when i first moved to germany,i lived in berlin for ten years. another ten years after i leftto live in the country, i decided the time was rightto pay a polite visit and see how the city was getting on without me. it can be frustrating,because it’s still rebuilding after decades of first war and then division. the water-table is so high in this area that water has to be pumped outof any hole that’s dug, although some berliners claim thathalf the pipes are pumping beer in.
so, in what follows, a lot of the sightsare behind scaffolding. don’t let that put you off. the oldest part of berlin itself is,like so many of berlin’s historical attractions, mostly a reconstruction. it’s the st nicholas quarter,which was completely destroyed in world war 2 and rebuilt by the east germans in 1987, in time for the official 750th anniversaryof the founding of the city. with limited resources, many of the houseswere rebuilt using modern materials, but with faã§ades that gave an impressionof how they might have looked.
st nicholas’s church dates from around 1200, so was in fact more than 750 years old in 1987. the date taken to calculate berlin’s age, 1237, is the date of the oldest knownofficial reference to colonia. the earliest reference to berlin is 1244, and not until 1307 were the two settlementscombined into one. not much else is known aboutthe origins of these settlements, as many historical documentswere lost in a fire in 1380. the area is also home to an inncalled “zur rippeâ€: “the ribâ€.
the bones that are its sign are,according to legend, a rib and a shoulder-blade ofthe last of the giants that lived here before the humans came. it’s thought they actually come from a whale. most of the rest of old berlin, though, is gone. st mary’s church is all that remainsof the st mary’s quarter. after the war, the ruins of this partof the city were completely removed to make way for the new, modern east berlin, the centrepiece of which is the television tower.
this is the tallest structure in germany, and currently the fourth tallestfree-standing building in europe. it was completed in 1969, with a total height of 365 metres. in the 90s the antenna was extended,giving the tower an additional three metres. ordinary berliners, with theirtypical brand of cynical wit, soon noticed that when the sun shines on thesphere, it reflects in the shape of a cross, a slight embarrassment considering the wayeast germany strove to be an atheist state. and so people started calling it“the pope’s revengeâ€,
or “st walter’s†after the leader ofthe gdr at the time, walter ulbricht. excavation work forthe extension of an u-bahn line recently uncovered some remains of the old city; most excitingly, those ofthe original city hall. the u-bahn station had to be slightly redesignedto avoid completely destroying them. the current city hall was builtin the late 19th century, and still serves as the official office ofthe mayor of berlin and the city senate. it’s known as the “red city hallâ€for its actual colour, not the colour of its politics.
a frieze around the outer walldepicts the history of berlin from the 12th century to the foundingof the german empire in 1871. nearby are the bomb-damaged ruins ofa mediaeval franciscan monastery: the so-called “grey monasteryâ€. it is one of the last surviving examplesof gothic architecture in the city. also in the area is “zur letzten instanzâ€, probably one of berlin’s oldest surviving inns. it was certainly there in 1561,although under a different name. it was built against the wall:
not the famous wall that divided the city in 1961, but an older, mediaeval wall that protected the cityfrom the 12th century to about the 17th. as the city grew, the old wall was demolishedand new ones built, but a few metres of the original remain. it was prince elector friedrich wilhelm, who, in the 17th century,laid the foundations of berlin’s success. he instituted a policy ofimmigration and religious tolerance, inviting refugees to live in berlin:
fifty jewish families from austria, political refugees from bohemia and poland, and, most importantly,about 6,000 huguenots from france. the integration of this last groupis honoured by the gendarmenmarkt, with the playhouse,originally the national theatre, flanked by the so-called“german church†on one side, and the “french church†on the other. due to an unfortunate translation error, these churches are sometimesmistakenly referred to as “cathedralsâ€,
which, of course, they’re not. over the next few centuries,berlin grew into a city fit for a king. the city schloss was demolished after the war to make way for a military parade ground and then the main debating chamberof the east german government, the palace of the republic. this was itself demolished in 2008, and the humboldt forum is currently being built. the plan is for its faã§ade to bea replica of that of the schloss.
one small remnant of the original, a single portal, was incorporated intothe east german state council building. opposite is the berlin cathedral, completed in 1905to replace an 18th century original. in the crypt are the tombs of many membersof the royal house of hohenzollern. right next door is a collectionof museums and galleries. the old museum, with artefacts from ancient greece. the new museum, showcasing ancient egypt. the pergamon museum, with the pergamon altarand exhibits from babylon.
the old national gallery, with paintingsand sculptures from the 19th century. the bode museum, with its collectionof coins and byzantine art. together with the pleasure gardens,now a public park, this forms what is called “museum islandâ€. from here, central berlin’smain boulevard, unter den linden, leads to what was the royal hunting grounds. many important buildingswere sited along this road. the 18th century arsenal once contained150,000 weapons and trophies. it now houses the german historical museum.
a modern reconstruction ofthe old commander’s office. the new guard house, now a memorialto the victims of war and tyranny. the crown prince’s palace. the state opera house. the humboldt university was founded in 1809 and originally calledthe friedrich wilhelm university, and housed in an empty palace. opposite the main building is the faculty of law, but in the 1930s this building housedthe university library.
it was here, on 10th may 1933, that books by people the nazis considered“degenerate†were burned. a monument in the middle of the plazacommemorates this event. unter den linden eventually leadsto the brandenburg gate, which provides access to the tiergarten. originally a royal hunting ground, it is now a wooded parkstretching west towards charlottenburg. by the 1730s, berlin had grown to cover roughly what is nowthe locality of mitte.
a new wall was built,but not for miltary protection. instead, it was a customs wall, so the authorities could controland tax imports and exports. some of the names of the various gates survive as names of u-bahn stations,streets and squares, so it possible to tracethe rough course of this wall. the brandenburg gate isthe only one still standing. but it’s not the original,which was a much more modest affair. king friedrich wilhelm ii, though,
wanted a fitting memorialto his recently deceased uncle. the new gate was opened in 1791, but not completely finished for another two years. the architect, carl gotthard langhans, was apparently inspired bythe parthenon in athens, but he’d only ever seen engravings of it and had mistaken it for a gateway. there is a myth that saysthat at some point in its history, the quadriga was turned aroundto face the other way.
in fact, it has always faced east, as it represents, depending on who you ask, either peace or victory returning to the city. it was coincidence that, in 1961, the infamous berlin wallhappened to follow the course of the 18th century customs wall at this point, leaving the brandenburg gatestranded in no man’s land, a potent symbol of the iron curtain:a gate through which none could pass. the buildings around pariser platzare all post-reunification;
some of them copies of the originals. the hotel adlon was originally built in 1907. the new version opened 90 years later. this is the hotel from where michael jacksonfamously dangled his son in 2002. if you’re wondering,a night in the presidential suite will probably cost you about €16,000. the famous jewish artist max liebermannlived in the house that stood here. on the night the nazis paraded through the gate,he is said to have commented that he couldn’t eatthe amount he would like to puke.
berlin continued to growthroughout the 19th century. the industrial revolution took hold, and the railways came,bringing increased mobility. one of the original stationswas the anhalt station, the terminus for trains from the south west, opened in 1836. badly damaged during the war, only two underground s-bahn platformsand one small part of the faã§ade remain. in 1871, berlin was elevated from beingjust the capital of prussia,
and became the capital city of a new,unified, german nation state: the german empire. this new nation needed a parliament, the reichstag, and this body metin the purpose-built reichstag building, completed in 1894,and later dedicated to the german nation. the various coats of arms depictedeither side of the main entrance represent the states that had unifiedto become one country. the original copper dome was destroyedin the 1933 fire which the nazis blamedon their political opponents.
the new dome, to the eternal delightof german political satirists, helps keep heating costs down by recirculating hot airfrom the debating chamber. although the building is known as “the reichstagâ€, the body that meets there nowis called the “bundestagâ€. berlin’s new status providedmore impetus for more growth. the period known as the “grã¼nderzeit†brought toberlin and its neighbouring towns prosperity, and a new middle class; and with it, values such as honour, learning,civility, politeness and correctness,
as well as deference to authority. in 1906, a man called wilhelm voigtbecame frustrated with prussian bureaucracy. he had attempted to turn his backon a life of petty crime, but his previous convictions meanthe couldn’t get permission to live anywhere, or a passport so he could leave. so he bought himself an army captain’s uniform, found some off-duty soldiers, and ordered them to accompany him. claiming he was unable to requisition a car,
he made them come with himon the train to kã¶penick, at the time a town outside of berlin. he bought them lunch; and then they marched into town, the soldiers not questioning the factthat his uniform wasn’t quite right: instead of a helmet, he was wearing a cap. they then stormed the town hall,arrested the mayor, and confiscated the money from the safe. leaving the soldiers to guard the town hall,
voigt walked back to the station, had a beer, boarded a train and disappeared. it was days before he was arrested, by which time he had becomesomething of a folk hero. germans everywhere were laughing. the kaiser himself enjoyed the story so much, that voigt was granted a pardonhaving served only half his sentence, and was allowed to emigrate to luxembourg. the captain of kã¶penick is a legend to this day.
kã¶penick, meanwhile, is quite well preserved, and even has a little schloss, recently renovated and currently in useby the museum of arts and crafts. by this time, berlin’s population had reachedtwo million, and was still growing. getting around was becoming problematic. a viaduct carrying trains from east to westacross the city had already been built: this is called the “stadtbahnâ€, and still forms the backboneof berlin’s public transport system. the arches beneath the viaductcan be used as shops and bars,
a fact alluded to by the architectof at least one modern shopping mall. in 1902, a new idea was put into operation. it was initially conceived as an elevated railway; but the then independent city of charlottenburgrefused to have such a thing, and so, west of nollerdorfplatz station,the line dives below ground level, and the berlin underground railway,the u-bahn, was born. wittenbergplatz stationis almost a museum in its own right: the ads on the walls may lookas if they’re from 1920, but in fact they’re modern adsdesigned in keeping with the station.
the construction of an eastwards extensiontowards alexanderplatz was complicated by a combination oflocal politics, geology and sheer bad luck, which explains why it’s so curvy. but some of the stations on this sectionare quite fascinating, although it is likely a myth that mohrenstraãÿe station is cladwith marble from hitler’s chancellory. spittelmarkt station is built into the riverbank. and klosterstraãÿe station is a small museumof the history of berlin’s public transport. mã¤rkisches museum station was builtmuch deeper than previous stations,
because at this pointthe line had to tunnel under the river. in the 1980s, a series of mosaics depicting thegrowth of berlin was installed, but because this was during the cold war,the last moasic shows only east berlin. the museum itself is a short walk away, and had just been built a few yearsbefore the station was opened to document the history of the area. the building is itself something of a museum: different parts of it in different architecturalstyles from different periods, except that it was all built inthe first decade of the 20th century.
the museum is built next to a parkwhich contains a bear pit, home to some european brown bears, which, of course, were sleeping when i got there. the bear is the symbol of berlin, but this has nothing to dowith one of the legendary founders of the city, who was called “albrecht the bearâ€. instead, it is a play on the city’s name, berlin, which historians think comes from an oldslavic word that means “swampâ€. the early 20th century saw the riseof a new elite with money to spend,
and department stores began opening up everywhere. the most well-known was opened in 1907 in an area that was being redevelopedjust to the west of berlin: kaufhaus des westens, better known as “kadeweâ€. it is still the largest department storeon continental europe — harrod’s is bigger, but is in britain — and has the second largest grocery departmentof any store in the world. kadewe is not, as some people think,on the ku’damm, but on tauentzienstraãÿe,
which leads to the kaiser wilhelm memorial church. this church was heavily damaged during the war, but rather than pull it down or rebuild it, the decision was taken to preserve the ruinas a monument to the destructive power of war. berliners started calling it the “hollow toothâ€,due to its appearance. a modern church was built next to it and a bell tower on the other side, an ensemble that reminded berliners ofa lipstick and powder compact. the ku’damm — or kurfã¼rstendamm,to give it its full name —
extends west from here. all this grew up around the early 20th century as schã¶neberg, wilmersdorf,tiergarten and charlottenburg became known as berlin’s new west. the zoo had opened in 1844 in what, at the time, was open fields. it was the ninth zoo to open in europe, and today has the most comprehensivecollection of species in the world. the neighbouring aquarium opened in 1913,
and exhibits not only fish,but amphibians, reptiles and insects. back in the late 17th century, the village of lietzow was wherethe consort of prince elector friedrich iii, sophie charlotte of hanover,built a palace for herself. after she died in 1705, at the age of only 37, the elector renamed both the palaceand the village in her honour: charlottenburg. by the 20th century, charlottenburg had grown froma place in the country to get away from it all to a city with a population of 300,000. berlin had had a fairly turbulant history,
but its darkest chapters were yet to come. the first world war broughtfood shortages, strikes, and, at the end of the war,the abdication of the kaiser. this was followed by unrest and revolution, and the creation of the so-called weimar republic, germany’s second attempt at democracy. in 1920, berlin’s borders were extended to include not just schã¶neberg and charlottenburg, but places further out, including spandau,zehlendorf, and, of course, kã¶penick.
this was to prove fortunate a few decades later. despite berlin’s problems,the golden twenties took hold. berlin, now the world’s fifth largest city, became a haven for artists,performers and party-goers. the nightlife is still legendary: even if berlin does sometimes sleep, it wakes up a two in the afternoon,ears still ringing. in 1921, a racetrack was built: a simple straight with a loop at either end,known to everyone as the avus.
it is now part of the autobahnbetween charlottenburg and potsdam, but the grandstand is still there. at the northern end of the avus, the radio tower was built in 1926, for the first international radio exhibition. vaguely based on the eiffel tower,it was soon nicknamed the “long beanpoleâ€. the area was already home tothe berlin trade fair, which is still here, although the oldest buildings still existingdate from the 1930s. the original building was located wherethe central coach station now stands.
surprisingly for a land-locked city,a major industry was shipping, as berlin had easy access tothe oder and the elbe rivers making it an important locationfor inland navigation. goods could be offloaded hereand transferred onto trains. for a short while, it looked as ifberlin was going from strength to strength. but the economic after-effectsof the first world war and the great depressionput an end to that in 1929, and people looked for somebodywho could put things right again. the stage was set for the riseof the national socialists — the nazis.
the worst excesses of the nazis are well-known: the concentration camps, the violent anti-semitism, the war-mongering. the holocaust memorial commemoratesthe near-genocide of the jews; other victims of the regimehave their memorials as well. the new synagogue actually survivedthe nazi pogrom of 9th november 1938 when local police officers, in defianceof the political situation at the time, ordered the mob to disperse.
however, the synagogue was laterhit by british bombs; and now only a faã§ade of the original remains. but the effects the nazis had on berlin itselfare still very visible. essentially, the plan was to replace berlin with a new city to be called “germaniaâ€, a city fit to be the capital of a new,powerful and invincible empire. most of the planned work was never begun,let alone finished, but there is enough to give a tasteof what would have been. the master plan was to have two great roads,
an east-west axis and a north-south axis. the east-west axis already partially existed as a long, straight road from the city schlossall the way to charlottenburg; but it was to be widenedand lined with impressive buildings. mostly, they got as far asinstalling new street lights. the victory column haspride of place on this axis. it was built in 1873 to commemoratea few german military victories, but it was moved here fromits original position in front of the reichstag; not, as some guidebooks claim,because it annoyed hitler,
but simply to give it more prominence. the figure of the goddess victoria is knownto berliners as “golden elsieâ€; and used to be known to american troopsstationed here as “the chick on the stickâ€. the north-south axis was never actually built, but near the southern end is a very curious object: the heavy load-bearing body. this was built at the spot plannedfor a huge triumphal arch, but it wasn’t known if the wet,sandy berlin soil could take it. 12,650 tons of concrete were used
to construct an objectthat rose 14 metres above ground and reached 18 metres below ground. inside, measuring instruments were installed to monitor how the object would sink and settle. the results couldn’t be analyzeduntil after the war; but in the end it was found thatyes, the arch could have been built, if the ground was first compacted. since the body is in a residential area, there was no way it could be demolished safely:
the original plan was simply to build over it. and so it still stands, open the public as a monument tothe megalomania of the third reich. not far away is tempelhof airport. it had in fact been in operation since 1924, but by the nazi period had reached full capacityand needed to be replaced. in typical nazi style, the new terminal buildingwas intimidatingly huge; and for a couple of short yearsuntil the completion of the pentagon, it was the world’s largest building.
after the war, the us air forcecontinued to use the airport, and in 1985 it re-opened for civilian flights, eventually closing in 2008to be turned into an urban park. this area had once been a military parade ground; but its connection with air travelstarted as early as 1909, when orville wright demonstratedhis new flying machine here. perhaps the most famous nazi buildingis the olympic stadium, home to the controversial 1936 summer games. this was, for the nazis, a major propaganda coup,
and they were determined to showgermany at its best. the torch relay, now an essential partof the opening ceremony, was actually instituted by the nazis. it’s not true that hitler fled the stadium in order not to have to present gold medalsto non-german athletes. it is, however, perfectly true that oneblack american athlete in particular put to the test the nazi mythologyof the master race. but europe was heading, once again, for war. this block of flats was built overa nazi-era air-raid shelter
which survived not only the war,but subsequent attempts to demolish it. it can still be used as a shelter today,with spaces for nearly 5,000 people. the war, when it came,proved devastating to berlin. in the city centre, about half the buildingswere completely destroyed, the infrastructure demolished. it was the soviet red armythat finally liberated berlin. but with hitler ordering what troopshe had left to fight for the last, it was a long and bloody battle in which 80,000 russians died.
the soviets soon erected a war memorial where the nazis had planned the north-south axisto intersect with the east-west axis. the memorial includes tanks and gunsused in the battle of berlin, and the unmarked graves of somewhere between2,000 and 2,500 soldiers. when berlin was divided, this memorialended up in the british sector, but the red army was allowedto maintain a guard of honour here until the troops finally withdrew in 1994. the main soviet war memorial, though,is further east, in treptower park. another 7,000 soldiers are buried here.
meanwhile, germany — what was left of it —was occupied by the four allies and divided into zones: american, british, french and soviet. the city of berlin was a special case, and was itself divided into four sectors: the occupying powers administering berlin worked together to getthe basic infrastructure working. but the soviets werethe ideological enemies of the other three, and the alliance based on a common hatredof the nazis began to fall apart.
in 1948 the soviet member ofthe allied kommandantura administering berlin simply refused to attend. and then the soviets tried to gain controlover west berlin’s economy. in june of that year, they blockedall road and rail connections to the city. the western allies respondedwith the berlin airlift: food and supplies were flown inand manufactured goods flown out during a daring operation that saw planes landing and taking offat tempelhof every few minutes. a monument to the airlift is locatedin the square outside the airport;
a duplicate can be seen atthe us military airport at frankfurt. after eleven months of this,the soviets called off the blockade. but the iron curtain was descending over europe. students and lecturers at the humboldt university,which was now in the soviet sector, were being arrested and deportedby the soviet secret police if they opposed the increasingcommunist influence. a group of them started their ownuniversity in dahlem, a residential areasafely inside the american sector, and probably one of the few places in the world
that has a metro station with a thatched roof. today, the free university of berlinhas 35,000 students and is one of germany’s most prestigious. in the spring of 1949,the western zones formed a new country, the federal republic of germany. its constitution named greater berlinas one of its constituent states. four months later,the german democratic republic was founded, and its constitution stated thatgermany was indivisible, and its capital was berlin.
in 1950, the berlin constitution came into forcein the western sectors only, and it stated that berlin wasa state of the federal republic. but the allies didn’t allow this clauseto come into effect. the situation was tense.and it was only going to get worse. the two halves of berlinset about rebuilding separately; and the dream of a true socialist statewas to be realized in the gdr, symbolized by the constructionof veritable palaces for the workers. “stalinalleeâ€, this was to be called, only to be renamed after stalin’s fall from grace.
the apartment blocks were actuallywell designed and built. but the builders weren’t happy. on 17th june 1953, about sixty workersstaged a demonstration to protest against poor pay and conditions. more and more people, including west berliners,joined the demonstration, and even set fire to a police station. the east berlin authorities responded byappealing to the soviet army for help. in the resulting clashes,153 demonstrators were killed. just a few days later, the west berlin senateapproved the renaming
of part of the east-west axisin memory of this event. the situation was now dangerous. in 1961, the unthinkable happened. the east germans built fortificationsaround west berlin, cutting it off not just from east berlin,but from east germany. in their propaganda, they referred to itas an “anti-fascist protection wallâ€, to prevent infiltration bywestern spies and terrorists. few people believed that explanation. the construction of the wallled to some odd effects.
the public transport system, obviously,was affected: one u-bahn line was divided into two,as was the stadtbahn. but the north-south s-bahn tunnel andtwo u-bahn lines suffered a curious fate: they lay mostly in west berlin, but their middle sections ran through east berlin. the stations along these sections were all closed, and west berlin trains ran through themwithout stopping: these were berlin’s ghost stations. the exception was friedrichstraãÿe station,
where the two s-bahn linesintersected with an u-bahn line. westerners could actually change trains here. if they had the appropriate visa,they could pass through a checkpoint and visit east berlin for the day. the building that housed the border control pointfor people leaving east berlin became known as the “palace of tears†as so many emotional farewells took place here. westerners had to catch the last train homebefore their visas ran out at midnight, while their loved ones had to stay behind.
today, it houses an exhibition on divided berlin. there were various other crossing points,each for different categories of visitor. the best known is, of course, checkpoint charlie, the crossing point for diplomats and foreigners. the wall was more than just a wall. to really appreciate the scale of the thing,you have to visit the memorial on bernauer straãÿe. here, west berlin is on the right. the metal poles markwhere the familiar wall itself was. most of this strip was filledwith defence systems of all kinds:
watchtowers, floodlights, and a second wallto keep east berliners well away. this was the feared death strip. these markings show wherepeople dug tunnels to escape to the west; these, buildings that were demolishedto make way for the installations. on this spot,the church of the reconciliation stood. originally it was allowed to remain standingand the spire used as a watchtower, but it was finally demolished in 1985. today a modern chapel has been built.
four days a week, a 15-minute meditation is held at which the biography of one of the people whodied trying to cross the wall is read out. the wall was built entirely on eastern territory, usually a metre or so from the actual border,sometimes more, and this could be deadly. here, at the oberbaum bridge, although thephysical wall was built on the far bank, the entire river was east berlin territory. in separate incidents, five west berlin childrendrowned after falling in the river, and anyone diving into rescue them would have been shot.
this, by the way, is the famous east side gallery, a segment of the wall that is nowan open-air art gallery. berlin — and the world — had to get used to living with the world’s deadliest borderrunning straight through the middle. west berlin’s mayor had his officein the schã¶neberg town hall. and it was on this balcony that john f kennedylifted west berliners’ spirits with a now-famous speech. today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is:
“ich bin ein berliner!†this speech probably ranksamong the greatest ever made, and succeeded in reassuring west berliners that the western world would never abandon them. kennedy’s assassination just a few months later shocked west berlinersalmost as much as it did americans. east berlin, centred around alexanderplatz, continued with its program of urban redevelopment. the results were not always beautiful,
but in fact, if you managed to stay out of trouble, life in this part of the citycould be quite agreeable. not luxurious, but comfortable. the ddr-museum showcaseslife in the socialist state, and its restaurantoffers a selection of typical dishes. west berlin, with the zoo its new centre,suffered a bit. a walled-in half-city is not easy to sellas a nice place to live. formerly upmarket inner-city areas like kreuzberg found themselves hard up against the wall,and people moved out.
but there were always people to replace them, and the area became a haven for students,artists, university drop-outs, and people seeking an alternative lifestyle. aided by west berlin’s policies aimed atencouraging anyone at all to live there, kreuzberg became decidedly bohemian. so36 was its pre-war postal code. it is also the name of a famous nightclub, one of many in berlinthat pioneered new forms of music: punk, new wave, techno.
west berlin also attracted immigrants,mostly from turkey, brought in to make up foran acute labour shortage. so many of them settledaround the kottbusser tor area, that it became known as “little istanbulâ€, and the u-bahn line as the “orient expressâ€. with most of the important cultural venuesbeyond the wall in east berlin, the west had to build some of its own. and so, surrounding st matthew’s church,the culture forum was built. the new national gallery, based on a designoriginally for a sugar factory.
the state library, which tookmore than ten years to build. the philharmonie, with the great halland the chamber music hall. the portrait gallery. the museum of prints and drawings. the museum of arts and crafts. and the museum of musical instruments. a short distance away, the congress hall,now the house of world cultures, was built in what at the time was,for germany, a strikingly new form, and immediately became knownas the “pregnant oysterâ€.
it partially collapsed in 1980;but, contrary to a popular myth, this didn’t supply a local band with its name: “einstã¼rzende neubautenâ€, meaning:“collapsing new buildingsâ€. the band had already settled on that name:it was simply a coincidence. thanks to the incorporation, in 1920,of so many cities and towns, berlin has large areas of lake and forestinside its official border. this meant that when berlin was divided, west berliners could still gofor walks in the country, and there was even an artificial bathing beach.
at the extreme south-west corner of the city, a bus takes you through the forestto the glienicke bridge, right on the border. the other side of the bridgeis the east german city of potsdam. this is the famous “bridge of spiesâ€, where, during the cold war,a number of spy swaps took place. all in all, the situation was bad,but not impossible. the wall eventually came down in 1989, but by mistake. by this time, political reforms in eastern europe
had already allowed borders to open up; only the german democratic republicmaintained a hard line. but now, east germans could escape to the west by travelling through hungary,or later czechoslovakia, to austria; and from there to west germany. meanwhile, in east germany, peacefuldemonstrations put pressure on the government. on 9th november 1989,at a press conference in east berlin, the east german press secretary gã¼nter schabowski accidentally read out a draft press releasehe shouldn’t have.
the assembled journalists were quick to realisewhat the text actually meant, and within hours tv and radiowere wrongly reporting that the berlin wall was open. by nightfall, crowdsof east berliners had gathered at the bornholmer straãÿe border crossing,taking guards by surprise. they’d had no orders; but because of the crush,started letting people through. as they did so, they stamped their passports. what the people at the time didn’t know
was that their passports had been cancelled, the intention beingnot to allow them back in again. but the crowds kept coming, and the guards feared a riot,which would have had many casualties. eventually, half an hour before midnight, oberstleutnant harald jã¤ger,faced with an impossible situation and with no help from his superiors, opened the border completely, allowing everyone to pass at will.
by midnight, all the crossing points were open. the berlin wall had fallen. november 9th isn’t celebrated, as it also happens to be the dateof the nazi pogroms against the jews. instead, the date of political reunification,october 3rd, is celebrated as a national holiday. the wall was gone,the second world war officially ended, germany no longer being occupiedby foreign powers, and the long and difficultprocess of rebuilding began.
david bowie’s song “where are we now?â€opens with these lines: had to get the train from potsdamer platz;you never knew that, that i could do that. this is a reference to the factthat when bowie was in berlin, potsdamer platz station wasone of the ghost stations, located directly under the death strip. now, the station has been re-opened, and the whole potsdamer platz and leipziger platzarea completely redeveloped, a process only now coming to an end. this was once berlin’s busiest square,
as symbolized by a modern copyof germany’s first set of traffic lights. almost nothing of potsdamer platz survivedthe war and the building of the wall. some small fragments of the hotel esplanade, one of berlin’s most famous hotelsduring the golden twenties, survived, and are now integrated intothe ultra-modern sony center. this wasn’t intended: the architects hadn’t been toldthese remains were under a protection order, and assumed they could simply pull them down. when this wasn’t possible,to avoid having to redesign the new building,
they got permission tophysically move the kaiser’s hall 75 metres from its original position. with reunification, berlin regainedits status as germany’s capital city, and the bundestag preparedto move from its seat in bonn. a new government quarter had to be built: an area just to the north of the reichstaghad been demolished by the nazis to make way foran over-dimensioned people’s hall, with only the swiss embassy remaining. this was the perfect spotto build new government buildings.
they symbolically span the river spree, where it used to form part of the borderbetween east and west berlin. the chancellory, by the way,is the official office and residence of the german chancellor,who is head of government. as is normal in european countries,the head of state is a different person: the german president,whose role is largely ceremonial, works at nearby schloss bellevue, a much older building dating from the 1780s. instead of a number of terminuses being rebuilt,
a brand new central train station was built where the main elevated east-west linecrosses the new underground north-south line. with 300,000 passengers a day, it is germany’s fourth busiest station. one or two aspects of east german lifehave survived reunification. the traffic lights, for example: the generic west german stick figures were neverregarded with as much fondness as east germany’s red and green men, which, by popular demand, continue to be used
and even fitted to new traffic lights. they’re also probably the only traffic lightsin the world with their own merchandising. as well as the obvious,more profound changes are taking place. rents and property prices are rising. many of the formerly bohemian areas of berlin are slowly becoming gentrified, much to the disgust of some residents. but berlin has always seenrapid change and upheaval. it’s always had a slightly subversive edge.
and as long as that isn’t lost, the future is probably, on balance, good.