Modernity! Berlin!

In college, I took a German Civilization course that I didn’t enjoy or find particularly interesting. I had taken a similar course on France a few semesters before and loved it. The French Civ course covered a mix of history, culture and current events in a fun yet very informative manner - it worked since I remembered a lot of the history when touring Paris.

Expecting a similar and maybe even better experience, I was sorely disappointed in the German Civ course. All I remembered from it was the professor preaching “Modernity! Yes! Berlin! Yes!” in the front of the classroom. I had no idea what he was talking about. I didn’t figure it out in the four months that the course lasted, either.

Now, I have finally figured it out. All it took was an hour or two in Berlin.

Berlin is a city that has suffered from great tragedy over the last 80 years. First it served home to Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. It saw great bombing and sheer chaos at the end of World War II.

Then, like the rest of Germany, it became controlled by the Soviet, US, British and French governments. Under this arrangement, the city was split into four segments but effectively two emerged - East Berlin (the Soviet communist side) and West Berlin (the Western democratic side). The east saw torment under the communist regime while the west was a small democratic state nestled within the borders of communist East Germany. And even now that Germany has reunited (almost 20 years ago), the city is still trying to rebuild from its horrid past.

I arrived in this “new” Berlin early this afternoon; earlier than I thought. I found the hostel without a problem and picked up a map and tour brochures from the same company I took tours with in Paris. I started looking through them over a burger and a beer at the hostel’s bar and really started to become intrigued. I didn’t have much planned for today but I noticed a walking tour starting at 4:00. That sounded interesting.

I headed out for the walking tour, which started at Brandenberg Gate. I thought I had plenty of time but the subway here is a bit slow with frequent stops so I actually got there a bit late. I found the tour group and it wasn’t a problem to join in. I am really glad I made it because it was an incredible tour.

Our tour guide, James, was a British student from Liverpool. He had the notorious dry, witty British humor that you either love or hate. I love it.

James took us through the history of Berlin in about 10 minutes while we stood under the Brandenberg Gate. We then walked through the gate into what was West Berlin. From there we could see the Reichstag nearby and also a brick line through the center of the street. This brick line marks where the Berlin wall once stood.

From there we headed south for a couple blocks to the holocaust memorial (it’s actually called The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe but most everyone interprets it to all sufferers). The site is very nondescript and consists of many grey cubes that form tunnels on a large piece of land that was donated to the city. The cubes are of various heights and form tunnels throughout the memorial that visitors can walk through. The project’s architect, Peter Eisenman intended “to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.” As people walked through, almost running into one another and the sounds of the nearby city became heavily muted, Eisenman was successful.

After the holocaust memorial, we stopped in a dirt car park. Why? Because it was the site of the Nazi bunker where Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide towards the end of World War II in Germany. The site remains very unappealing and can easily go unnoticed so as to not create any kind of a shrine to Hitler.

We continued to the south by the German Luftwaffe offices. The building was once the largest office building in the world but was later surpassed by the Pentagon. After the war it became occupied by the Soviets and became the center of the East German government. It now houses the German tax collection agency.

Nearby, we got our first glimpse of a remaining section of the Berlin Wall. While we were there, James told us a bit more on the origins of the wall, its intent and its structure.

The wall was originally barbed wire which was implemented overnight when East Germany had problems with its citizens fleeing to West Germany. The barbed wire didn’t do much as people could just leap over it. There’s even a famous picture of a Soviet soldier doing just that.

Then, the construction of an actual wall began. The wall actually consisted of two walls surrounding the perimeter of West Berlin. Since West Berlin was completely buried within East Germany, the Soviets did not have to worry about any border issues to do this. The outer wall was placed a few feet within the East German turf so as not to encroach on West Berlin soil. Farther into (sometimes several feet and other times up to 500 meters) East German territory, a second wall was erected. This created a no-man’s land known as the death strip between the two walls. Anyone found in the death strip would be shot on sight. The death strip was lined with sand to make it more difficult to run and also had electric fences, land mines and trip wires to make an escape even more improbable.

In the 1970s, the original physical wall was deemed insufficient so a new wall was built. The wall itself was made of reinforced concrete so driving through it would have been next to impossible. The tops of the wall were covered with smooth round tubing that made it even tougher to get by than barbed wire since there wasn’t anything to grab onto.

Seeing the wall itself helped to put much of this into perspective. Also, the description was very helpful as I knew very little about it, especially the two wall scheme with a death strip.

After seeing the section of the wall, we walked to nearby Checkpoint Charlie, the most infamous border crossing station between East and West Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie today has been mostly reconstructed as a tourist attraction at the sight of the American checkpoint. It seems from looking at the re-creation that the post served both sides. But in actuality the Soviet post was a block away to the north.

We stopped for a brief bathroom and drink break and then embarked on the remaining portion of the tour. As the sun began to set, we reached the Gendarmenmarkt which was home to French and German cathedrals built in the 1600s. The Französischer Dom (French cathedral) arose because of the influx of French immigrants into Germany when skilled workers were in high demand in Germany. Then a German cathedral was built (since the Germans were jealous). It was built slightly higher than the French cathedral. This cathedral was destroyed in World War II but was rebuilt in the 1990s.

Amazingly, these buildings, like many others, survived the Soviet occupation of East Berlin. Actually, the bulk of the historical parts of Berlin were within East Berlin, as the Soviets took the best part.

We then headed to Bebelplatz, a plaza surrounded by a library, Humboldt University (a world renowned university) and the People’s Opera House. In the center of the plaza is where the Nazi book burnings took place. A plaque marks the spot of the bonfire.

We finished up by walking past a few of the museums on Museum Island and learning about the mistake that caused the Berlin Wall to come down. It was a fascinating story; one I had never heard. Basically there was no intention to freely open the borders but the press officer screwed up in a press conference and stated that the borders would open immediately.

After the tour, a few of us walked with James as he made his way home. He took us on a shortcut since he lives near the hostel and where some other participants were staying. He gave me some tips on kebab places since Berlin has such a strong Turkish population. I look forward to putting my Salzburg kebab guy to the test.

After a busy day I got back to the hostel just before the Phillies NLDS game 1 started. I ordered some food (a Hawaiian chicken sandwich - go Shane Victorino) and a Franziskaner Dünkel.

Earlier that day, I had met a guy who was born in Reading and grew up in Pottstown who was studying in Berlin. He was asking whether the hostel bar was showing the game tonight while I was checking in. We talked about meeting up to watch the game here but I didn’t see him. After a few innings, I heard some other clapping in the bar when the Phillies scored. Here he had arrived and was on the other side of the bar. I joined him.

I think he said his name is Mustaffa (like The Lion King, I guess). We were shooting the breeze while watching the game and then met another couple guys watching the game. One was a Canadian from Saskatchewan - Jeff. The other was two seats down so all I gathered is that he was a Red Sox fan and could regurgitate various stats and events.

I talked with Jeff a lot, too. He’s staying at the hostel while he is traveling around different parts of Europe.

The Phillies won so the night ended on a high note.

I wasn’t particularly excited for my visit to Berlin. In fact, I was hoping I wouldn’t have too much downtime. Even after reading my guidebook, I wasn’t in awe. But what I’ve experienced so far and what I have planned for the next few days completely opposes my initial expectations. Berlin! Yes!

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Part of trip: Europe Backpacking

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