In which we visit Berlin à la GDR.

After a week in Portugal and a week back at work, I was ready for another vacation and eager to spend more time with old friends, so I hopped on a bus to Berlin to spend the weekend with my long-time friend, fellow Smithie and travel buddy (see Mallorca 2010, Istanbul 2010, Iceland 2010, among others...), Sarah, who happens to be studying in the Hauptstadt this year, hurrah hurrah. I'd been to Berlin several times, but the last time was already four years agozoooooooooommmm look at the time go! This was more of a social visit than a touristy one, so if you want touristy/other/more pictures check out other posts from 2009, 2010 and 2012. 

Well, we did do some touristy things, but avoided the main go-to sights. Instead we went to Bernauer Straße on the east/west border, where there is a brilliantly put-together park/memorial documenting the street's history and how drastically it was changed with the arrival of the wall -- the exhibit itself being multimedia-friendly, including photographs, audio and video clips, and physical structures. All information in German and nicely translated English. The park is a strip of green that runs for about two blocks, with various markers showing where the wall(s) once existed and it/they a.) affected the people who lived there and b.) reflected the political atmosphere over the years. Other markings included where escape tunnels had been built and successfully employed, as well as pinpointed escape attempts and specific events in other areas.

Many East Germans ran when they realized the scope of what was happening, especially while the wall was being constructed, and just took whatever chance they could to book it to the other side with no time to pack or think it over. Many more people didn't expect it to last and perhaps regretted their decision to stay when still walled-in three decades later.

After the wall went up in 1961, the wall-side buildings on Bernauer Straße became notorious for escapes because you could get over the wall by jumping out the wall-side windows. For this reason, the windows on the lower floors were actually bricked up and the ground-floor shops evicted first to eliminate the chance of easy exits that way. Some people did escape through the upper windows, though it was a dangerous thing to attempt and indeed the first person to die along the Berlin Wall was a woman leaping from her window there. Most did survive though, and there was one story in particular about a pregnant woman who had been able to tip off the West Berlin fire department in advance and have them catch her on the other side when she jumped. She gave birth three days later.

People were evicted from the wall-side buildings of the street in stages, the evictions kept secret and carried out suddenly to prevent escapes (ie. people jumping out their windows over the wall). There was an interview with one woman who, after returning home to Bernauer Straße from holiday, discovered that she no longer lived in her apartment and had been moved somewhere else. Soldiers had stormed the upper-level apartment and first run to block the windows so no one could jump out, then told everyone to pack up and leave, pronto. All the windows and doors were eventually bricked up and most of the buildings were later demolished, leaving only the blank, windowless faces of the connecting buildings behind.

Two escape tunnels were built there to help the East Berliners escape, the first of which helped 27 people sneak out and the second of which more famously freed 57 before the border guards were tipped off and put an end to it. A firefight ensued in which one guard was killed, who was then martyred by the government, accusing the wicked western smugglers for his death. Sewers were also used as escape routes with maps available and some West Berliners snuck into East Berlin to guide people safely through the underground labyrinth. This plot, too, was discovered and iron grates were implemented at strategic points in the sewers to block escapes, and were checked regularly.

Security technology improved over the years and anti-vehicle spikes were employed along the street and as blockades (though these were removed in the mid-1980s because of their negative image in the rest of the world), a rope system was put into effect that dragged concrete slabs under the back tires of any vehicle that broke through the barrier, trapping it, and later motion sensors were installed with sensitive triggers that would alert the border guards without the escapee knowing they had been detected, not to mention all the barbed wire and other unpleasantries.

Structure representing an old watchtower.

In spite of all this, Bernauer Straße was still a place where people on both sides would go to see each other from afar, though this was technically prohibited. Mail could still be sent east/west but the division of the city meant you couldn't see friends, family, lovers, anyone or anything located on the other side. As it was physically possible to see over the wall along this street, often people would arrange times to "meet" and would wave to one another until shooed away. One picture in the exhibit showed a newly married couple standing together with a bouquet still wrapped in paper, waving to his or her parents on the east side. The picture was paired with another of the parents looking down to them, waving, crying. Another picture that struck me later in the Berlin Wall Memorial was of a crowd of people packed in front of a little alleyway separating garden plots, someone in front holding up a baby. Border guards survey the scene and far behind you can see another crowd of people on the other side, trying to catch a glimpse of loved ones.

Later on, day passes were able to be arranged for West Berliners to visit friends and family in East Berlin for a few hours, though these passes were hard to come by and strictly regulated. It was a very special to finally meet in person again, though many people who had had such meetings said it made it even harder to say goodbye because no one had any idea when and if they would be able to see each other again.

There was a church in Bernauer Straße as well, amazingly called the Church of Reconciliation. Its front entrance was blocked by the wall, with its other entrances blocked off as well over time. The congregation continued to meet there until they were finally evicted outright and made to move elsewhere. From then on, the church tower was used for surveillance until the mid-80, when the government -- not liking the symbol the church had clearly become for the opposition -- literally had the whole thing blown up. After the act, cemetery workers hid the twisted metal cross that had once been perched on the spire, and it is now located there in the park next to the new, beautifully designed Chapel of Reconciliation. 

The Berlin Wall Memorial also had a great exhibit and a little tower of its own with a view over the restored border strip, also called the "death strip", around which life continues as usual in 2016. 

Inside I was particularly moved by video footage of protests -- peaceful ones -- all over Germany in the late 80s, and finally footage of the wall coming down, thousands upon thousands flocking to the site, flooding streets and trains, celebrating, looking dazed, crying. One man had just crossed the wall and was shouting, "Me! In West Berlin! Me!" Another shot started with a close-up of people scrambling over the wall in the rain and then zoomed out to show thousands of people standing there with umbrellas, people streaming over the wall and through the wall where an opening had been made. Footage of people holding "Welcome to West Berlin" banners, all without commentary, all very emotional. Even though I'd seen a lot of the footage before and learned about it for a long time and have spoken with people who were there when it happened, seeing it all put together there as it was still packed an punch.

We later went to the Kulturbrauerei to see their somewhat new GDR exhibit. We'd both been to a couple other GDR-related museums in Berlin, but not this one, which, to quote the website: "The permanent exhibition 'Everyday life in the GDR' shows the gap between the expectations of the SED-regime and the real living conditions of the people in the GDR. Individual stories illustrate the range of different attitudes under the communist dictatorship, which vary from committed support to resignation to opposition." The exhibit was much larger than expected and we didn't get through the whole thing before the closing announcement was issued from above, and there was quite a bit of sensory overload at first with all the objects, posters, photographs, audio recordings, video recordings, automobiles and the rest of the multimedia explosion that hits you when you walk in, but going slowly, one wall at a time, I was soon caught up in the recounting of this very surreal time and place, fascinated, often amused, sometimes shocked. The exhibit provided a lot of food for thought and I'll just mention some of the main things that have stayed with me.

One was a series of portraits taken by Stefan Moses of East Germans of all different professions taken in their work attire. Emphasis on all different professions, all different people, all different walks of life from coffin builders to business people to nurses to constructions workers to fishers to a particularly beautiful picture of a young shepherdess that I particularly fell for (for obvious reasons). They are simple portraits, lovingly taken, and the subjects all seem to be having a good time as many are laughing. It's an amazing visual summary of society at that time, and as the exhibit pointed out, some of the photographed professions no longer exist today. (There's a nice bio and description of the exhibit here).

A common theme was the Soviet Union being a role model, not only because the Soviets happened to take control of that part of Germany after WWII and not only because red happens to be a pretty color. All Germans and indeed a good chunk of the rest of Europe and world had just experienced one if not two very terrible wars and a lot of emphasis was placed on fighting the "war-mongering Western capitalists" and anyone who might promote another war. When the tension between the Soviets and the rest of the Allied forces escalated, the Berlin Wall was built as an alternative to war. You don't want war, the Soviets don't want war, so hug a Soviet today!

The SED State tried to keep as much control over its citizens as possible and one way of doing so was through its factories and other realms of employment. Now to quote the museum's info pamphlet: "Mass organisations and workers' collectives set the pace of daily life during and after work. By offering recreational and cultural activities, they created a feeling of togetherness and cohesion, but at the same time they served as a means of social control." Work brigades were organized as teams that often competed against each other on various levels, be it work output or sports teams outside of work, and there were big awards ceremonies honoring workers who had gone above and beyond in some way. You weren't forced to participate in such things, but often times people became socially isolated and or found themselves at other great disadvantages if they did not.

One propaganda video on display was "Die todkranke Ilona" or "The deathly ill Ilona" (the name might have been different) about a young woman in a textile factory who calls in sick to avoid a long shift when her boyfriend wants her to go dancing. Her work foreman happens to be at the same party and takes pictures of her dancing, then makes a little poster the next day with the pictures and something like, "We hope the deathly ill Ilona gets well soon!" and posts it for everyone to see. She is thus horrified and embarrassed and starts working extra hard to make up for her blunder. When everyone else starts working extra hard, too, she wonders if everyone else also has a bad conscience. Moral of the story: sometimes you screw up and wow, is that embarrassing, but if you work hard and get back on the right path it will be better for everyone.

Shaping the next generation was also an important factor, and often school classes would be paired with work brigades from various employers as a sort of pen pal or sponsor and they had many letters written by children, for example inviting the xxx brigade to their Christmas party, including a nice reply and presents for the kids later on from the brigade. Communist-friendly, all-day childcare was also provided by the State for hard-working parents.

Differences between generations was a big thinking topic as well -- imagining how life must be differently perceived in the GDR between older people who were used to life before the division and for those who were young or born afterwards, for whom it was normal without any sort of reference point to another kind of life other than what people tell them or what they might happen to see if they are able to receive West German television channels. In one part of the exhibit, school kids (9th graders?) in the 80s were asked to write essays describing what they expect their lives to look like in 2010. There were four responses on display and the remarkable thing was how the restrictions of the GDR played no part in their dreams. Most wrote that they hoped to be married with a family and kids, as well as a well-paying job and pretty house. One wanted girl to be a secretary for a millionaire and go on fancy vacations all around the world, like to Brazil. Some talked about technology and how there would be devices or robots to make life easier, though one mentioned that computers shouldn't control everything. There was concern for the environment and hopes that atomic energy would no longer be used. Peace reigned in all the essays. Life was good and people drove nice cars other than Trabi. Just normal kids with big dreams, same as any other.

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After all the heavy learning, thinking, and discussing, not to mention hours spent outside in the beautiful but very cold weather, Sarah and I felt more than justified tucking ourselves into the couch in the evenings with hot tea, kids' movies and Planet Earth. That on top of good food, good company, ample sleep, and banana pancakes to finish it off made it a truly ideal weekend.