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Published: April 21st 2009
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If you have ever traveled and participated in a city tour, you know that such tours can be often very expensive. I am, therefore, excited to have stumbled upon this (free) tour that guides its participants to all of the major sights in Berlin. As we know, nothing is for “free,” so naturally the tour guides expect tips to be given at the end of the tour. I found this to be a wonderful experience, especially for young students like myself. Since I enjoyed my first tour so thoroughly, I recommended it to my classmates and joined them the very next week for another round. Needless to say, I learned even more on my second tour.
For the first tour, I went with a friend from one of my classes who comes from Switzerland. It was her third time taking the tour… just to show its popularity! We met in front of the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) which is probably the most well-known monument in the city. This gate, more than any other monument in Europe, represents the end of the Cold War. It is decorated with a quadriga. The goddess is called Victoria (obviously for victory) and can be
seen with her four horses. There is an interesting story behind the quadriga. In 1806 when Napoleon conquered the city of Berlin, he took the quadriga with him back to Paris. It is hard to imagine shipping a 10-ton figure to another country during this time in history, but I suppose that shows Napoleon’s character. The quadriga was returned to Berlin eight years later. Although, it is quite ironic that today the goddess faces the French Embassy. Also, the roads now divert around the gate rather than passing through it because it is made of sandstone and the gases and fumes from the automobiles would eventually destroy the historical monument.
The next sight on the tour is the Reichstag building which is Germany’s Parliament building. This is a very modern and famous building and has a symbolic meaning as well. There is a glass dome on the top where people can walk around the edges of the sphere and look down into the interior on the building and see the Parliament chamber. The architect of this building wanted the glass dome to serve as a reminder that the people should be considered in all decisions. They never again want
a repeat of the result of having a Chancellor with too much power as the case with Hitler.
The next stop is the Holocaust Memorial, which to an uninformed visitor may just appear to be a wave-like pattern of concrete blocks in the very center of Berlin. The location in the center was chosen because they wanted to show that it addresses state and civil society in Germany. The architect who designed this memorial is a Jewish American named Peter Eisenman. He said that he wanted each visitor to develop his own interpretation, but Eisenman wanted to create a feeling of instability and disorientation. The construction caused much controversy in Germany because 1) it costed almost 28 million Euros and 2) the protective coating on the blocks was done by a company, Degussa, whose history emerged in 2003 after the construction had begun that the firm’s parent provided gas for the gas chambers in the concentration camps. In an attempt to compensate, the company is providing the protective paint for the memorial for eternity. That’s the least they can do!
The tour also makes a quick stop at one of Hitler’s bunker sights (Führerbunker). This particular bunker was
where he spent the last six weeks of his life until he finally took his own life along with his dog and wife of one day. It was very large consisting of 30 rooms and was situated 8 meters underground. The Germans did not want to post anything on this landmark to give any sort of recognition to Hitler, but because so many tourists were disturbing the occupants living in the surrounding apartments, a small sign was posted noting the area as seen in the picture. Since 1945 government authorities were concerned about the site of the bunker evolving into a Neo-Nazi shrine. The German government strategy for avoiding this has largely been to ensure the surroundings remain anonymous and unremarkable. It wasn’t until 2006 that the small sign was placed to mark the location.
Checkpoint Charlie is also seen on this tour. Today it is a huge tourist attraction, and is only a remake of the original. This was a major crossing point during the Cold War between East and West Berlin. For many in the East, it was a gateway to freedom. Walls of stories can be read on the corners about failed and successful attempts to
cross the border. People hid underneath cars, used false identities, whatever they could to get across. Before the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, barbed wire was used to keep people from leaving from the communist East. There are terrible accounts told, such as a witness’s statement of watching a man being shot while trying to run through the barbed wire. He had to lay and suffer for an hour until he died. The American soldiers were unable to help because the man was still in the Soviet sector. It is hard to imagine what inhumane things were done.
The tour stops at a few other places including the German History Museum, Book Burning Memorial near the Humboldt University, and ends in front of the Berliner Dom. The church was originally built in 1750 but, of course, was partly destroyed during bombings in WWII. Reconstruction didn’t start until 1975, but just from observation, one wouldn’t notice that the church is fairly new because of the type of stone that is used. Also, next to the church, visitors can see the start of the reconstruction of the Berlin City Palace (Stadtschloss). This was a huge, beautiful palace that was built
Book Burning Memorial
Through this glass you can see a room with empty bookshelves symbolizing when the long list of over 20,000 books were banned by Hitler. They were collected and burned. The architect wanted one to feel the presence of absence; therefore, this memorial is hard to notice unless you know where to look! in 1871 and was the home of Prussian Kings and German Emperors. The palace was damaged during WWII and was later demolished by the Soviets. They then rebuilt their own “palace,” but it was a very unattractive, relatively small building when compared to the previous palace. Since the reunification of East and West Germany, Germans have wanted to recreate the historical palace. The reconstruction is predicted to cost an estimated 500 million Euros! Unbelievable! Note: If you would like to make a contribution, you can pay 50 cents to view a printed picture of what the palace will look like when it is finished through binocular lenses. :- )
If you are planning to come to Berlin, I would definitely recommend this tour! It’s especially worthwhile if you want to cover many of the major sights within about 4 hours!
Until next time…
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