Berlin, Germany (Eastern Berlin)
Diary of Day in Berlin: July 6-7
July 6:
We arrived in Zurich, Switzerland late morning, after flying all evening from Boston. We then caught a flight to Berlin, arriving midday. A bus guide who met us at the airport, gave us a brief tour of East Berlin. Our guide pointed out the continuing economic disparity between West and East Germany. The eastern part of the country is still “catching up” to its counterpart in the west. When one considers that the Soviet communist’s travel ban was lifted for East Berliners in 1989, the rapid improvement of East Berlin can be appreciated. When the travel ban was lifted, thousands of people flocked to the west. The major difference between west and east Berlin is that (according to our guide) good are significantly cheaper in East Berlin and the buildings and such as not as well tended to.. Our hotel was an example of this 1960s vintage decoration.
Eastern Berlin’s architecture still has many vestiges of Soviet communism. Remaining Soviet style housing (large, gray block apartments and office buildings) can be found throughout this part of the city and the upkeep of public city space is sometimes in disrepair in comparison to West Berlin.
After arriving at our hotel, we took a walking tour visiting the Brandenburg Gate, the Reihstag and the Unter den Linden greenway. This is a HUGE city! The Reihstag or the seat of the government, had been rebuild after WWII when it was set on fire and destroyed. On our walk through this zone, you can clearly see many buildings with bullet holes from the war. Dinner at a café overlooking a beautiful river.
We visited many sites on the map depicted below (see Unter den Linden, Berlin). One of the more memorable moments was the Neue Wache, a momument of remembrance for those slain in war. The Madonna and son symbolize…..
very
July 7: Holocaust Memorial, Jewish Museum and former Jewish quarter of Berlin.
A very rainy afternoon, with many downpours made for a great museum day. As it was Saturday the beautiful renovated temple in the Jewish quarter was closed; however, it was a magnificent site to see and we learned that sadly this was one area affected by Kristallnacht in 1938 where Jewish businesses and houses of worship were burned and vandalized.
DDR Museum A great museum was the DDR Museum which took us on a journey through everyday life in former East Germany. A collection of artifacts, video, photographs, and a genuine Trabant (car) to an apartment replica. Most interesting were the state propaganda films screened in the small cinema.
Another highlight was the museum of the former chancellor of Germany, Willy Brandt who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for his work in improving relations with East Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union.
To literally top off our visit to East Berlin, we visited the classic radio tower, symbolic of Soviet socialism. Built in the 1960s, the GDR (German Democratic Republic) had the TV tower build to demonstrate the power and efficiency of the socialist party system. Today is symbolizes the reunited Germany as does the Brandenburg Gate.
The fall of the Berlin Wall had begun with the building of the Wall in 1961. However it took about three decades until the Wall was torn down. Several times people in the Communist countries rose up against the Communist system but they failed. The victims of the uprisings against the Communist dictatorship in Berlin 1953, Budapest 1956 or Prague 1968 will never been forgotten.
In 1989 the first free labor union was founded in the communist Poland. The end of the communist system had begun. under Gorbatshov.
Gorbatshov's reforms, Perestroika and Glasnost renewed the Stalinistic system in the Soviet Union but it did not replace the communist system. The reforms in the Soviet Union also had its effects on the other communist countries, especially in Poland and Hungary. On August 23, 1989 Hungary opened the iron curtain to Austria. Months before East German tourists used their chance to escape to Austria from Hungary and in September 1989 more than 13,000 East Germans escaped via Hungary within three days. It was the first mass exodus of East Germans after the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961. Mass demonstrations against the government and the system in East Germany begun at the end of September and took until November 1989.
Erich Honecker, East Germany's head of state, had to resign on October 18, 1989.
The new governement prepared a new law to lift the travel restrictions for East German citizen.
At 06.53 pm on November 9, 1989 a member of the new East German government was asked at a press conference when the new East German travel law comes into force. He answered: "Well, as far as I can see, ... straightaway, immediately." Thousands of East Berliners went to the border crossings. At Bornholmer Strasse the people demanded to open the border and at 10.30 pm the border was opened there. That moment meant the end of the Berlin Wall. Soon other border crossing points opened the gates to the West. In that night the deadly border was opened by East Germans peacefully. http://www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/history/fall-of-berlinwall.htm
The Neue Wache memorial has been the main memorial site for the victims of war and tyranny since 1993. The building, which was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel as a memorial to those who had fallen in the Napoleonic wars, was built between1816 and 1818 on the boulevard Unter den Linden. From 1818 to 1918, the Royal Guard was stationed here. In 1931, Heinrich Tessenow created a memorial for those who had fallen in World War I. Shortly before the end of World War II, the Neue Wache memorial was severely damaged by bombs.
After 1960, the restored building in East Berlin served as a "memorial to the victims of fas-cism and militarism" which housed an eternal flame. In 1969, the remains of an unknown soldier and an unknown concentration camp prisoner were buried there, surrounded by earth taken from the battlefields of World War II and from concentration camps. Until 1990, on every Wednesday an honour guard marched in front of this memorial.
After German reunification, the Neue Wache became the "Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Tyranny." In the centre of the memorial space there stands the large sculpture "Mother with her Dead Son" by Käthe Kollwitz. http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/neue-wache-memorial.
July 6:
We arrived in Zurich, Switzerland late morning, after flying all evening from Boston. We then caught a flight to Berlin, arriving midday. A bus guide who met us at the airport, gave us a brief tour of East Berlin. Our guide pointed out the continuing economic disparity between West and East Germany. The eastern part of the country is still “catching up” to its counterpart in the west. When one considers that the Soviet communist’s travel ban was lifted for East Berliners in 1989, the rapid improvement of East Berlin can be appreciated. When the travel ban was lifted, thousands of people flocked to the west. The major difference between west and east Berlin is that (according to our guide) good are significantly cheaper in East Berlin and the buildings and such as not as well tended to.. Our hotel was an example of this 1960s vintage decoration.
Eastern Berlin’s architecture still has many vestiges of Soviet communism. Remaining Soviet style housing (large, gray block apartments and office buildings) can be found throughout this part of the city and the upkeep of public city space is sometimes in disrepair in comparison to West Berlin.
After arriving at our hotel, we took a walking tour visiting the Brandenburg Gate, the Reihstag and the Unter den Linden greenway. This is a HUGE city! The Reihstag or the seat of the government, had been rebuild after WWII when it was set on fire and destroyed. On our walk through this zone, you can clearly see many buildings with bullet holes from the war. Dinner at a café overlooking a beautiful river.
We visited many sites on the map depicted below (see Unter den Linden, Berlin). One of the more memorable moments was the Neue Wache, a momument of remembrance for those slain in war. The Madonna and son symbolize…..
very
July 7: Holocaust Memorial, Jewish Museum and former Jewish quarter of Berlin.
A very rainy afternoon, with many downpours made for a great museum day. As it was Saturday the beautiful renovated temple in the Jewish quarter was closed; however, it was a magnificent site to see and we learned that sadly this was one area affected by Kristallnacht in 1938 where Jewish businesses and houses of worship were burned and vandalized.
DDR Museum A great museum was the DDR Museum which took us on a journey through everyday life in former East Germany. A collection of artifacts, video, photographs, and a genuine Trabant (car) to an apartment replica. Most interesting were the state propaganda films screened in the small cinema.
Another highlight was the museum of the former chancellor of Germany, Willy Brandt who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for his work in improving relations with East Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union.
To literally top off our visit to East Berlin, we visited the classic radio tower, symbolic of Soviet socialism. Built in the 1960s, the GDR (German Democratic Republic) had the TV tower build to demonstrate the power and efficiency of the socialist party system. Today is symbolizes the reunited Germany as does the Brandenburg Gate.
The fall of the Berlin Wall had begun with the building of the Wall in 1961. However it took about three decades until the Wall was torn down. Several times people in the Communist countries rose up against the Communist system but they failed. The victims of the uprisings against the Communist dictatorship in Berlin 1953, Budapest 1956 or Prague 1968 will never been forgotten.
In 1989 the first free labor union was founded in the communist Poland. The end of the communist system had begun. under Gorbatshov.
Gorbatshov's reforms, Perestroika and Glasnost renewed the Stalinistic system in the Soviet Union but it did not replace the communist system. The reforms in the Soviet Union also had its effects on the other communist countries, especially in Poland and Hungary. On August 23, 1989 Hungary opened the iron curtain to Austria. Months before East German tourists used their chance to escape to Austria from Hungary and in September 1989 more than 13,000 East Germans escaped via Hungary within three days. It was the first mass exodus of East Germans after the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961. Mass demonstrations against the government and the system in East Germany begun at the end of September and took until November 1989.
Erich Honecker, East Germany's head of state, had to resign on October 18, 1989.
The new governement prepared a new law to lift the travel restrictions for East German citizen.
At 06.53 pm on November 9, 1989 a member of the new East German government was asked at a press conference when the new East German travel law comes into force. He answered: "Well, as far as I can see, ... straightaway, immediately." Thousands of East Berliners went to the border crossings. At Bornholmer Strasse the people demanded to open the border and at 10.30 pm the border was opened there. That moment meant the end of the Berlin Wall. Soon other border crossing points opened the gates to the West. In that night the deadly border was opened by East Germans peacefully. http://www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/history/fall-of-berlinwall.htm
The Neue Wache memorial has been the main memorial site for the victims of war and tyranny since 1993. The building, which was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel as a memorial to those who had fallen in the Napoleonic wars, was built between1816 and 1818 on the boulevard Unter den Linden. From 1818 to 1918, the Royal Guard was stationed here. In 1931, Heinrich Tessenow created a memorial for those who had fallen in World War I. Shortly before the end of World War II, the Neue Wache memorial was severely damaged by bombs.
After 1960, the restored building in East Berlin served as a "memorial to the victims of fas-cism and militarism" which housed an eternal flame. In 1969, the remains of an unknown soldier and an unknown concentration camp prisoner were buried there, surrounded by earth taken from the battlefields of World War II and from concentration camps. Until 1990, on every Wednesday an honour guard marched in front of this memorial.
After German reunification, the Neue Wache became the "Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Tyranny." In the centre of the memorial space there stands the large sculpture "Mother with her Dead Son" by Käthe Kollwitz. http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/neue-wache-memorial.