It has to go down as one of my favourite holidays, we went because the wife speaks German but didn't really know what expect.Sitting on the U Bahn looking out the window as we travelled thru stations like Jannowitzbrucke and noticed the gaps in the housing and so much relating to the years of aerial bombardment and of course the Soviets fighting in those streets .It really was a mixture of sww and cold War so I shall be heading back on your tour to discover another aspect and very much looking forward to it.
For your activities to explain Germany and the Germans to English speaking readers, Katja, you should be given the German Federal Cross of Merit. Your article on Berlin is another example for your high-quality journalism. Having lived in Berlin for many years, may I add a few points:
You are right to emphasize the destruction of Berlin by Anglo-American bombing and Soviet artillery and urban warfare. You wrote that “Hitler’s capital took a heavy beating in the 1940s.” But it was not just Hitler’s capital; it was the hometown of the Berliners that was destroyed, and it was they who were being killed while he was sitting safely in his bunker. In Britain, Vera Brittain protested the bombing of the German cities and the civilian population. In 2016 I managed to have the embankment opposite Berlin’s cathedral named after Vera Brittain, and her daughter Shirley Williams came with her family to inaugurate the new name (https://www.facebook.com/UKinGermany/posts/935236263211256).
The bombing was followed by the city’s partition into East and West Berlin after WWII. Berlin had been Germany’s biggest industrial city and the seat of the headquarters of all its major companies. They all moved to West Germany, to Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and did not return after reunification. Berlin’s reinvention is still on the waiting list.
Whenever you see a tram in Berlin, you know that you are in former East Berlin. They kept the tram, which was the cheapest way, as they had few private cars. In West Berlin, on the other hand, they abolished the tram and built the city autobahn. Seeing it now, you know that you are in former West Berlin. In this way it will always be obvious to visitors whether they are in the former East or West of the city. In retrospective: who was right?
Regarding Berlin’s former German-Jewish community, I suggest acquainting the participants of your tour with the recordings of Max Raabe and his Palast Orchestra. Raabe's standard repertoire includes numerous songs by Jewish composers and lyricists who were influential in German popular music before 1933.
Would I be allowed to attend the cocktail at the Hotel Adlon on 3 September as a guest? Of course, I will pay for my drink.
I would love to go on your tour, but I am not mobile enough these days. Almost all my memories of Berlin are as a divided city and Haupstadt der DDR, Only been back a couple of times since then. My apartment in Kreuzberg was similar to the one you describe.
Berlin.de The Official Website of Berlin, describes it as a, "former wasteland, created after WW 2." The only indication that Potsdamer Platz, prior to 1945, was a busy intersection of cultural significance is a mural showing Haus Vaterland, Cafe Josty, Columbus Haus, Anhalter Bahnhof, the iconic traffic signal/island, and others.
Last year I read that there is 125 + WW2 and Cold War marks in Berlin ranging from Denkmale to museums , that is quite extraordinary, it’s a fascinating sprawl of a city
I’ve been fortunate to visit Berlin twice. Once with friends who in all honesty weren’t as into history as I am. They did get a wee bit excited when they saw spang on the buildings. They were singularly disappointed with the site of the Führerbunker; something about it being “a carpark” only with additional strong Anglo-Saxon language. I was unable to imbue them with a sense of the place. My second visit was with your DDR themed tour, which I enjoyed immensely. A surreal highlight had to be the visit to the Stasi HQ. On the first visit we took a walking tour that encompassed Berlin’s history from the Kaiserreich to the fall of The Wall. History on every corner. I took the plunge and I’m going on the tour Katja. Looking forward to it.
You mention Treptow…….the park landscape of which was changed by the huge Soviet war memorial.
Highly impressive, but it must have been shock to Berliners to have it on their doorstep
It has to go down as one of my favourite holidays, we went because the wife speaks German but didn't really know what expect.Sitting on the U Bahn looking out the window as we travelled thru stations like Jannowitzbrucke and noticed the gaps in the housing and so much relating to the years of aerial bombardment and of course the Soviets fighting in those streets .It really was a mixture of sww and cold War so I shall be heading back on your tour to discover another aspect and very much looking forward to it.
For your activities to explain Germany and the Germans to English speaking readers, Katja, you should be given the German Federal Cross of Merit. Your article on Berlin is another example for your high-quality journalism. Having lived in Berlin for many years, may I add a few points:
You are right to emphasize the destruction of Berlin by Anglo-American bombing and Soviet artillery and urban warfare. You wrote that “Hitler’s capital took a heavy beating in the 1940s.” But it was not just Hitler’s capital; it was the hometown of the Berliners that was destroyed, and it was they who were being killed while he was sitting safely in his bunker. In Britain, Vera Brittain protested the bombing of the German cities and the civilian population. In 2016 I managed to have the embankment opposite Berlin’s cathedral named after Vera Brittain, and her daughter Shirley Williams came with her family to inaugurate the new name (https://www.facebook.com/UKinGermany/posts/935236263211256).
The bombing was followed by the city’s partition into East and West Berlin after WWII. Berlin had been Germany’s biggest industrial city and the seat of the headquarters of all its major companies. They all moved to West Germany, to Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and did not return after reunification. Berlin’s reinvention is still on the waiting list.
Whenever you see a tram in Berlin, you know that you are in former East Berlin. They kept the tram, which was the cheapest way, as they had few private cars. In West Berlin, on the other hand, they abolished the tram and built the city autobahn. Seeing it now, you know that you are in former West Berlin. In this way it will always be obvious to visitors whether they are in the former East or West of the city. In retrospective: who was right?
Regarding Berlin’s former German-Jewish community, I suggest acquainting the participants of your tour with the recordings of Max Raabe and his Palast Orchestra. Raabe's standard repertoire includes numerous songs by Jewish composers and lyricists who were influential in German popular music before 1933.
Would I be allowed to attend the cocktail at the Hotel Adlon on 3 September as a guest? Of course, I will pay for my drink.
I would love to go on your tour, but I am not mobile enough these days. Almost all my memories of Berlin are as a divided city and Haupstadt der DDR, Only been back a couple of times since then. My apartment in Kreuzberg was similar to the one you describe.
...And then there is Potsdamer Platz....
Berlin.de The Official Website of Berlin, describes it as a, "former wasteland, created after WW 2." The only indication that Potsdamer Platz, prior to 1945, was a busy intersection of cultural significance is a mural showing Haus Vaterland, Cafe Josty, Columbus Haus, Anhalter Bahnhof, the iconic traffic signal/island, and others.
Last year I read that there is 125 + WW2 and Cold War marks in Berlin ranging from Denkmale to museums , that is quite extraordinary, it’s a fascinating sprawl of a city
I’ve been fortunate to visit Berlin twice. Once with friends who in all honesty weren’t as into history as I am. They did get a wee bit excited when they saw spang on the buildings. They were singularly disappointed with the site of the Führerbunker; something about it being “a carpark” only with additional strong Anglo-Saxon language. I was unable to imbue them with a sense of the place. My second visit was with your DDR themed tour, which I enjoyed immensely. A surreal highlight had to be the visit to the Stasi HQ. On the first visit we took a walking tour that encompassed Berlin’s history from the Kaiserreich to the fall of The Wall. History on every corner. I took the plunge and I’m going on the tour Katja. Looking forward to it.