Berlin
I visited
Berlin as part of a rail tour firstly to Poland and then on a second occasion
while visiting the great cities of Eastern Europe. I was excited to visit
Berlin, a city which has figured large in recent history. On my first visit we
stayed in an ultramodern hotel on
Alexanderplatz. We had a room high in this hotel with a view over a swath of
former East Berlin including its imposing TV tower which dominates the Berlin
skyline. I was taken aback that our bathroom had only strategically placed
areas of opaque glass with most clear.
On our first
day exploring the city we set out to walk past the former German Air Ministry
from Nazi times. This was a grave disappointment being a gigantic ( even
grandiose ) building with absolutely no exterior interest. It is now used for
some bureaucratic purpose unconnected with flying. Walking on and nearby quite
by chance we came upon the former Gestapo headquarters. It was almost totally
demolished down to ground level but the basement level was still visible. It
seemed almost unbelievable that these basement cells were where so many were
tortured. A major museum to Gestapo activities is adjacent to the site and it
was instructive, if horrifying, to visit.
We hurried on
to our destination which was Check Point Charlie. As a tourist destination the
Checkpoint is actually moved from its original site. It is now an attraction in
its own right with actors dressed in US and Soviet uniforms posing outside for
tourist photos. Some of the signage is still there as a tourist prop such as
large signs “You are now leaving the American sector”.
Much more
interesting was the nearby museum devoted to East Germans crossing the Berlin
Wall. This wall erected in 1961 and demolished in 1989 was much more than just
a tall concrete wall. On the East German side was the “death zone” of some 50m
of cleared sandy area where the border guards were told to shoot. Sadly many
from the East were killed trying to escape East Germany. One of the most
haunting aspects of the museum was the advice to escapers to try and catch the
guards eye and smile so that by exhibiting a common humanity the guard might
not shoot to kill. The escapers showed incredible ingenuity. In the walls early
days before so much was destroyed escapers could hope to jump or run from
nearby buildings. A border guard escaped this way and a lucky
photographer captured a famous photo.
Other bizarre
ways included a hot air balloon, con tricks such as flashing a Playboy Club passport
which resembled a diplomatic passport, secret tunnels, a tightrope walk or Zip
wire, or using makeshift boats on rivers or canals which cross the wall. A wide
variety of hiding places in vehicles were used. The most extreme was an East
German soldier who stole a tank, tried to crash the wall only to become
entangled in barbed wire. Although shot the soldier escaped.
Part of the
experience was a coach tour with a guide. Although German the guide had a great
command of English which he used to make wry jokes during the tour. A great deal
of building work is underway and seemingly modern buildings are being
demolished to make way for even newer ones. The guide introduced this by saying
it was a prominent aspect of the city life. Then when we would pass yet another
demolition site he would roll his eyes and say “ you know what our city hobby is…”
The guide was excellent and we were very fortunate to encounter him again on
our second visit. He claimed to remember me but he must see so many this seemed
a bit unlikely. The truth of his jokes was shown in that our first hotel had
been demolished despite being very modern.
A small section
of wall remains and Berliners have taken advantage of the sandy exclusion zone
by treating it as a beach. In fact touring Berlin shows artefacts from the
communist era from 1945 to 1989 for east Berlin and from the Nazi era
1933-1945. Berlin was subjected to intense bombing during WW11. The Nazi’s
built strong bomb shelters above ground which were surmounted by anti aircraft
guns. These flak towers are so massively built that it isn’t always worthwhile
to demolish them and we passed one in our tour.
We took a day
trip to Sanssouci palace in Potsdam quite close to Berlin. Built by King
Frederick of Prussia the name ( French for without cares ) it was used as a
retreat from the cares of government in Berlin. On our journey we travelled
along the Avus motorway, the first restricted access road in Europe. Its widely
separated dual carriageways had a dual function as a motor racing circuit with
hairpin bends joining the two carriageways. The road may be considered the precursor
to Nazi era autobahn.
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