Die Mauer
Throughout my Cold War childhood, even in rural Western Pennsylvania, the Berlin Wall was a looming presence. In our TV shows, in our textbooks, even in our popular fiction it appeared, confining and defining. It was even part of my German lessons! And then, quite suddenly in 1989, everything changed.
Still, in the almost thirty years since, I had been wanting to visit Berlin, to see these places that were landmarks in TV and in books. And since it had been almost three decades, I was curious to see how the remnants affected me.
High on my list was the Brandenburg Gate, which I knew was still standing.
We would see it several times over the course of our week in Berlin. I had been dreaming of seeing this since high school.
Near there, there was still a memorial to people who died trying to escape at the Berlin Wall. Chilling even to this day.
In some places around the now blended city, there were reminders of where the wall once stood. These had a randomly-dropped feel about them, though they were quite deliberately left or placed there.
And sometimes there was just a line in the pavement, like this one leading into a shopping mall.
Almost-faded scars near Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag
And occasional watchtowers.
There was still a very long stretch of the original Berlin Wall still standing, now used as an open-air museum of murals and graffiti art. Called The East Side Gallery, it was worth the multiple train and bus transfers to get there.
We did not walk the entire length of it as it was very sunny and hot.
In a city as secular as Berlin, I was surprised to see this.
It had been painted by a student of the artist Johannes Meissel as a tribute to his teacher whose works were destroyed by the Third Reich. The title of this, "Soli Dei Gloria," came from an unfinished Bach piece.
We did see the very famous mural by Dmitri Vrubel of Brezhnev and Honecker locked in a fraternal kiss (Bruderkuss). However, just as I was to post it here, I saw something I missed entirely that day---someone had tagged the mural with an English expletive. When I make the kids' scrapbooks, I'll blur out the expression. That particular mural seemed always to attract all kinds of graffiti, having already been repainted entirely once since the 1990 original.
Funny enough, when we were at the Lego Discovery Center, I was able to show the kids what divided Berlin looked like with Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall. There was included in their city models pre-1989 Berlin.
The Berlin Wall Lego model even helped with a history lesson. Yes, kids. This is exactly how it happened. A big chunk was felled and David Hasselhof sang. Or something like that.
I understand how and why Berliners would have wanted to tear down the wall completely after November 9, 1989. It was an unnatural division of their city. However, I think even the lines in the pavement could prevent amnesia. There will be generations in the not-too-distant future that will have difficulty believing Berlin was really divided by a well-guarded, impenetrable wall for more than 30 years.
Still, in the almost thirty years since, I had been wanting to visit Berlin, to see these places that were landmarks in TV and in books. And since it had been almost three decades, I was curious to see how the remnants affected me.
High on my list was the Brandenburg Gate, which I knew was still standing.
We would see it several times over the course of our week in Berlin. I had been dreaming of seeing this since high school.
Near there, there was still a memorial to people who died trying to escape at the Berlin Wall. Chilling even to this day.
In some places around the now blended city, there were reminders of where the wall once stood. These had a randomly-dropped feel about them, though they were quite deliberately left or placed there.
And sometimes there was just a line in the pavement, like this one leading into a shopping mall.
Almost-faded scars near Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag
And occasional watchtowers.
There was still a very long stretch of the original Berlin Wall still standing, now used as an open-air museum of murals and graffiti art. Called The East Side Gallery, it was worth the multiple train and bus transfers to get there.
We did not walk the entire length of it as it was very sunny and hot.
In a city as secular as Berlin, I was surprised to see this.
It had been painted by a student of the artist Johannes Meissel as a tribute to his teacher whose works were destroyed by the Third Reich. The title of this, "Soli Dei Gloria," came from an unfinished Bach piece.
We did see the very famous mural by Dmitri Vrubel of Brezhnev and Honecker locked in a fraternal kiss (Bruderkuss). However, just as I was to post it here, I saw something I missed entirely that day---someone had tagged the mural with an English expletive. When I make the kids' scrapbooks, I'll blur out the expression. That particular mural seemed always to attract all kinds of graffiti, having already been repainted entirely once since the 1990 original.
Funny enough, when we were at the Lego Discovery Center, I was able to show the kids what divided Berlin looked like with Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall. There was included in their city models pre-1989 Berlin.
The Berlin Wall Lego model even helped with a history lesson. Yes, kids. This is exactly how it happened. A big chunk was felled and David Hasselhof sang. Or something like that.
I understand how and why Berliners would have wanted to tear down the wall completely after November 9, 1989. It was an unnatural division of their city. However, I think even the lines in the pavement could prevent amnesia. There will be generations in the not-too-distant future that will have difficulty believing Berlin was really divided by a well-guarded, impenetrable wall for more than 30 years.
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