Travel Berlin - A Phoenix Rising
The Brandenburg Gate remains a symbol of Berlin
Six years ago, I took a photograph of the Brandenburg Gate. The Brandenburg Gate stood alone at the end of a vast boulevard, a symbol of Eastern Europe still a world away from the West.
A few weeks ago, when I returned to Berlin, my first reaction, upon seeing the Gate was, “That’s not it, is it? The real one must be further down the road.”
But, of course, it was the Gate. I just couldn’t believe that six short years could have brought such a dramatic change to the barren landscape that I remembered so vividly. The empty spaces are now filled with large permanent buildings that hadn’t been there only a few years before.
In many ways, the Brandenburg Gate remains a symbol of Berlin. Built when Berlin was still part of Prussia, it would later mark the border between a city that had been wrenched in two at the start of the Cold War. The area around the Gate, once a bustling neighborhood, became a restricted zone - Authorized Personnel Only. Today, it lies at the centre of a city knitting itself back together with head-spinning speed.
Berlin’s complex past, present and future lie vividly juxtaposed. The skyline near the former East Berlin is speared by building cranes and high-rises, yet between the sleek, ultramodern skyscrapers, one glimpses the domes and spires of an older culture.
History surrounded us as we walked through the old parts of the city. Near the river, we glanced across the street at a row of columns bearing the pockmarks of gunfire, reminders of the savage fighting that took place as the Russians, Americans and British claimed the city, inch by inch.
Walking a little further, we found a ghostly memorial in the middle of a vast square called Bebelplatz. The Bebelplatz is best known as the site of the book burning ceremony held on May 10, 1933 by members of the “Brownshirts” and Nazi youth groups. The Nazis burned about 20,000 books, including works by Thomas Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx and many other authors. Today a glass plate set into the Bebelplatz, giving a view of empty bookcases, commemorates the events. Students at Humboldt University hold a book sale in the square every year on that day.
Other facets of the city’s history were revealed with every step: the old opera house, the Pergamon Museum, a reconstruction of Checkpoint Charlie, and the last remnants of the Wall.
At Potsdamer Platz, it was easy to see why this area has earned Berlin its reputation as being the biggest construction site in Europe. This area presents a glimpse into the city’s future, and shows the industriousness with which Germans are rebuilding their capital.
Potsdamer Platz, prior to World War II, was a hub of social activity. Yet, it sank into a silent wasteland during the Cold War. We soon found out why. There were, of course, two Berlin Walls - the outer one bordering East Germany, and the inner one bordering East and West Berlin. And between the two walls was a space, usually several meters in width, and known as the Death Zone - one more barrier to East Germans contemplating defection into the West. At Potsdamer Platz, an area that was particularly vulnerable, the Death Zone encompassed not just a few meters, but an entire kilometer in width.
Now, that barren landscape has been relegated to archival photographs and is being re-shaped into a huge commercial complex. Because the Death Zone turned Potsdamer Platz into the equivalent of a blank slate, its rejuvenation encompasses a diversity of architectural design, both risky and innovative. The result is a blending of past, present and future.
Potsdamer Platz may be an enormous construction zone today, revealing only hints of the face it will one day present to the world, but it is also an area seething with potential. Like a phoenix, it is slowly rising from the ashes of the past.
The same could be said of Berlin itself. It is a stimulating metropolis, a city in flux as it recreates itself, repairing the wounds inflicted by the past, yet standing tall and broad-shouldered, as it looks towards the horizon.
Author: Susan L. Deefholts and Tom Nagy
| Add your comments |
