“The Stasi museum and other museums give a wrong impression of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Stasi (Ministry for State Security),” says Hans Bauer. According to this man it is all Western propaganda; the information signs in the Stasi museum, the story of the tour guides and recent politics. However, the Stasi...
Read more »
After its demolition in 2006, the ‘Humboldt Forum’ -a new building resembling the former Schloss- will be constructed in the area
Read more »
Unlike Germany, which once reigned dominant in Europe, then crumbled in the post-war years, and eventually divided during the cold war period, the Olympiastadion has somehow endured the winds of change and emerged from it unscathed. It has always managed to serve its intended purpose as an internationally acclaimed sports hub. Once used by...
Read more »
The fall of the wall has brought about a revival of Jewish life in Berlin and the Rykestrasse Synagogue in Prenzlauer Berg In an inner courtyard in a quiet street with five-floor apartment buildings in the former East Berlin residential neighborhood Prenzlauer Berg, is one of the most significant Jewish sites in Berlin: the...
Read more »
Germany proved fans around the world that there are no resentments left between each other in the 2006 world cup game against Ecuador in Berlin’s “Olympiastadion” Berlin celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Many significant places, like the Brandenburg gate or the Reichstag, will hold celebrations for such an important...
Read more »
Bernd Wolff (63) has fourteen months left before he can retire as a Berlin S-Bahn driver. “It’s hard to imagine life without driving the train. But yes, I am looking forward to it.” The old East Berliner had always imagined himself growing older together with the trains that he has driven since 1966. He...
Read more »
East Berlin – the heart of DDR socialism. The antagonism against the West was obvious. Just as obvious as the struggle for admiration and glory in competition with the capitalistic sibling on the other side of the Wall. A sumptous attempt to demonstrate the greateness of socialism was Kino international in East Berlin. Today...
Read more »
Peaceful Revolution in the GDR district of Prenzlauer Berg: Gethsemane Church. Protests, hunger strikes, Stasi-spies and a concerned and angry crowd: the Gethsemane Church was the centre of resistance in Prenzlauer Berg against the communist government of East Berlin in October 1989. The protestors were able to get in contact with sources outside of...
Read more »
As the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany became one state twenty years ago, a lot of things changed in Germany. One of the most visible aspects was probably the troop withdrawal of the Allies that followed a few years after the wall fall in 1994. The soldiers disappeared and went...
Read more »
The former GDR workers’ area Prenzlauer Berg has gone through a change into the currently hippest city quarter of Germany’s capital city with the highest birth rates of whole Berlin. School enrolment figures rise steadily. Many former GDR school buildings are today reused for the same purpose. But school life in the quarter has...
Read more »
Besides a huge commercial center, Potsdamer Platz has by 2009 also become Berlin’s center of moving images – and an icon of the versatile image of Berlin. A symbol of the rise of Berlin around 1900, the square had completely lost its significance during the Cold War – there was literally nothing there. Ever...
Read more »
History is a lesson, which tells you often a lot about the future. But for Germany, their history is a particular case. It’s not that much of a lesson, but something, which they keep on bumping up to. Chancellor Angela Merkel proved that once again to the US congress two weeks ago. Instead of...
Read more »