Touring the Third Reich

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This morning I was supposed to do my last long run. I was excited for it; just to get it over with.

Coming into Berlin I thought I’d have plenty of time for this. And I’d be well rested since I expected nice easy touring days. I was way off base. I had too much to do yet and had shot my legs with all the walking. So no chance for today. Postponed until Wednesday when I get to Vienna.

In place of my run I went to the Reichstag to try and see the inside before another tour at 1:00. The line at the Reichstag was even longer than yesterday. It still didn’t move until about 15 minutes into my wait when a group of what appeared to be 20-30 people were all let in at once. I figured at this rate I’d be waiting for an hour or more but it was supposed to be worth it (at least that’s what Sara said to us the night before). And that would be fine since I had two and a half hours until my tour began nearby.

After and hour in the cold and wind, I reached the base of the steps. At an hour and a half I was almost up the stairs. It appeared that I would possibly make the next group. I knew that if I didn’t it was either the Reichstag or the tour. It was definitely going to be the tour.

I got to the top of the steps and the rope closed off just before I made it in. The system of letting people in was a bit rudimentary. The staff worker would just wait until people couldn’t go in any farther (at least those at the rope) then closed it off. But too many people who had already made it in were too inconsiderate to realize that their leaving tons of space in front of them meant that others would have to wait even longer. Easily a dozen more could have fit in comfortably.

Being a solo traveler again had its merits. As the staff worker took the rope to the other side, I stealthily snuck between the rope post and the column. I was in.

At this point there was still the main entrance doors and security to go through. I finally made it through that at the two hour mark. I had about 15 minutes to do some actual touring.

I headed towards the elevator with everyone else and we proceeded to the glass dome. There we were given audio guides which explained the history of the Reichstag as we walked around and took in the views of the surrounding area while walking up and down a spiral pathway that ascended to the top of the dome.

The little bit of a tour I had was certainly not worth the two hour wait. The views were impressive but I really needed much longer to see everything else. Perhaps having more time would have helped but that’s a huge commitment given the wait. And the wait is like that all the time. If I ever did it again I would have to check well ahead of time into getting on the registered visitors list.

I was able to make my 1:00 tour. This one was through the same company I had been using and was on the Third Reich.

Several parts of the tour ended up being redundant with the free tour I did but other new parts and some depth on the repeats made it worthwhile. We covered the Reichstag, Holocaust Memorial, Hitler’s suicide bunker and Gestapo and Luftwaffe headquarters again. And I had already seen the Soviet memorial on my own. But we did see a few other memorials dedicated to specific persecuted groups, including gypsies, Jews and homosexuals (which had a video of two guys kissing within its outer display).

At the end we saw an old synagogue that was repaired post war and the site of a synagogue that was destroyed by the Nazis. We also heard the story of Kristallnacht (night of the broken glass) and how the two synagogues were saved.

One of the two highlights was learning about Germania. Hitler had intended on making Berlin the center of the German Empire (and essentially the world) by the end of WWII. He placed a man named Albert Speer in charge of this as first architect of the Third Reich. While few of the plans were actually realized, Speer had drawn up detailed plans for the new city.

Its center would encompass the intersection of two grand avenues - the East/West route being the Charlottenburger Chaussee (actually built and today is the Strasse des 17 Juni) and a north/south route called the Avenue of Victory.

The Avenue of Victory was to be a 5 km long boulevard. At the south end of the boulevard would be an arch similar to the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but of course much larger. In fact, it was supposed to be 100 meters high - large enough to fit the Paris Arc inside the opening.

Visitors to the great city would arrive at a newly built Südbahnhof railway station where they would enter through the arch and walk up the Avenue of Victory towards a host of the government’s buildings in Grosser Platz (Great Plaza). The plaza would be surrounded by the Führer's palace to the west, the 1894 Reichstag Building on the east and the Third Reich Chancellery and high command of the German Army buildings to the south, flanking the Avenue of Victory.

To the north and most visible would be Hitler’s designed building called Volkshalle (people's hall). It was slated to be a domed building more than 200 meters tall and 250 meters in diameter. We went by a museum dedicated to the Germania topic and peaked inside at a model of Volkshalle next to same scale models of the Brandenberg Gate and the Reichstag. The Volkshalle dwarfed the two existing structures.

Most of the city was never realized and almost anything that was built ended up being demolished. The museum looked intriguing but I’ll have to visit it next time I come to Berlin.

The second highlight was the Topography of Terror exhibit. This exhibit contained hundreds of photos from before, during and after the war along with descriptions. It put together a fairly comprehensive history of Nazi Germany.

For lunch we had stopped at a small kebab shop that Angela Merkel, the current German Chancellor, calls her favorite. Again it couldn’t beat Sebah’s in Salzburg.

After the tour ended, I raced back to the hostel to catch the Germany vs Russia World Cup soccer qualifier. The game was being played in Russia so it started at 5:00. I made it back just a few minutes into the game. I grabbed a Franziskaner dunkel and a table and began to watch. There I was joined by a guy named Kyu (Q) who was originally from Seoul but lives in Los Angeles. He teaches SAT and other standardized test courses and managed to get a few consecutive weeks off to travel.

We were joined by Jeff shortly thereafter. Towards the end of the game, that Germany won, we started planning out the evening. We decided on trying a pub crawl offered by the same tour company. These pub crawls are offered in most cities but I hadn’t done one yet.

We ate a quick burger and headed out to the first bar just after 8:00. At the first bar, out back, the organizers offered free beer until 9:00 to kick things off. From there, we all walked (in the rain) to another bar. We met some more people there and then left to go to another bar, this one a bit more clubby. Then, two others, progressively more clubby with the final one an all out club. Not my thing. But I stayed for a while, especially to help Q who was drinking shots of Jaeger like water.

With each purchased beer throughout the night came a free shot of Jaeger. Shots are also not my thing so I pawned each one off, mainly to Q. Around 3:00 I called it a night and parted ways with the others. I have a train to catch tomorrow morning. I hated to leave those guys, especially Jeff who I enjoyed hanging out with the past few days.

Tomorrow I head for Krakow, Poland.

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Photos

Reichstag
Looking down from the top of the spiral staircase at the glass ceiling above the parliament room.

Museum of the Kennedys
This museum sits near the Brandenberg Gate by the French Embassy. What's wrong with this picture?

Synagogue
This synagogue was spared except from Allied bombing. The lighter areas (like the right tower) were repaired while the darker ones (left tower) are original.

Berlin bear
Statues of bears are everywhere. The people of Berlin have tried for hundreds of years to associate the Berlin name with the bear. It actually is probably Slavic for swamplands, which Berlin once was. The people naturally prefer the bear.

Germania
Here's a picture of Hitler's dream of a new Berlin that was at the center of the German Empire. The monstrous Volkshalle (people's hall) sits at the center.

Topography of Terror
Part of the Topography of Terror exhibit .