Berlin

In Feb 16, we visited Berlin for the first time and left wondering why we left it so late. Berlin is truly a stunning city for its rich history and beauty.  True, it is "out of the way" - closer to Poland and the Czech Republic than it is to Denmark, Austria or France.  But it is one of Europe's major capitals. Today, the city stands as the capital of a reunified Germany, a reminder of the dark days of Nazism and the Cold War, and a beacon of hope for divided people's everywhere.

Berlin became the capital of the German Empire after the unification of Germany in 1871. It remained the capital for the Third Reich, and was the center for the rise of Nazism during a very dark time in German history.

View from Brandenburg Tor (1945)

When Germany surrendered at the end of WWII, Berlin (and indeed Germany) was divided under the Four Power Agreement.  The Allies held three sectors in the West, with the Soviets holding one much larger sector in the East. Berlin was then a broken city. It was bombed out of recognition and was occupied by forces they were committed to fighting. Germans were forced to do whatever it required to survive. 

Berlin was truly at the epicenter of the Cold War.  The city remained as one, even as it was divided, even through the Berlin Blockade. People had, by and large, free access to all parts of Berlin. People crossed the border daily to work in the West or East, even as they lived in the other side of the border.  Families straddled both sides of the border.  They used the same subway, trams and overground trains. 

  

But the lack of border control in Berlin meant that the city offered a choice.  It was an open gateway for people to move from one side to the other.  And as the brutality of the communist regime took root, the flow of people was clearly one way.  From 7 Oct 1949 to 13 August 1961, an estimated two and a half million East Germans crossed over to West Germany, many through Berlin. For Khruschev, this was a big problem.  

The wall went up on a summer’s day in 1961.    

The stories of disbelief and evil are vividly told by many who are still alive today.  What started as strands of barbed wire evolved into a full fledged wall with guardhouses, mines and obstacles along the way.  The wall ran right through the center of the city. Subway stations were barricaded (including Beneurstrasse and Nord).  In many places - and I ran 15km along the way - I actually struggled to understand how this worked. The wall divided functioning streets and train stations. All around Berlin today, there are landmarks and monuments recalling the division. Families were divided.  Many attempted crossing the wall - some successful, but many lost their lives in the process, shot by young soldiers sworn to defend them.   Checkpoint Charlie, which stands smack in the middle of Friedrichstrasse - with a MacDonald's in the background - is the Hollywood symbol of this division.  The wall and Berlin has been the site for some of the most famous speeches made during the Cold War, including Kennedy's "Ich bein ein Berliner!" and Reagan's "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!".  Both speeches are worth re-watching them in full.

Today Berlin stands as one, although one can still detect the old lines of division.  As Berlin was destroyed, the East and West were reconstructed in contrasting styles, which allows for variety.  Berlin is a cool and trendy city where English is spoken as often as any other language.  Berlin is famous for its currywurst when really, its other dishes are really quite fine as well.  It has a good arts scene and the Pergamon Museum manages to somehow make ancient history in the Middle East come alive in a way that I have seen no where else.

Berlin is five stars.