Berlin...

I spent seven days in Berlin, and while I easily could have stayed longer, I was eager to leave.
Not because I didn't enjoy the city, but because I found it difficult to be a tourist there, among other things...

But first I'll show-and-tell you everything I did enjoy!

The Brandenburg Gate (built in the late 1700's) is the only surviving city gate.


Naturally, it's an important symbol for Berlin - Napoleon and his armies marched through these gates after their Prussian defeat in October 1806; Hitler and the Nazi party used the gate as their symbol; so much of Berlin's history centers on or intersects with the Brandenburg gate.


A less notable site: Hotel Adlon...where Michael Jackson dangled his baby from the penthouse window. Ok, moving on...


The Berliner Dome...a nice building to look at while laying on the lawns, reading and smelling the flowers.




This is Friedrich the Great:


As Napoleon marched down Unter den Linden when he took Berlin, he is reputed to have stopped at the statue, removed his hat and said "hats off gentleman, for if this man were still alive, none of use would be here."



Humbolt University, whose illustrious students included Karl Marx, Lenin, the Brothers Grimm, Max Planck ... oh and Einstein taught here!


I had to go to Marx-Engels Platz.

There were metal pillars inlaid with photographs depicting class struggle.


Some other monument, and I have no idea what it is...


And the gentleman themselves...if it weren't so scalding hot, I would have climbed up on Marx's lap for a photo, but alas, they're made of bronze.


One of my favourite places in Berlin was Alexanderplatz, mostly because of this fountain:




The TV tower is at one corner of the square (I felt a discernible twinge of pride in Toronto's CN Tower, it's way better).

I really enjoyed the city itself, especially being next to the Spree river...


The shady tree-lined boulevards...


The grand public squares with their huge cathedrals and monuments...



And I especially loved the tiny Nikolai Quarter:





As a walked back and forth across the city, the differences between east and west Berlin became really evident: the west seems to have more of a distinct character and it's bustling with commercialism, while the east-of-center is full of construction and a less appealing aesthetic.

Amidst all this walking, I went to so many museums and I didn't even see everything I intended to. I seem to have developed a habit of leaving at least one thing un-done or un-seen in each city that I enjoy, so that I'll have something to go for when I come back.

Nonetheless, I did and saw so much in Berlin that I'm afraid there is no way to present this as a coherent narrative for you, my dear reader, so it's just going to be a barrage of information and images, much as it was for me. Take breaks, it helps.

* * *

Hitler's main bunker is under this parking lot:


Of the 278 bunkers still under Berlin, this is where Hitler apparently spent his last days doped up on over thirty different medications, spending most of his time sitting on the floor eating chocolate cake. Or so they say.

* * *

This is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

It's been called "the venus flytrap of Holocaust memorials." It's by that New York architect, Peter Eisenman, who'll be designing the world trade center site memorial.


It is definitely not a comfortable place to be: there are 2,711 slabs of grey concrete - purportedly the same colour as burnt human bone - that rise up and around you as you walk into the labyrinth.



The sensory control is the first thing you notice. City-sounds melt away. You feel noticeably cooler, with the concrete columns shielding the sun, dominating every line of sight.



There is a pronounced sense of immersion; echoes of an inability to escape. Surrounded by what look like gravestones, walking paths that rise and fall like waves.


It feels devastating and soothing all at the same time. I'm relieved when the path starts to rise, or the columns get smaller, as I make my way out.


You might wonder why, in a city famed for it's graffiti, these perfect surfaces remain untouched. They're coated in an anti-graffiti varnish produced (and donated to the memorial) by the same company that designed and sold cyanide gas for the camps.

* * *

The DDR Museum (Deutsche Democratic Republic) was very cool. Everything was interactive - things to touch, cupboards to open, drawers to pull. It was all about life under communism.

Here are some fun facts that stuck with me:

* Socialization starts early: daycare centers had a potty bench used for collective potty breaks, where everyone remained seated until the last one was done.

* As far as art is concerned, it was valued as "for the people." When the SED called for "socialist realism," artists were to visit factories and create notable works of art portraying the workers' life. Yay, SED. Oh wait, they banned any inadequate results as well as any forms of criticism. Right.

* Wearing Levi's was considered anywhere from a symbol to an act of rebellion.

* Despite 39 newspapers, 2 television channels and 4 radio stations, there was only one opinion - the media were only allowed to broadcast censor-approved material.

* They had an Intershop, which carried western goods like cigarettes, alcohol, groceries, toys, music, electronics and jewelry. They were originally created for western travelers, and the GDR used the western currency to buy raw materials like cotton and coffee on the international market. But of course they got wildly popular - the number of shops grew to almost 400 throughout the 80's.

* Only about 10% of people in the GDR were allowed to go to University. All the universities had the same curriculum. Every student had to serve four weeks in a military camp and was forced to become a reserve officer cadet, but conscientious objectors to military serve were allowed to theology at best. Female students had mandatory seminar for civil defense. Students could get into serious trouble for telling political jokes, owning certain books or not participating in may 1st demonstrations. Being seen with a book by George Orwell could get you taken off the university registrar.

* The GDR was the most surveilled society in history. There was no such thing as postal or financial discretion, privacy or legal protection. The Ministry for State Security (Stasi) was responsible for Western espionage, domestic surveillance and suppressing any kind of opposition. Public surveillance was based on a huge network of informants - GDR citizens were either willing, paid or forced to work as unofficial collaborators, and by 1989 there were about 170,000 collaborators with roughly 90,000 of them spies.

* * *

Another excellent museum was The Story of Berlin, a massive multimedia exposition.

I learned more in a few hours about the Thirty Years War, the German Reformation, Jewish history in Berlin, as well as Islam, the Franco-Prussian war and the founding of the Reich "in blood and iron" that I would have thought possible.

So many recreated sets and scenes from GDR life up to and including the Holocaust: typical living rooms, little hideouts, surveillance and checkpoint offices...




Original pieces of the Berlin Wall:


In this tunnel, the rise of Nazism is laid out in date-event format, an assault of facts and historical shorthand...


The path of history leading up to the Holocaust is a descent into the basement, where you're surrounded by eerie sounds, furtive whispers in dark corners and shadows moving along the walls.


I'm not going to relay all the facts about the Holocaust - I've read and heard about it, and so have you. Frankly, I just don't have the emotional fortitude to condense and describe.

* * *

As you might expect, Hitler liked grand architecture - anything imposing, that would make a person feel small. This is the House of Ministries (it could only be more Orwellian if it were called the Ministry of Ministries).



On the side of the building there is a mural from 1951 depicting life under communism, titled the importance of peace for the cultural development of humanity and the necessity of struggle to achieve this goal. It is a perfect example of communist propaganda.




In June 1953, there was a general strike observed through most of east Berlin, in which more than 36,000 workers participated. The demonstrations spread throughout east Germany. Of course, the Soviets used force to squash the uprising - tanks patrolling the streets, parts of the city sealed off. Aside from military force used against demonstrators (which left many people dead or wounded on the street) the Soviet Military courts ordered the execution of eighteen people, hoping to set an example.

This photo of a crown gathered at a demonstration is laid in front of the building, at the same scale as the mural.


...myth and reality; propaganda and truth.

* * *

At Babelplatz is where you'll find the memorial to the Nazi book-burning of 1933.

But you've got to be looking for it: there is a glass pane in the middle of a huge empty square, with a little bronze plaque next to it. The empty bookshelves signify the burning of about 25,000 books by authors considered to be enemies of the Third Reich.


Interestingly, the burning of books is not something that incites much public reaction in 1933 - there weren't even many full newspaper reports the next day, and some authors were actually there to watch their books being burned.


The chillingly-prophetic quote by Heinrich Heine, which he wrote in 1820: Where books are burned, in the end people will burn.

* * *

I even explored an atomic bomb shelter... this is the airlock control:


It was built to hold 3600 people - 1% of the population - for 14 days.

The rationale was that in the event of an atomic bomb, in two weeks the radiation levels will have diminished to a level where the human body can handle it for a couple of hours...assuming the bomb goes off on the first day they're locked down there.


The temperature would have been around 32 degrees...


...with only 1 litre of water per person per day...


...nothing but UV lighting, for its antibacterial effect (light is not necessary for survival).


The diesel powered generator:


There were copies of pamphlets with the most absurd propaganda cartoons about how to survive an atomic bomb. Yeah, lay down with your suitcase over your head - sure, you'll be fine.

* * *

This is Checkpoint Charlie, at Friedrichstrasse.
The way that guard poses, and how so smoothly he shifts positions makes it seems like he's confusing his day job with his moonlight stripping gig.



Foreign tourists and allied forces were instructed to use this checkpoint - which was transformed into a ten lane border facility - as of August 1961.



In the 1970's and 80's, East Germans who applied for an exit visa (which they wouldn't get) or tried to escape, were marginalized and discriminated against, or criminalized and penalized for "deserting the Republic." Hence all the escape attempts - that was the only option.

The escape strategies people came up with were pretty ingenious. For instance, roughly 400 East Germans were able to cross as foreigners with passes from states and organizations that didn't even exist. Other popular options included acquiring a fake uniform or escaping in the trunk of a car.

This is where the border was opening on November 9 1989. Since the wall had been erected, about 40,000 East Germans escaped successfully. There are no definitive figures on the number of people died at the Berlin wall, although at least several hundred were shot by border guards or met with fatal accidents while trying to escape.

* * *

I stumbled upon this church near the Tiergarten in west Berlin:


The destruction of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtnis-Kirche church was quick and devastating, and the remains of the original structure stand as a monument alongside the new church built to replace it.


The before-and-after of the bombing in 1943:


And it's so beautiful inside the part that still stands:



For the new church and bell-tower, built in 1962, there are 2200 handcrafted panes of glass, each 24mm thick.



* * *

A church facade, framing the sky and trees behind it. What a resounding metaphor.


While I was getting a closer look and snapping a few pictures, this cool Turkish guy asked me for directions, and we ended up having a morning coffee together. He's from Istanbul but he's studying economics in Berlin. When we parted he gave me a green marker, a recipe for starbucks muffins, and his email address.

* * *

So, the Berlin Wall.

It went up overnight. Literally. During the 1950's there was such a brain-drain from East to West Berlin that the Soviets decided to lock their citizens in.

It started out as a fence with barbed wire and armed guards, which was swiftly replaced with the actual wall. Imagine going to visit your East-Berliner boyfriend overnight and waking up trapped beyond your house, your job, your friends...

There were actually two walls separated by a five kilometer wide 'death strip' with fresh raked sand, so that footprints could be easily identified. The top of the interior wall was painted white so that you'd be seen trying to climb over even at night. Not that you'd want to, what with the dogs and the armed guards that were paid on commission for every escapee they shot.


This is the East Side Gallery:



And a section of the wall near Checkpoint Charlie:



Me, standing at the cobblestone line delineating where the wall used to be:


* * *

The funniest thing about the fall of the Berlin wall is exactly how it happened:

Ok, so dissent was on the rise, protests were breaking out left right and center - shit's hitting the fan, so to speak, and the GDR knows they've got to do something. So they have a meeting and discuss all possible options, from using heavy military force to subdue the public to opening the wall and letting everyone go.

Gunter Schabowski (who was not at the meeting) is instructed to give a press conference to appease the national and international journalists.


As was typical, he spends most of the droning on about the ideals of the Republic and blah blah blah. One of the international journalists gets frustrated and boldly departs from the approved list of questions, asking Schabowski something about passports for GDR citizens.

This press conference is being broadcast live on television and radio, and Schabowski doesn't want to look like he doesn't have the answer - all he does have, however, is the huge file of all possible options churned out by the recent meeting. He opens it to the first page and reads aloud the first thing regarding passports: "private trips abroad can be applied for without specific reasons...offices have permission to immediately grant visas for permanent departure...permanent departure can take place via all checkpoints between the GDR and the FRP or West-Berlin."

The room full of sleepy journalists begins to stir ("did he just say...?"). The next question to be asked, obviously, is when does this take effect? And here is what I find hilarious: if comrade Schabowski had just done something radical - thought for himself for once - and made up something about more information in the near future, he could have at least secured a modicum of control for the GDR over the events bound to come. But no, good 'ol Gunter, for lack of a scripted answer, replied "To my knowledge...immediately." And that was that.
Well done comrade.

* * *

In 1990, Ralf Dentzer was in Berlin for a disc (frisbee) tournament, and he and a friend decided to go have a look at the wall. For some reason he threw his frisbee over the wall and called to the guards for their help until one of them picked up the frisbee and threw it back - right through the wall. It's a really striking image:


* * *

In need of respite, I went to a movie one night (In Bruges, it was alright) and, I have to admit, the Sony Center at Postdamer Platz is one the most pleasant wholly-commercial atmospheres I've ever been in.


On the giant screen to the right is time-lapse nature footage and calming Japanese music.



The dome is steel and fabric, fluidly changing from red to purple to blue to red...


* * *

The one thing I read that comes close to summing up Berlin is this:

Berlin is radical: the only tradition this city will accept is that it does not have a tradition. There is scarcely a single district, building or monument that is sacred to the city. If you're looking for cosiness or classical beauty, you're not likely to find much in Berlin. Almost every generation sees Berlin trying out a new face: this is a city of experiment...

It rings true, at least for my short experience in Berlin. I saw so many monuments, some full of information, others with no indications as to what they are...


...some obviously cherished, and others neglected...


The architecture was really compelling - lots of spaces that you just want to be in...


And plenty of off-beat modern art type stuff, including all the great graffiti...


You would think that the devastating history and the vibrancy of modern Berlin would strike a nice balance, but there were other factors that tipped the scales for me:

1. Everywhere I went, there was always construction - from cranes hovering over partial-buildings, to piles of dirt and taped off sidewalks, to the maddening sound of jackhammers and bulldozers - it was inescapeable. Even my freakin' hostel was under construction! Best 8 am wakeup call ever.

2. I tried to switch hostels, but Pegasus has an absurd cancellation policy whereby regardless of the notice you give, you get charged about 28 euros for canceling your booking. So I had to stay. I hate feeling trapped by circumstance.

3. I didn't really meet anyone cool to go around with.

4. Due to a delayed reaction, I didn't realize until I left Berlin that I was covered - and I mean covered - in bed bug bites. They are fifty times itchier than mosquito bites and are redder than my burning hatred for that fucking Pegasus hostel.

Next time I'm in Berlin I'm staying Hotel Adlon.