My trip from Wroclaw to Berlin did not start well. I had to get up early (03h45) to make it to my 05h07 train to Berlin. My brother dropped me off at the train station and I went to check out my platform number. Lo and behold- the train was over 3 hours late!! So I called my brother to turn around and stayed at his place for a few hours before taking the tram to the station. The train finally left at 08h46! It turned out that there were electrical problems enroute.
Rather than having a good amount of time in the city I just chilled at my friends flat and had a nap. I was staying by a friend that I had met in Colombia. We spent the evening catching up over some wine, cheese and grapes.
On day two I covered a large amount of ground and went to many well-known sites around the city. I liked the feel of the city and the restored buildings.
The next day I signed up for a free walking tour, called, The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall, which covered the history of Berlin after the split of Germany and Berlin between the allies and Soviet Union. There were a few years that East Germany was under communist rule but the free movement of people was allowed. At this stage millions of East Germans left, which lead to a massive brain drain which concerned the Soviets. It is this that led the Soviets to throw up barb wire on the east/west boundary overnight on 13 August 1961 and from this point no one was allowed to cross over-which means families were instantly split. About 140 people were killed while trying to cross the Berlin wall. This wall went from being a barb wire set up, to a wall, to dual 8ft wall, covered by sewer pipe which was round and thus harder to get a grip on. There were regular watch towers and the deadmans land between the two walls was policed by guards and dogs. There was also sand there so that guards could check for footprints and thus potential escapees.
All buildings in deadmans land were destroyed to allow for this elaborate wall. It is interesting to note that the Berlin Wall memorial connects a few pieces of the old wall by bars in the ground, however these are spaced such that people can pass through- a stark difference between now and then, that people take for granted.
The STASI (secret police) kept intricate records of all personnel in the DDR (Demokratische Deutsche Republiek). They used special trained spies to gain access to information as well as neighbours and family. They would break into people’s houses when they were at work, gain information or tap your phone and put microphones in your house then rearrange a few items to mess with your head. These records were made public after some were saved when communism was overthrown. They are available for families to view to see if there are any files on them. There have been many families split after finding out that their partners were perhaps part of the STASI or provided the STASI with information.
Having a tiny bit of experience with Communism in Cuba, I could imagine this information seeking and spying as well as manipulation of people and how draining it would have been for such a long time.
During the time of communism the architecture around the East took on that of the Soviets in the form of prefabricated 11 story buildings which were erected very quickly and have no real character- as everyone was equal.
Spending much of the day on Berlin Wall history, I continued the pattern and went to visit the Eastside Gallery- a large portion of wall that was persevered and contains street art. There were a few good pieces of work, however during my time in South America I have seen much better examples.
