Berlin, Germany
History
Berlin does not attempt to hide the less savoury parts of its history: a visit to the Topography of Terror (Mitte), for example, provides interesting but sobering insights into the activities of the Gestapo in Berlin during the Nazi years (1933-1945). Many of the walking tours also discuss scenes both of Nazi activity and Cold War tension and terror.
- Berlin Wall. A large stretch of intact Wall can be found to the east of the city centre along the River Spree in Mühlenstraße near the Oberbaumbrücke. Known as the East Side Gallery, it is a section of the wall that is preserved as a gallery. This can be easily reached from Ostbanhof or Warschauer Strasse. It has many beautiful murals, politically motivated and otherwise. Another place to try is near the Martin Gropius Bau museum, currently under reconstruction. Two small pices are also in Potsamer Plaz and in its neighbourhood at the corner between Eberrtstraße and Bellevuestraße).
- Berlin Wall Memorial(Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer). (U-Bahn Bernauerstrasse U8 or S-Bahn Nordbahnhof S1, 2, or 25, follow the signs in the stations – wall is Mauer in German). Often missed by tourists but an absolute must for anyone interested in this part of the city’s history. It’s a memorial to those who died crossing so you won’t, fortunately, get the tackiness of the Checkpoint Charlie area; instead you will be left with a haunting feeling of what life with the wall may have been really like. The monument itself is a gigantic wasted opportunity, blank and featureless. The inscription on the outside, declaring it a monument to the victims of the “communist reign of violence”, has sparked emotional debates and angered many local residents. The documentation center across the street on Bernauer Str. is excellent although most of the documentation is in German. The viewing platform gives you a tiny hint of the true scale of the Wall and how terrifying the “no man’s land” between the two sections of walls must have been. The Memorial is on Bernauer Strasse which itself is a street with a great deal of Wall history: the first recorded Wall related death of the notorious Peter Fechter was here, as was one of the famous tunnels and that famous photograph of the GDR border guard leaping over the barbed wire. Various monuments can be found along the entire length of the street, documenting nearby escape attempts and tunnels; captions are in German, English, French, and Russian. The Memorial itself is a complete section of 4th generation wall – both inside and outside sections, and you can peer through from the east side to see the remains of the electric fence and anti-tank devices in the death strip. It really helps you understand what an incredible feat it was to get from one side to the other — and why so many died doing it.
- Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie, a crossing point between East and West Germany during the Cold War, is no more. Formerly, it was the only border crossing between East and West Germany that permitted foreigners passage. Residents of East and West Berlin were not allowed to use it. This contributed to Checkpoint Charlie’s mythological status as a meeting place for spies and other shady individuals. Now the remains of the Berlin Wall have been moved to permit building, including construction of the American Business Center and other institutions not given to flights of John Le Carré-inspired fancy.
At the intersection of Zimmerstrasse and Friedrichstrasse is the famous “You Are Leaving the American Sector” sign. The actual guardhouse from Checkpoint Charlie is now housed at the Allied Museum on Clayallee. For a more interesting exhibit go to the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie. This is a private museum with kitschy memorabilia from the Wall as well as the devices GDR residents used to escape the East (including a tiny submarine!).
Checkpoint Charlie gained its name from the phonetic alphabet; checkpoints “Alpha” and “Bravo” were at the autobahn checkpoints Helmstedt and Dreilinden respectively. Checkpoint Charlie’s atmosphere was not improved at all on 27 October 1961 when the two Cold War superpowers chose to face each other down for a day. Soviet and American tanks stood approximately 200 meters apart, making an already tense situation worse. - Hugenottenmuseum, in Französischer Dom, Platz der Akademie. The Hugenottenmuseum represents the ongoing influence on Berlin by the Huguenots who emigrated from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Crown Prince Friedrich William encouraged them to settle here because most of them were skilled workers or otherwise useful to the kingdom. One memorable artwork, in room nine of the museum, pictures Crown Princess Dorothea exclaiming “But he’s a refugee!” upon being presented a very valuable set of jewels by Pierre Fromery. The generally agreed-upon view of refugees as poor, without resources let alone diamonds, was blown apart by the talented French Protestants forced to leave their country due to religion.
One of the most notable effects of having such a large French population was their influence on the infamous Berlin dialect. Berlinerisch words such as Kinkerlitzchen (from French “quincaillerie” – kitchen equipment) and Muckefuck (from French “mocca faux” – artificial coffee) are unique to the area.
The Französischen Dom (cathedral) itself was built to resemble the main church of the Huguenots in Charenton, France, destroyed in 1688. It has housed the museum since 1929. - Käthe Kollwitz Museum. Käthe Kollwitz’s reputation as a social activist who used art as a means to express her support of pacifism was hard-won. Her son was killed in the first World War, after which her art took a turn for the morose. When her grandson was killed in World War II, her art became even darker and more brooding as she contemplated the huge loss of life Germany had suffered. Both her own personal losses and those of the nation affected her art. After the war ever-present artistic themes for Kollwitz – death, violence, war, misery, guilt and suffering – took shape as the drawings, prints, sculptures, original posters and woodcuts housed in this museum.
- Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium). Built by Hitler for the 1936 Olympic Games, the Olympic Stadium is already crumbling! (So much for 1000-Year-Reich architecture lasting that long). It is one of the better examples of Nazi-era neoclassical architecture and is still used for sporting events. It is the home of the most successful soccer/football team of Berlin, Hertha BSC, and between 2000 and 2004 was renovated for the FIFA World Cup in 2006. A visit to a Bundesliga football match can be safely recommended, as football is a main ingredient of German public life (matches start Saturday 3:30PM or Sunday 5:00PM; be there at least half an hour earlier). The Olympic Stadium is where African-American athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals and disproving Hitler’s Aryan superiority theory.
The neoclassical architecture is supposed to remind the viewer of the splendors of Greece or Rome and of the universally-acclaimed great civilizations; it was thus intended as another part of Nazi propaganda. By reusing time-tested architectural components, such as columns, instead of pushing forward with a genuinely modern twentieth-century, entirely new architectural concept, did they think their designs would garner more positive attention? To the west of the Stadium itself is the Maifeld with the Langemarck hall and the Olympic Stadium Bell Tower, Glockenturm [43], (with observation deck), both of which can be visited.
For a glimpse at the Olympiastadion in its original state, rent Leni Riefenstahl’s movie Olympia. Riefenstahl has been accused of purposefully producing propaganda for the Nazis, though in her autobiography she denies it. There is no argument, however, that she is an excellent filmmaker. Though the Nazis may have helped fund some of her productions, Riefenstahl’s artistic vision is undeniable. - Tempelhof airport was used in the Berlin Airlift (Berliner Luftbrücke) in 1948 and 1949, and featured in movies like Billy Wilders “One Two Three” with James Cagney, Horst Buchholz and Lilo Pulver. The terminal building is still fascinating: the halls and neighbouring buildings, intended to become the gateway to Europe, are still known as the largest built entities worldwide, and have been described by British architect Sir Norman Foster as “the mother of all airports”.
- Karl-Marx-Allee The main street of past Eastern Berlin. It is a Unesco site exhibiting DDR buildings, fountains and lanes.
Zoo
Berlin has two Zoos and one Aquarium. The Berlin Zoo in the City West is the historic Zoo that has been a listed company since its foundation. It’s an oasis in the city and very popular with families and schools.
- The Berlin Zoo is the zoo with the largest range of species in the world. It lies directly in the heart of the City West (opposite Bahnhof Zoo at Hardenbergplatz) and is especially famous for its Panda bears. The Elephant Gate (Budapester Straße) is the second entrance next to the Aquarium and a traditional photo stop for most visitors because of the architecture.The Tierpark Berlin is located in Friedrichsfelde and is spacier than the historic Berlin Zoo but has only 50 years of existence.The Aquarium is part of the Berlin Zoo and is located at Budapester Straße in an historic building. Still the biggest Aquarium in Germany and hosts an amazing variety of fishes, crocodiles etc. One of the best places on a rainy day with children.
Do
Explore
* Go on a Walking Tour of Berlin – the Mitte and surrounding districts are sufficiently compact to allow a number of excellent walking tours through its history-filled streets. You’ll see amazing things you would otherwise miss. Details are usually available from the reception desks of hostels and hotels. Some options include:
* Insider Tours. English language walking tours with no reservation required. Simply show up at the pre-designated time and place. Choose the tour that interests you most. The classic ‘Insider Tour’ and ‘Red Star’ tours are both excellent. They also have a good Pub Crawl, where you get to see the coolest pubs in Berlin!
* New Berlin Tours. Runs on a tips-only basis. English and Spanish tours starting at 11am and 1pm and 4pm some of the year outside Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate. Entertaining and performed by young people living in Berlin and interested in its history.
* The Original Berlin Walks.
* Brewer’s Best Of Berlin Walking Tours
* Humboldt Tours Berlin. High quality tours. All guides are local PhD and graduate students in German history or American Fulbright exchange students. Comprehensive and entertaining general tours as well as various more detailed tours such as Architecture, Jewish History, bike tours and a Wild East Pub Crawl.
If you prefer a private tour, there are several possibilities, such as:
* Berlin Tour Guide. In Hebrew and English.
* Berlin Trails. Offers several unusual guided tours ending in a beer tasting at a typical, authentic German brewery or pub. Sights include the hidden Bunkers of Berlin, the Stasi prison and city sightseeing tour although individual tours are also available.
* Jewish Tours
* Milk & Honey Tours. This Jewish-owned and run tour company works with 16 guides, specialists of Jewish History, and provides individuals and groups with high quality tours of “Jewish Berlin”.
* Berlin is also great for cycling due to its many bike paths and flat geography.
* New Berlin Free Bike Tour.
* Fat Tire Bike Tours. Non-strenuous and entertaining city bike tours of Berlin. Tours start daily at the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz at 11am (and 4pm in summer months) and stop every couple hundred meters to discuss the sights as well as at a traditional beer garden in the park.
* Berlin On Bike. Offers “Berlin’s Best” and “Berlin Wall Tours” on alternating days. Tours are 4 hours long and start at the Kulturbrauerei at 3pm.