Berlin: Rising Again

As President Kennedy said in 1963, "Let them come to Berlin". So we did - although it was four decades later, well after the end of the Cold War. Actually, our trip to this marvelous city, the world's endearing symbol of the 50 years long schism between East and West, and its neighbor Potsdam was our third but we wanted to see how these cities had changed since the fall of the Wall in November 1989 and the 1990 unification of East and West Germany.

The first impression as one enters the city is of great growth with cranes dotting the sky as new buildings reach for the sky. The city's natural role as one of the world's great cities and newly restored capital of one of its great democratic nations is being made whole again. The most impressive change, though, as one reaches the center of the city is the removal from the area of the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate of the ugly scar which was the Berlin Wall. In place for 28 years, the wall separated a city, families, and ideologies and too much blood was shed by those East Berliners risking all to be free. Its peaceful removal was a triumph of the spirit of a people wishing to be free!

The Berlin tourism office disseminates a pamphlet which lists 38 museums in the city, more than anyone could possibly visit in the normal stay in Berlin! Nevertheless, no visit to Berlin by an American can be complete without visiting the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, standing only a few feet from where the small guardshack for so long marked the exit from the American zone of divided Berlin. Although the shack has been removed from the center of a now bustling street carrying traffic through the undivided city, the museum reminds one of the heroism shown by so many in desperate attempts to escape tyranny and, proudly, the importance of commitment of the western Allies to West Berlin's freedom and the city's ultimate unification. One is proud to be an American in looking at the photos of smiling children in the middle of the Berlin Airlift and in remembering the American airmen who lost their lives in that determined effort. Berlin today is free and unified only because the free world stood firm.

Only four blocks from this museum is the city's Jewish Museum, another we concluded we had to visit. The museum depicts the full history of the Jewish faith and the treatment of Jews throughout European history. The museum focuses, of course, on the tragedy of Judaism in Germany, cycles over the centuries of discrimination and persecution, culminating in the horrors of the Holocaust. Most memorable for me in the museum was the Memory Void, a room with bare concrete walls and thousands of black metal "faces" on the floor, leading into the darkness. Visitors are encouraged to walk on the faces, creating the sounds of chains or railcars transporting millions to their deaths. Painful images but a history which must never be repeated.

Another admonition against war is found in the Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church on Kurfurststenstrasse. The beautiful church was almost completely destroyed in Allied bombings in World War II and only its Old Tower remains today as a powerful reminder of the horrors of war. The tower contains photographs of the church in its majesty before the war and the devastated city just after the war. The tower also contains a cross of nails from Coventry, England and an Iron Cross from Russia as symbols of reconciliation. The area around the Tower attracts the citizens of Berlin and its visitors. On our day there, the outdoor cafes and shops were bustling and a group from the Chinese group Falun Gong was protesting the treatment of its members in China and a group of Turkish Kurds called for the release of its leader from prison.

The Charlottenburg Palace with its beautiful gardens is but one of many castles in Berlin. It was the summer residence of the Prussian Kings and was carefully restored after damage in World War II. The guard barracks opposite the palace today is one of the city's museum centers. The Tiergarten is a huge park in the city, extending westward from the Brandenburg Gate. In the center of the Tiergarten is the 67 meters high Siegessaule, a monument to Prussia's war victories and the founding of the German Reich in 1871.

These sights are spread across a wide part of the city but not to fear! The purchase of a tagkarte for 6.30 euros permits use of any public transport in Berlin for effectively a full day, i.e., until 3:00am, and it's very easy to master use of the city's rail and bus transport system. Any tourist official - or a Berliner on the street - can explain the system's map and how to use it. Americans normally tied to their automobiles will be amazed at how reliable and easy the system is and what a great value the tagkarte is!