Berlin + Holocaust Survivor Talk

[warspite1]

I’ve recently spent a few days in Berlin. I’ve never visited this city before but went there with the warspite family to help my little warspite with her history studies at school.

We had four full days there and to be honest I thought that would be more than enough…….. wrong! We came away with at least half a dozen things on the list still to do. Seriously, if you have any interest in history generally, World War II or the Cold War in particular, or indeed cult traffic crossing aids(!) then I can’t recommend this as a destination too highly.

For obvious reasons, there is not that much still standing post 1945, and sadly the East German Government destroyed much that did survive. No matter, in Berlin one can almost touch and taste the history – and what has survived has been preserved for all the right reasons.

I will attach some photos in the coming days – as and when I sort through them to hopefully give a flavour of just what an incredible experience spending time in this city can be. If only we’d had a couple more days…….

[warspite1]

The Reichstag

First up, one of perhaps the two most iconic symbols of Berlin, its the Reichstag, located near to the Brandenburg Gate.

To the right is a picture taken in 1945. I think it's fair to say that the building was not looking at its best by then. Perhaps could do with a bit of a vacuum.....

Just about everything in every attraction is written in English and German - and the visitor is also provided with audio guides that really add to the experience. This is true of the Reichstag building.

More to follow at the end of the thread - when I will be showing the building at night.




The Reichstag building from a bit further out to give a better impression of the imposing, Norman Foster-designed, glass dome.

[warspite1]

Next up its the:

Berlin Victory Column

This structure celebrates the three main victorious Prussian wars just before unification:

Danish-Prussian War (1864)
Austrian- Prussian War (1866)
Franco-Prussian War (1870-71)



Victoria at the top


Its over 200ft tall and you have to climb a circular staircase of just under 300(?) stairs - but it seems like more!!!

[warspite1]

Berlin Victory Column (cont)

Surrounding the column are three statues of the main architects of Prussian victory - military and diplomatic - at that time:

Otto von Bismarck (Chancellor)


Albrecht von Roon (Minister of War)

[warspite1]

Last but not least of the triumverate:

Helmuth von Moltke (Field Marshal)

[warspite1]

Cold War Stuff - Watchtower

One thing that it would have been good to preserve is a section of Berlin Wall plus the no-mans land and all that went with it. Parts of the wall remain intact, but its largely left to pictures to piece together what the wall really contained and how it was set out. The next few posts looks at the wall, but first we stumbled upon an old East German watchtower. There were two vertical ladders that led to the top and I am sorry to say my fear of heights stopped me from scaling this one. But my elder little warspite managed it, putting her old dad to shame.


Oh well, at least I got to hold an AK-47 - I didn't realise how heavy it would be though

[76mm]

hmmm, during the summer I ride my bike right by all of those places on the way to work. Living here, I am less than thrilled by the place...

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: 76mm

hmmm, during the summer I ride my bike right by all of those places on the way to work. Living here, I am less than thrilled by the place...

warspite1

Fair enough, each to their own.

[warspite1]

The Berlin Wall

Staying with the Cold War and the wall, there is a museum dedicated to the DDR (funny how countries with Democratic in the title are usually the ones that are anything but [;)]). There is a model of a cross section of the wall which shows effectively two walls - one being the Anti-Fascist Protection Wall - separated by a no mans land with watchtowers and assorted stuff designed to impede a would-be defector's progress....permanently..

[warspite1]

Back to the Wall in a second, but staying on the DDR theme....

The DDR Museum

As the name suggests this museum is filled with the history of that unfortunate aberration and what life was like for those that happened to be that side of the divide post-1945.

[warspite1]

The DDR Museum - The Trabant

And no story of the DDR could be complete without mention of this technical marvel [:(].....no cooing system and no petrol gauge....

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: 76mm

hmmm, during the summer I ride my bike right by all of those places on the way to work. Living here, I am less than thrilled by the place...

Likewise, I am unimpressed by Philadelphia's historic district.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Berlin Victory Column (cont)
[
Albrecht von Roon (Minister of War)

So that's why there's a German armored cruiser Roon in WWI.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Berlin Victory Column (cont)
[
Albrecht von Roon (Minister of War)

So that's why there's a German armored cruiser Roon in WWI.

warspite1

Indeed, a number of armoured cruisers were named after politicians and military men - of which Roon (launched 1903 and stricken 1920) was one. Thank-you for making me look that up in Conways - I never knew [:)]

[warspite1]

The Berlin Wall (Cont)

I hope what I want to achieve works. I want to show a section of current road with a picture of how it looked post 1961. The road in question is rather important and will be the next topic of interest (although there will be one final section on the wall later).

The picture on the right is of the Wall (with the second wall on the left and no man's land in the middle - complete with guard tower). The picture on the left is how this road is today (with the wall on the right) and one is looking away from the buildings in the right-hand picture. The middle picture shows the two buildings that appear on the right, but are the opposite way around as the direction the camera is pointing is the opposite. I hope that makes sense

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: 76mm

hmmm, during the summer I ride my bike right by all of those places on the way to work. Living here, I am less than thrilled by the place...

Likewise, I am unimpressed by Philadelphia's historic district.

Me too. Living there for years, it's kind of ....meh when you see it almost every day.

[warspite1]

Why is this road so interesting? What is 'special' about it?

A clue is that the "Topography of Terrors" museum is housed here. Behind the wall was Prinz Albrecht-Strasse....the home of the SS and the Gestapo.

[warspite1]

Topographie des Terrors - Prinz Albrecht-Strasse

I mentioned earlier that the East German Government decided to destroy a lot of what was in their zone of Berlin. This included the buildings - or perhaps I should say - the remains of the buildings on this street. But the foundations remain as do the walls of the basement. One can understand the wish to remove these vestiges of Nazism to an extent, but at the same time I think it is a great shame from an historical perspective.

The evil that was carried on here is simply difficult to fathom (we will come to Sachsenhausen and Wannsee later). The thought that the likes of Himmler, Heydrich and other high-ranking Nazi pond life, once walked through these streets and worked in the buildings that stood on this site is quite chilling. This was where they went about their daily business......terror.

Under the glass roof structure is all that remains of No.8 Prinz Albrecht-Strasse....

[operating]

I mean it, I really enjoyed the pictures and narrative...[:)]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: operating

I mean it, I really enjoyed the pictures and narrative...[:)]

warspite1

Thanks operating - there is plenty more to come [:)]