Berlin

As it has now been almost two months since we’ve been in Berlin, and since my sickness while we were there really inhibited my ability to truly experience and enjoy the city, I’m going to keep this post short and sweet, only covering some of the high points.

Berlin is an interesting place. I can’t say that I enjoyed it, but it’s hard to tell if that was because I got sick, or because of the city itself. As we all know, German history in the twentieth century is dark and disturbing – two world wars, crippling economic conditions, one of the most infamous genocides in world history, the highly-problematic fragmentation into “East” and “West,” the tight-fisted ruling of a police state, and the almost equally problematic reunification are just some of the “highlights.” Any one of these things would be a lot to overcome, but put all of them together and it seems impossible for a country to suddenly turn around three-hundred and sixty degrees and have no problems whatsoever. And although Germany has done an amazing job of getting its economy back on track and becoming one of the most powerful countries in Europe, the scars of this history are still everywhere, and its effects still being felt in many parts of life.

A nondescript piece of the Berlin Wall that illustrates well the ways in which Berlin's history is still intimately interwoven with daily life

Nevertheless, the city is now a fun and extremely vibrant place, with hundreds of first-rate museums, an exceptionally efficient public transport system, lots of edgy street art, plenty of enormous, peaceful parks and green spaces, and, of course, a world-famous nightlife.

Small green spaces along the river and a beer garden in the park!

Some images of Berlin's amazing public transport system

So Many Museums

In addition to being the site of so many complex historical events, and a contemporary center of international development, Berlin is also famous for being home to a wide array of first-rate museums and monuments. The best-known is probably the Pergamon Museum, which houses enormous pieces of medieval Islamic and ancient Greek architecture. 

The Gate of Ishtar from Babylon. It's beyond me how they got this entire thing from the Middle East to Berlin!

There is also a very interesting Jewish Museum on the history of Judaism and Jewish culture throughout the ages. The building itself is as interesting as the exhibits, with a very confusing layout that includes empty rooms with high ceilings or random courtyards meant to represent some phase of Jewish history - the Holocaust, continuous exile, the feeling of never being assimilated into "mainstream" culture.

A strange room in the Jewish Museum with metal faces on the ground that make a lot of noise when you walk on them. I think it was meant to symbolize the people who died in the Holocaust, but I don't remember.

And, of course, perhaps the most famous monument in Berlin is the Holocaust Memorial, a huge installation of gray concrete slabs right in the center of the city. It's an interesting monument, because instead of creating a statue or symbol which viewers are supposed to reflect upon and thereby remember the corresponding event or personage, the Holocaust Memorial has to be experienced. Looking at it doesn't really reveal very much, but entering into the maze is another story. The blocks, which seem homogenous when viewed from afar, are actually each unique and different, either in height or in the angle at which they rise from the ground. What's more, the ground is not even, but descends and rises as you move through the grid, so that the blocks seem to be getting taller and then shorter. I can't say that I necessarily understood what I was supposed to get out of it, but it was definitely more interesting than a more traditional "monument" that you can only look at.

The Holocaust Memorial

A Little Bit of History

One of the highlights of our time in Berlin were the two walking tours we did. One of them covered all of Berlin history in the course of a two and a half hour tour, and the other focused on street art and the “alternative” side to the city. They were both really interesting, and shed a lot of light on some of the historical and contemporary issues facing Berlin.

Berlin also has its handful of lovely old buildings which managed to survive the violence of the 20th century

To give just one illustrative example, the most interesting fact that has stood out in my mind was about the Berlin Airlift. As I'm sure everyone knows, the Airlift was when the Western Allies flew supplies into West Berlin to keep the city alive despite the Soviet Union's blockade. Like everyone else, I obviously knew about this moment in Cold War History, but I had not realized how long it lasted - nearly eleven months - nor the sheer mass of supplies which the Allies were able to deliver. They brought over not just food, but also household supplies, gas, parts and machinery needed to keep factories and shops running, and things like candles and heating materials to keep the nearly one million West Berliners warm during the harsh Northern European winter. Our guide told us that there was, on average, one plane arriving every sixty seconds without rest throughout this nearly year-long period!

A historical picture from Google of the Airlift bringing supplies

To me the Airlift is an ideal snapshot of one moment in Berlin history to help understand the overall tenor of what the city underwent in the twentieth century - in my opinion, nearly each and every major event goes above and beyond one's power of comprehension in both scale and intensity.

Alternative Berlin

A little bit of street art to "lighten" the mood

The other tour we took, which was called "Alternative Berlin," dealt with the city's more recent difficulties. Our tour guide talked a lot about gentrification, which has drastically changed the arts scene in a city which was known for its abundance of artists’ squats less than ten years ago. When the wall fell and former-Soviet East Berlin was suddenly opened to the world, there was a mass exodus which left tons of buildings unoccupied. This, combined with incredibly low realty prices and legal protection for squatters, led to an influx of young artists and creative types who took over these old buildings and made new life out of them.

Tacheles, long the largest and most active squat in Berlin, was recently closed by corporate pressure

However, one of the city's initiatives to provide economic growth and productivity has been to invite international and multinational corporations to take advantage of all this unused property to install offices and headquarters. While this has arguably been good for the city's financial development, it has put a lot of historically and culturally significant sites in peril. The largest and most famous Berlin squat - Tacheles - was recently closed by corporate pressure, and the unrelenting construction of upscale apartment buildings on or near important cultural sites is placing even more of them in danger. Perhaps the most worrisome example is the East Side Gallery, the largest extant portion of the Berlin wall which has become an open canvas for world-famous street artists to paint important and provocative works.

The East Side Gallery; in the background, you can see the new high-rise apartments that are threatening these gritty, alternative gems in an ever-evolving Berlin.

As I said at the beginning, I got sick on our second day in Berlin and was therefore unfortunately not in the best of moods for exploring and experiencing new things. Nevertheless, as you can see, I was still able to learn more about both Berlin's and Germany's history than I could have done without seeing everything firsthand. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to go back next year to experience the delicious food and the incredible nightlife!