large concrete blocks that have darkened over time. To me, it gave me the impression of coffins and there were so, so many. It does have an information center below but it was not open. A placard told the story of two similar Jewish women at the time. One quickly evacuated Germany for France, helped with the resistance and then made her way to the United States where she became a professor in Chicago. The other didn’t evacuate and was arrested for her “resistant behavior” and died in a concentration camp. 

The streets bordering the memorial were named after the two women.

We made a stop near the memorial for dinner - our Nutter Butter chose Italian this time. I am actually surprised at the number if Italian restaurants in Germany. Quite honestly, I’ve seen just about every type of food offered here. 

Our last stop for day was the Berlin TV Tower. This structure was built to give everyone the impression that East Germany/East Berlin was a place of the latest technology advances. They worked hard through all forms of media and architecture to promote their ideas and image. These types of things were being built while its citizens couldn’t find basic supplies and foods on the store shelves. At over 1200 feet, the tower is the tallest building in Germany. It has an indoor observation deck as well as a rotating restaurant in the ball portion of the tower. The views were great!

Rathaus (Town Hall) in the foreground

In the distance, you can see an open field. It is now a flat sparse park for residents called Tempelhof Field. It has served various function over the years but is known most to us as a airport location that supplies were flown in and out of.

One of the few remaining remnants of medieval architecture in Berlin.

This photo and the next are buildings built during the East Germany time to promote their superior nature in all aspects of life. They were meant to appear forward thinking and on the edge of the latest and greatest.

A view of the World Clock from the TV Tower

Bridges over the Spree River

In these two photos you can see a hill rising in the background. It is where all the rubble was piled from bombing debris from WWII. Eventually silt and vegetation covered it and now it is also covered with trees. It doesn't look that high from the tower's perspective but supposedly if you are standing on top of the rubble pile, you have a good view of the city.

We headed back to our apartment via the underground - it’s pretty easy to navigate - and were in the for the night. We leave for our next destination tomorrow morning!