Berlin- Day 3: The Tour

An abridged version of Louis's tour

Get ready for a history lesson! Strangely enough one of the most heartbreaking days was also one of my favorites. Germany has somewhat of a tragic history and I am so glad that I got to learn more about it. And I apologize for the length of this post.

On our second day in Berlin we planned to go on the New Europe Tour, which is a 3.5 hour long walking tour that is free but you are encouraged to tip at the end. For anyone visiting Europe and only has a short time in a city this is the best way to see all the major sites and hear the history from people who really know what they are talking about.

Before we hit the tour we went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, which was very steep at 9.50 euro. It was somewhat interesting because it had stories of a lot of the attempts made to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin. Some of these included homemade submarines, chairlifts, aircrafts, not to mention tunneling through or stowing away in the trunk of a car. They also had a US room that had footage of Reagan saying “tear down this wall!”

Brandenburg Gate

At 11 it was time for our New Europe tour so we headed over to the Bradenburg Gate, which it the most recognized structure in Berlin and once divided East and West. Victoria, the goddess of victory, on top of the arch looks directly at the French Embassy in order to remind the French of their many military defeats to the Germans. Our tour guide was Louis from Manchester and he was pretty dreamy with that British dialect and historical knowledge. He knew so much about Germany and the tour was one of the highpoints for my whole ten day long vacation. Here is my abridged version of the tour:

The hotel where Michael Jackson hung his baby off the balcony.

Reichstag-the Parliament building. It was set on fire by Nazi arsons to help cause panic that would bring Hitler to power. Now it has a glass dome at the top so that if the politicians ever forget who they are serving they can just look up.

The Memorial to Murdered Jews- obviously the memorial for Jews killed in Europe during the holocaust. This memorial is located in the middle of the city and is pretty unavoidable, although it is unmarked. Therefore you will probably stumble upon it and not know what it is. The artist says that you can interpret it how you want but Louis interprets the grey columns as a bar graph for the rise of anti-Semitism, starting off just below the surface and then rising to uncontrollable heights during the third Reich. It is also supposed to give an eerie feeling when you walk through it because you cannot really see what is coming at you and the columns tower over you. One error that was made in the construction of it was that they used anti-graffiti paint that was manufactured by the same company who provided the gas for the gas chambers. Oops.

One thing that I found very interesting throughout the day was how open the Germans were about their past and how sorry they were. They don’t want politicians to get out of control so they put the dome on top of the Reichstag so symbolic effect or they don’t want people to forget about what happened when Hitler came to power so they put the Holocaust Memorial right in the center of town, where not only the politicians came see it but also the business district who benefitted from the Holocaust. They also take precautions to make sure it never happens again. For example, if anyone throws up the Nazi salute they are immediately arrested.

The site of Hitler’s bunker. The bunker itself it somewhat collapsed and the government is not reconstructing it so Hitler is not glorified. They also do not want Hitler’s followers to go down there as a pilgrimage or to worship him. It is unmarked except for a small sign showing a map of what lies underneath. It is basically in an apartment complex’s parking lot.

We then walked to the building that used to be Nazi Headquarters. The name is scratched off because after the second World War they tried to cover up the Nazi aspects but that eventually came impossible.

As you can see, it's a lot of fun in East Berlin!

The Current Finance Building- before being the finance building it was both German Military Headquarters and Soviet Headquarters. On the side of the building is a mural of Soviet propaganda showing how great it is to be Communist. In front of this mural on the ground is a picture of the people of the June 17, 1953 demonstration who were killed. This mirrors the idealic scenes shown in the mural to the reality of the time.

The building is thought to not have been destroyed in WWII because it could have been a landmark for pilots or because they British didn’t want to bomb the German Military Headquarters because they thought the Germans might get upset and bomb them in return.

The Berlin Wall- remaining parts of the Berlin Wall. Louis explained all the obstacles facing someone who wanted to go to West Berlin, the least of which was the wall. You did not get to the wall until you went through snippers, machine guns, dogs, landmines, and the electric fence. It’s very tragic that people who want a better life couldn’t go get one.

The owners of this land were killed in Auschwitz and there is currently a legal battle going on to decide who it belongs to. On one of the concrete walls in the plot there was graffiti that said “Bring back the Wall.” Approximately 12% of the people of Berlin want the wall back. East Berlin still isn’t up to the economic strength of West Berlin (it is 25% poorer) and unemployment is at 14% for the country.

After a break for lunch Louis talked to us a little about the history of Berlin and explained that the Bear is the symbol for Berlin but no one really knows why. Jen tried to keep warm during this conversation by doing all sorts of aerobics but I don’t think it helped a lot.

French and Dutch Churches- these churches were built as a place for refugees to come worship. The Dutch church is slightly higher than the French Church. I starting to think that they Germans think they are better than the French.

Book Burning Memorial- here at the university in Berlin thousands of books by Jewish and homosexual writers were bruned after the students heard a speech by Nazis. Now there is a memorial in its place which is a window down to show many empty bookcases. They also have the famous quote by Heinrich Heine which says “Where they burn books, they will ultimately also burn people." Hauntingly true.

Now the students of the university sell books outside everyday as atonement for what the students before them did. Another example of the remorse that they German people feel. Einstein also went to this university for undergrad but was kicked out for his “dirty Jew physics.” He showed them.

Memorial for Wartime and Tyranny- memorial under which both soldiers and victims from both Nazi and communist Germany are buried. This obviously causes a lot of controversy but soldiers are looked at as victims too. The statue on the inside is that of a mother holding a dying child. The sculptor who created this lost her whole family that the statue represents the helplessness she felt.

The Berliner Dome- giant protestant church in Berlin. Anti-communist meetings were held here in secret. Here Louis also explained to us how the Berlin Wall fell and the role David Hasselhoff played in it.

Alexander Platz- salute to the glory of Socialism. This TV tower is the second tallest in Europe and was built for the 20th anniversary of Communism in Germany. When the sun hits it, however, the light forms a cross that is called The Pope’s Revenge.

And so concludes the tour if you are still reading. I know it was long but it was so interesting!