The Secret Policeman's Ball

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I’d only been in town 36 hours, but felt like I’d achieved a lot. Up to that point the changes from 1989 had been minimal apart from a few examples of Soviet architecture in central Potsdam and some bleak views from the train heading in from Karlshorst. The level of construction was high – plenty of work for the Auf Weidersehen lads or their new equivalent then. I strolled up to Potsdamer Platz. The Wall went straight through here and now save for a few solitary panels abandoned by the U Bahn station, it is one of the primary centres of the new city. The land of high rise offices and flats and a centre for the arts and cinema. The area nearby Wilhelmstrasse zone was the centre of the Nazi administration, although most has clearly long since been destroyed. The site of a Fuhrer bunker is a rather non-descript car park with a few trees just down the road from the grey slabs that make up the labyrinth of the Holocaust Memorial. There is heavy security around the UK and US embassies en route to the end – or is it the beginning of Uter den Linden and the Brandenberg Gate. It was Sunday – so the main Bundestag building and area was all sealed off by security. The masses were there, some with misguided aspirations of getting to the top of the new Dome construction now in place. I headed across towards the space age Hauptbahnhof, cut down along the side of River Spree behind the Bundestag and located the New Synagogue.

The up and coming trendy area of Prenzlauer Berg appeared to have already got past the “up and coming” stage. It was previously in the East and it’s close proximity to the action, jobs and central Berlin has apparently already attracted the influx of the “haves”. I looked at a development of flats and realised I wouldn’t be joining them anytime soon, given the 600,000 Euro price tag for a penthouse flat. The majority of the residents were out spending and soaking up the winter sun in the pavement cafes – the rest were patrolling the flea market near the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark at the top of Schwedterstrasse.

The Jahn Sportpark was bordered by the Wall and the boundary of the complex uses sections of the Wall. The Max Scmelling Halle is also here and the stadium is the scene of most of Dynamo Berlin’s big European games. The favoured sports vehicle of the Stasi, talent as well as persuasion were allegedly used to ensure a succession of East German league titles to allow the team to play on the big European stage for the good of the state. The Trees were not intimidated and won here in a quarter final 2nd leg on route to Madrid. The main stadium was all locked up and there was too much CCTV to risk nipping over a small fence for a quick photo. The iconic floodlights remain with some serious graffiti artwork. The current Dynamo don't get to play much at the Jahn Sportpark anymore - crowds don't exactly warrant it - although they still see themselves as big fish in the small pond that is the Berlin Regional Oberliga.

I walked down Branauer Strasse, which followed the line of Wall. The construction on the "East" side continues and there is an almost No Man's Land still remaining at this point. In fact on this section is the only street in Berlin which remains divided - Bergstrasse - just above the Nord Bahnhof.

The 1400 hours appointment of the day was to see the Berliner Fussball Club Dynamo – the reincarnated Dynamo Berlin at BAK 07. No one likes us, we don’t care is very much the order of the day – all a bit Millwall - although whether most of the general public are bothered about the Berlin Regional Oberliga is open to debate – especially on a bright Sunday afternoon. The officers of the German police did much to raise the profile of the match by bringing a more than substantial number of the riot squad with them, which appeared completely disproportionate for the 900 crowd (including some 300 or so visitors and 20 random Englishmen). The Englishmen were thanked by the PA host for “dropping by” - it turned out according to the BAK website as some form of Facebook tribute to their midfield “maestro” Kevin Neuhaus and I quote .............

"Just a day after the establishment of a Kevin Neuhaus clubs in England makes the 20-year-old striker BAK 07 know that he likes fluent in the language of his new fans in London and would like to attend a course. I have' little time, but I want to be able to respond to the many requests from England. Says Neuhaus on the edge of the first training after the 0-0 draw against league rivals BFC Dynamo. His new fans from the UK, the last Sunday unexpectedly appeared in the Post the stadium to local rivals Dynamo want to see Kevin play."

I think some of that got lost in a google translation engine, but BAK 07 seemed generally delighted with their new found vocal support. The level of enthusiasm from the Dynamo fans was not quite the same, especially as they are probably not used to being taunted with “We can see you sneaking out” chants near full time. The Kevin Neuhaus crew refrained from the obvious follow up “Will you wait for us outside?” and continued to soak up their new found celebrity.

As it turned out the riot police were not needed and neither were the goalnets as the game finished in a tepid 0-0 draw. The taxpayers perhaps should ask whether police videoing away fans was a waste of their hard earned money! BAK looked disappointed as you would expect from their league leading position and Dynamo celebrated with their fans as though another European campaign was underway. The police occupied themselves by escorting the noisy Dynamo hardcore to the Hauptbahnhof to ensure that they did not disrupt anybody’s Sunday afternoon any further.

The match against BAK 07 was at the Poststadion, just north of the main train station. A small but tidy main stand, open sides and an athletics track today was an international venue of the past. German National Championship play-off games and International matches were played here pre-War before the construction of the Olympiastadion – the pre war Schalke 04 England won the first of 3 National Championships played there in 1934 – 1936 and England drew 3-3 with Germany in 1930 before a crowd of 45,000. The match slipped under the radar compared to the next one, when the headlines were made by a rather dodgy salute. The crowds were also big as several 1936 Olympics Games football matches were held there, including Germany's defeat to Norway in the Quarter Final in front 55,000 and all the top brass of the party. The manager was relieved of his duties after failing to deliver the propaganda coup required.

I followed the Dynamo boys East – not literally mind, as they didn’t look like our Sunday evening plans had much in common – walking along Unter den Linden to the Berliner Dom, the edge of Museum Island and Alexanderplatz. The tower on the edge of Alexanderplatz is visible from a wide area and draws you towards the area. While it is on the tourist draw list, there is nothing to particularly commend the area in reality bar the tower and a few Department stores.

My final day was a mixed East-West affair. First West to the picturesque Wannsee, a lake on the edge of Berlin just before Potsdam. The villas on the shore were apparently much favoured by members of the National Socialist top brass particularly when the centre of Berlin became a regular target for bombing. One of the villas became a conference centre and guest house used by the SD and SS and so it was that the location of Wannsee became synonymous with mass murder. On 20 January 1942, a review meeting was hosted in what was the former dining room by Heydrich to agree the “Final Solution” – a certain Adolf Eichman drew up the Wannsee Protocol with detailed minutes of how to put the plan into action. What did I learn – that most present at the meeting seemed to get away with it so to speak ........yes I was there, but it was just another meeting. If you get off at Wannsee station, bus 114 across the road runs a circle route round the lake and back to the station.

I took the train back to East Berlin. The Stasi Museum documents another phase of history. The actual HQ part of the building, House 1, is now under refurbishment, but the offices Erich Mielke have been recreated with his furniture in another one of the buildings. The complex is seriously large and save for the Museum exhibit now seems just another piece of dubious architecture from the Communist era and occupied by a range of companies. There is sign pointing you between the buildings on the exit from Magdalenenstrasse U Bahn.

The general area round Magdalenenstrasse, Lichtenberg and the old Karl Marx Allee shows very little of the gloss you find in the city centre. In between the crumbling old factories and tower blocks of flats, normal life goes on and you realise that the reunification process in all senses is a long way from completion.

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Photos

Bernauer Strasse
East Meets West

Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark
The Wall came in handy as a perimeter to the Stadium complex

BAK 07 v BFC Dynamo
................punching above their weight

East Berlin
...........tales from AufWeidersehn Pet

East Berlin
.............across the wastelands

Berlin Hauptbahnhof
...........across the River Spree

East Side Gallery
............near the Oost Bahnhof

Bundestag
.............the new Dome

Hamburger Bahnhof
.................now an Art Gallery

Comments

[abalada]

pink pipes
Ground water management for building sites. And as Berlin is an eternal building site ... go figure.

[Rainyb]

Wow, that's quite the fountain ;o)