Day 4 Berlin: The Gate, The Wall, Checkpoint Charlie

On Monday we had the intention of getting up early and getting to the Reichstag building (pictured above), but both of us were still quite exhausted from the flight and a long train ride from Munich the previous day. We got up late and had the breakfast the hostel was serving which was quite a deal at 3,50 € included bread, cheese, granola, yogurt, coffee and juice. By the time we finally got out the door it was early afternoon.Our hostel was centrally located in the Mitte district not far from Fredricshcain a terndy entertainment district which had it's heyday in the 1920's and very close to the Unter Den Linden. What appealed to me most about Berlin was the wall and it's collapse and secondarily I was interested in WWII events really the periods of 1933-1945 and 1961-1990 although just small portion of Berlin's history are almost impossible to ignore and for me growing up in the 80's at the peak of Cold War and Nuclear war rhetoric (Star Wars, Rocky IV, and the post nuclear war movies like the Testament) it was something I just had to see. We headed straight towards the Brandenburg Gates, meant to symbolize the military power of the Prussian and German state when the boundaries of Berlin were redrwan post WWII the gate stood just behind the Russian sector. We approached the street and there were of course throngs of tourists. There were also some other strange sites, I saw an American Indian and a Horse drawn carriage coach driver in some sort of bizarre argument, there was a guy giving Trabi tours, the tiny Eastern European car that some East Germans had to wait 15 years to get. The most bizarre site were a trio one dressed as a Soviet Soldier, a costumed Bear with a tiara (the Baer is on the Berlin flag and the german word for Behr sounds much like Berlin) and a man dressed as an American soldier only with thick green face and body paint so he looked like a plastic Army man. We walked through and around the gate and if felt a little strange. We walked over towards the Reichstag and due to the late hour it was jam packed. There is a small monument of these stones that look like some kind of weird bike rack dedicated to the murdered politicians who opposed Hitler. There was a group of tourists from a South Eastern region of the world who were on a tour and almost as if the tour guide had instructed them to they all walked up and started kicking these stones. Leighann and I were like this is supposed to be a memorial and these tourists were treating it like they were buying a new car and had to kick the tires.

 We decided to walk back around towards Wilhelm Strasse where the former Gestappo headquarters and later the German Secret Polic headquarters were to check out the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe" (2nd photo), I'm only putting it in quotes because that is literally what it said. The Memorial was constructed in 2005 and is a bit unusual, it is a graded square almost like a shallow wading pool without the water and it has rows and rows of stalages, giant blocks that create a maze it's meant to be symbollic I guess but some people, despite instructions actually took the maze idea literally and would run around chasing one another.

We decided to head down to Wilhelmstrasse where much of the Nazi Party headquarters in Berlin were located also where a portion of the wall museum is located. We walked along these billboards which documented the various escape attempts and those who died trying to cross over. A new Berlin Wall Memorial is under construction set to be completed in 2011. We walked all the way over towards Checkpoint Charlie the infamous checkpoint between the American and Soviet sectors. It is now kind of kitschy for 1 Euro. We almost got run over trying to cross the street as there aren't any traffic signs on the corner, I thought that perhaps this is kind of appropriate. Actually throughout our stay in Berlin we had some difficulties with pedestrian crossings in Berlin as the street lights aren't always visible and are two stage crossings that go from green to red instantly.

We circled back and went to the exhibition the Topgraphy of Terror, which documents with photos and letters and billboards the rise of the Nazis and the institutions that were developed. It is a lot of reading and is really intense, I spent about 4 hours slowly working my way through this exhibit. What is truly chilling is the constant calculated and changing  manipulation  and constant tinkering of the people. Perhaps the two most interesting photos to me were one of a German rally where everyone is saluting Hitler except for one man it is truly something to look at, that truly requires some bravery. The 2nd photo was a group photo of the SS members in the early days at a meeting in Bavaria. It looks like one of those Stanley Cup photos or something out of animal house. In the front row two guys are lying around the SS shield like it's the Stanley Cup, guys in the 2nd row hold up Steins of beer like a bunch of frat boys. I thought I'm sure a lot of these guys joined up because it was like a social club to them or their buddies were rushing the SS. I'm not suggesting the SS were harmless or that Frats are Fascist organizations, merely that there are a lot of very mundane or banal reasons people just go along with things or join organizations not everyone holds true to the ideals. By the time I was done viewing this exhibtion it was nearly 8 PM we were both hungry sowe headed back to the hostel to relax.

We decided for a nice dinner and wanted something other than German food. We walked up Oranieburger Strasse to find a place to eat. We kept seeing these women milling about and we didn't quite get what they were because they look like the kind of girls you see at trade shows or the girls on the street who try to get you to try some new energy drink. On our way back from dinner we noticed they had fanny packs on and we clued in that the street that ran behind our hostel was some kind of prositution district. I must say though the thought didn't occur to me as they didn't look like crack whores at all. I was later told that they are in fact unionized which wouldn´t surprise me.

We went back to the hostel and had a few drinks downstairs in the lounge, it's a younger crowd but it's kind of nice sort of like being at a casual bar where the drinks are cheap except you don't have to worry about going home you just have to make it upstairs. We discussed how we were going to spend Tuesday our last full day in Berlin and I suggested we see what life was like on the East side of Berlin.