The Fall of the Wall - Berlin

Randomly in early November, Matt and I were looking for cheap, last minute weekend trips and saw that bus tickets were really cheap to Berlin over the weekend of the 10th. I went to Berlin in 2013 and had an absolute blast – Berlin is an extremely eclectic, international, and diverse city. I remember noticing how so many different groups of people seemed to live together in their own harmonious weirdness. What we did not realize when we booked the trip, however, is that we would be lucky enough to be there for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Festival Week had exhibitions, demonstrations, and art all over the city commemorating the reunification of Germany and the end of Communist rule in a divided Berlin. Much to my chagrin, I felt that my knowledge of the Cold War was woefully lacking, and I had to do a ton of research to familiarize myself with the history of the Cold War to maximize my experience. After soaking it all in, we both became fascinated with how the world and time we were born into could have this level of conflict built up over decades. To say we were profoundly moved is an understatement. I should warn you all before you start reading this: this will not be a typical travel blog that is only about our itinerary and funny anecdotes. I really wanted to use this as an opportunity to reflect over the entire experience and how impactful it still is 30 years later. There will be a lot of history and context provided, but if like me, you feel that your historical education stopped after WWII, then I encourage you to continue reading. It may be enlightening, or it may bore you endlessly, but I want to do this experience justice, especially for all those who were separated from their families for 28 years by a wall.

Before I get into our day, I wanted to provide the context for the fall of the wall and the reasoning behind the Cold War. It has been a long time since I have used any part of my History degree as an Undergraduate, but I have poured through dozens of articles and texts over the last few weeks, and this is the story as it appears to me. The Cold War was fought between Soviet Russia and the West for over 40 years following World War II. While the USSR and the USA shared the desire to end Nazi Germany and Hitler’s reign of terror, it became imminently obvious once WWII ended that the two countries held fundamentally diametric beliefs: the USA was a capitalist democracy and Russia was a communist dictatorship. After WWII, Germany was divided into four zones occupied by the USA, Russia, Britain, and France. The USA and Britain eventually merged their zones, leading to the formation of West Germany. They also had the western part of the city of Berlin, despite the fact that Berlin was in the heart of East Germany.

(Click image above for more pics of Cold War Art - there is art EVERYWHERE in Berlin)

The Soviets controlled all of East Germany and essentially all of Eastern Europe (the “iron curtain”), having more and more communists infiltrate governmental positions, which infuriated Winston Churchill and Harry Truman. Indeed, Joseph Stalin’s desire to spread communism instigated the formation of the “Truman Doctrine,” which basically sought to stop the expansion of communism and preserve democratic liberties throughout Europe. When the American George Marshall was sent to examine the state of affairs in Europe, he was taken aback by the amount of poverty and recommended that billions of dollars be sent for aid so that people would not be forced into Communism by their dire circumstances. The Marshall Plan thus took effect when his notion was correct and Czechoslovakia turned Communist. However, it is important to mention that countries turned Communist volitionally and internally– Russia never sent an army in to any eastern European country. Still, Stalin, who wanted the expansion of Communism and the aggressively anti-communist Truman viewed each other’s actions as signs of war, and thus the Cold War began.

This all came to a head when Russia was demanding its reparations from East Germany. The western forces were trying to restore Germany, even introducing its own currency, but Stalin saw this as an attack and stopped all traffic into Berlin, essentially trying to starve West Berlin who was completely surrounded by Soviet rule. In response, the USA airdropped food and supplies for almost a year until Stalin admitted defeat and opened the borders again. This contributed to the formation of NATO, which detailed the unification of America, Britain, and France into the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany, thus opposing Stalin and East Germany, which was now called the German Democratic Republic.

(Click image above for more pics of Cold War Art)

In 1953, two important events happened: Joseph Stalin died and Russia developed the hydrogen bomb. Stalin’s replacement, Nikita Khrushchev, wanted peace, but instead promoted a competitive environment between the US and Russia for “total world domination.” This is what basically led to the space race, the desire to create weapons of mass destruction, and even intense rivalries in sports (I’m thinking about “Miracle” right now). But still, a major problem for the Soviets surrounded the split within Berlin: many East Germans were fleeing into West Germany, which was humiliating for them and sent a bad message. By 1961, Khrushchev demanded that the Americans leave West Berlin, but JFK refused to oblige. On August 13, Khrushchev closed the border between East and West Berlin and the Berlin Wall was built, the ultimate symbol for the Cold War.

While this was a pivotal point in the Cold War, Germany remained divided until 1989. Living conditions in East Germany were unbearable for some, and thousands of people tried to flee to the West or protest in the streets for democracy, environmental issues (think acid rain and even Chernobyl), and individual freedoms. The goal was to overthrow the Socialist Unity Party, known as the SED, who controlled Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Albania. Though Berliners were divided for nearly 28 years, the dissolution of Communist rule and the process towards reunification began to rapidly evolve in 1989. In June, Poland’s elections signaled the fall of Communism within the country, and at the same time, Hungary started removing barbed wire on the border with Austria, enabling East Germans to get through the border. President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union did not fight these developments with violence, which was key for the dissolution of Communism in East Germany. Finally, Prague opened up entry for West Germany, and the East Germans were mobilized to call for full freedom of travel. Eventually, on November 9, the SED representative mistakenly announced that travel between the border would now be opening, effective immediately (when asked when travel restrictions would be lifted, he did not know the answer and said immediately, rather than gradually). That night, East Berliners flooded the streets and gathered at where the Berlin Wall could be crossed. The Wall was torn down, and this was an important symbol that the Cold War was finally ending and that Germany could finally reunite.

(Click image above for more pics of Cold War Art)

So 30 years later, here we are. Matt and I show up in Berlin with open minds and open hearts, eager to soak up the experience and hear the incredible stories of people who lived through that time, protested, or were having friends and family report their every move. We started the day at the Stasi Headquarters and went through their permanent exhibit on the wall. We wanted to make it to as many of the open air exhibitions as we could, but the exhibition at the Stasi Headquarters was by far the most detailed. The Stasis were the SED’s most lethal weapon – they were the secret police of East Germany who spied on everyone in the population through a network of thousands of civilian informants. They listened in on phone calls, employed family members to turn on each other and report to them, and kept detailed files of each citizen to catch escape attempts and general dissent. When their headquarters were taken over in winter 1989, a huge debate was spurred over what to do with all of the information they collected, though much of it was destroyed by the Stasi before their capture. For a super interesting article on the children “stolen” from the GDR, I highly recommend this article. Also, here is another fascinating article that goes further into East Germans snitching on each other.

The massive exhibition at the Stasi Museum

(Click image above for more pics at the Stasi Museum)

After this, we went to Gethsemane Church and Alexanderplatz for two more exhibitions. At the beginning of October 1989, Gethsemane Church became the headquarters of the revolution, hosting several informational events that attracted thousands of people who also sought safety and information at the church. Alexanderplatz is a huge public area and also the site of the largest protest demonstration on November 4, 1989, just five days before the wall went down. Protestors fought for freedom to travel, free elections, freedom of speech, the environment, and the legalization of dissenting parties. Also at Alexanderplatz, I was bombarded by a Mickey Mouse randomly – this seems to be a recurring theme for me this year (Chewbacca and I immediately clicked at Disney World). Matt and I grabbed a quick lunch at a place that made hybrid Indian-Mexican burritos and they were SUPER delicious.

(Click image above for more pics of Gethsemane Church and aggressive Mickey Mouse)

We then made our way to the start of our walking tour after eating and walked around an incredible food/local goods market while waiting for it to begin. Matt and I have done a lot of walking tours, but this was by far one of the best because of our amazing tour guide Tobi, who was an East German himself and 16 years old when the wall came down. Not only was the tour extremely interesting and informative, but he also provided riveting insights into what life was like before and after the wall came down. Naturally, we always talk about the “perfection of capitalism,” but there were many East Berliners who had a very difficult time making ends meet after the wall came down. Many were used to Communism, and at the very least, having basic needs provided. Learning how to support oneself and a family in a Capitalist society after the wall was an exceedingly challenging transition for some, and this led to unfavorable attitudes towards Westerners and resentment for the “new ways.”

We began the tour at Museum Island in Berlin, which is a beautiful, lush area where The Altes Museum, the Neues Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie, The Bode Museum, The Pergamom Museum, and the Humboldt Forum are located. Intriguingly, you can still see bullet holes and damage on the buildings from the Allied bombings in 1943 and 1945. We then walked by Berliner Dom, or the Berlin Cathedral. The dome of the Cathedral is extraordinary and one of the main attractions of Berlin. The church itself experienced extensive damage during WWII, but it was fully restored after the Berlin Wall came down and is used as a Protestant Church.

(Click image above for more pics of Museum Island, Berliner Dom, and Food Markets)

When I think about Berlin, one of my most distinct memories from both trips is how poignant the memorials are. We made our way to Humboldt University after this, which not only had incredible professors like Albert Einstein and Max Planck, but is also the site of one of the largest book burnings in history, which was put into effect by the Nazis. Two incredibly powerful memorials are in the square of the university to commemorate these events: there is a glass encasement of an empty bookcase that could shelve 20,000 books, symbolizing all of the books that were lost, and a plaque with a quotation from Heinreich Heine, which stated, “This was but a prelude; where they burn books, they ultimately burn people.” Heine made this statement in 1820 in response to another book burning, but his impactful words rang true with the Holocaust. I will never forget these memorials – as an avid lover of books and reading, it is tragic to think of how many original works of literature were destroyed, but Berlin truly did a spectacular job reminding the world to never forget what happened.

Empty Bookcase for the 20,000 books burned

(Click above for more pics of Humboldt University and the Book Burning Memorial)

We next passed the French and German Cathedrals on our way to Checkpoint Charlie, which was the name the Allies gave to the crossing point during East and West Berlin. It is very touristy now, but it is important because it serves as a key symbol of the Cold War to Berliners. We walked from Checkpoint Charlie to the longest remaining portion of the wall, which was actually layered with two walls with a “no man’s land” in between that had sniper towers and hungry dogs to prevent people from crossing. Seeing it at twilight was pretty ominous– its looming presence serves as an eerie reminder of the divided city. We then ventured to Hitler’s Bunker, where he supposedly spent his last days before he committed suicide. It is now a parking lot in an apartment complex, because Berlin did not want to glorify any potential Hitler tourism. There is but a single plaque stating what it is, and it is more than enough. Fittingly, we went to the other memorial whose power is seared permanently in my mind afterwards: the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The Memorial is a 200,000 square feet site with nearly 3,000 concrete slabs of different sizes placed in a grid. The architect behind this wanted to produce a confusing and uneasy atmosphere, leaving the impression that we “lost touch with human reason” with the Holocaust. It is very unsettling and very powerful to walk through silently. We subsequently ended the tour at Brandenburg Gate, but because the concert was taking place there, we did not stay long. Before we headed back to our AirBnB for the night, we decided to go to the East Side Gallery to see all of the art and different perspectives.

(Click above for more pics of the French and German Cathedrals, Checkpoint Charlie, the Wall, the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, Brandenburg at night, and East Side Gallery)

In the morning, we went back to Brandenburg Gate and walked around the remains of the concert the night before. The Brandenburg Gate is the site of many iconic images, which shows Berliners climbing onto the Wall by the gate and dancing on November 9, 1989. It one of the best-known landmarks in Germany, and arguably within the world. On top of the gate is the Quadriga driven by the goddess Victoria, which was temporarily stolen by Napoleon at one point. We then walked by the Soviet War Memorial and the Beethoven-Haydn-Mozart Memorial before taking the most magical walk around Tiergarten park. Matt kept pushing me to do this, and I did not want to, but he was super right. I was wrong. It was important to him that I admit this haha!

(Click image above for more pics of Brandenburg Gate and the Soviet War Memorial)

(Click image below for more pics of the insanely beautiful Tiergarten)

(Click above image for random sights around Berlin, including the Russian and US embassies)

Trabant - East Germany’s answer to the Volkswagen Beetle as an affordable car. Because metal was expensive, the body was manufactured with a form of plastic. Hiiiighly sketchy.

This marked the end our whirlwind weekend and we were left with a lot of questions. Are Germans really happy today? Was reunification successful? Many say no – the wall coming down was abrupt and the ensuing transition was very difficult for many East Germans. Further, there were a lot of added expenses in the unification, and the former East German economy collapsed. Westerners were often resented by Easterners for their arrogance, and there is still some general malaise between the two sides. Today, Angela Merkel, an East German herself, is Chancellor and has been in this position since 2005. Now in her fourth term as chancellor, she has been credited with lowering staggering rates of unemployment and boosting the economy, but also for enabling an influx of one million refugees from the Syrian Civil War and Libyans to enter Germany in 2015. This was not favorable for all Germans, and led to the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany, whose existence was further capitalized from Brexit and Donald Trump’s election. Merkel still won re-election in 2017, but the alternative group captured nearly 13% of the vote and became another grand coalition within the government. So is Germany really aligned? Do East Germans feel at one with West Germans and vice-versa? I don’t know. For Matt and me, it was a really eye-opening weekend, and it is very difficult to fathom how the world could have been like this just 30 years ago. But just 30 years before that was the Civil Rights Movement, and before that, the lead-up to WWII. At the very least, it seems like there are massive generational decisions that need to be made, and this weekend was a powerful reminder for me to double-down on my beliefs of equal rights for everyone, regardless of orientation and identification. The main takeaway is to never forget, and I know that I will never forget this weekend.

All my love,

Alexandra