Berlin Day 1

Upon arriving in Berlin, I had one priority - an exciting adventure to the laundromat. It actually really wasn’t that exciting, as I’m sure you can imagine, but a guy’s gotta have clean undies after all. Fresh drawers in hand, I headed out to explore the city. I was aware of Berlin’s history before I got here, but I think it only really begins to set in how much, for lack of a better term, shit, went down here in the 20th century once you’re here. Seemingly around every corner there is a reminder of some world changing event that occurred in this place. What was most surprising to me however, as someone that spent a large portion of my youth watching WWII documentaries on the History Channel (when they still showed History stuff), was that the majority of the focus in Berlin was surrounding the Berlin Wall, and the Cold War era in Germany. That is not to say that WWII (or even WWI) is forgotten, however vastly overshadowed by memories, monuments and museums dedicated to the Wall and the horrors it represented for the people of Berlin in the second half of the 20th century.

Having been born after the Wall had come down, and essentially during the fall of the Soviet Union/end of the Cold War, I think some of the significance of the Wall as the front lines of the Cold War, and the geopolitical impact it had on the world at the time was a bit lost on me during history classes that mostly focused on WWII and the Western impact of the Cold War. It also seems likely, that Germany is not overly keen to focus on the two world wars in which they instigated and committed numerous atrocities - although that is purely conjecture on my part. All of that to say, the history I expected to encounter and the history that I did encounter were vastly different from my expectations, not that this was a negative in any fashion.

On the map, about a mile from my hotel, I noticed a park that was labeled “Berlin Wall Memorial”, so after spending the first part of the day in a Laundromat, I set out to experience a bit more of the touristy side of Berlin. The Memorial is an open air park, and free to the public. It sits on land that had been church land during WWII, and the graveyard which was bulldozed to accommodate this portion of the wall is still present just beyond the confines of the park. The park had several placards and information points to tell the history not just of the wall, but this particular portion, and pointing out interesting artifacts and points of interest. Across the street there was a free Wall Museum with lots of great history concerning how the Wall was maintained and those that had died there in an attempt to escape, or help escapees. They had also constructed an area that was a recreation of how the wall would have looked in the mid-80s, which was viewable from an observatory deck above. In a continent where you have to pay to use the bathroom, having a free museum of this type and significance was very cool.

After spending an ample amount of time at the Wall Memorial, I headed into the heart of Berlin to see the Brandenburg Gate, one of the most famous sites in all of Europe, and the Reichstag Building, which is where the German government operates. The Brandenburg Gate is fascinating, both to look at, and to contemplate the numerous historical landmarks that had occurred around the gate. It was the site of JFK’s visit in the 60s when the Soviets hung large banners on the gate to prevent JFK and his contingent from looking into East Berlin, as well as the site of Regan’s infamous “Tear down this wall!” speech, and the official German unification ceremony in 1990. The Reichstag building is an amazing piece of architecture, where the original structure, which was bombed extensively in WWII is maintained, but a very modern glass dome was added after the unification as a symbol of Germany moving forward. The glass dome can be visited if you have a reservation, and although I was unable to do so, is a very neat concept where you can see into the parliamentary floor, as a symbol of transparency and accountability of the government to the people. Close by to the Reichstag, I also stumbled upon a memorial for the Roma and Sinti victims of the Holocaust. In high level Western literature/history I think we typically distill these groups down to “gypsies” for simplicity. The memorial itself is a reflecting pool with a platform in the middle for flowers, and a timeline of the atrocities of the Nazi party on a wall to the side.