Cribs@Work: Berlin - A Travelogue

So finally did manage to go to Berlin for the Easter vacation. I thought a travelogue was very much for the asking.
Berlin is a bundle of contrasts and contradictions. But to be fair, Berlin is a city that has gone through a lot. 2 wars which almost ruined the city, a rule that saw organized murder in the millions and then the worst that could ever happen to a city, being divided as spoils of war to the ‘saviours’. Throughout the Cold War, the city went through the motions of existing as 2 different worlds within the city even though all that separated them was the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie (which was the US side of the border).

I don’t think I can remember any recent event that has so dominated a city as the tearing down of the wall (9/11 was one of those). There is this photograph where the US zone and the USSR zone meet in Berlin showing the tanks of both sides came to a head-on. I think that photo tells volumes of what the city went through. The wall came up as a result of this confrontation. It also tells us how the world was so very bipolar during those days.

Circa 1989 saw the fall of the Wall and along with one of the oldest governance models. By then, the West (read as Allied forces) led by the US had decided that Berlin was to be the demonstration forum for the success of the capitalist model. So today, we see West Berlin as different as East Berlin as they wanted it to be. West Berlin is full of the skyscrapers that are part of any major city all made possible through the billions of dollars pumped in whereas East Berlin has the history spots in different stages of reconstruction starving for funds and in more ways than one, a bundle of confusion.

Berlin is not a beautiful city. In fact it is an ugly one. Half-done constructions in the middle of a lot of beautiful squares are a blot on the eye. As I understand, the Government is still trying to come up with the millions of Euros required to finish all the construction. However, today, the city is still in a transition mode 16 years after the wall came down. Add to it the nearly 20% employment figures. We get an assortment of problems.

The other thing that is unsaid but present all around you is the ‘national guilt’ about the Holocaust. Everything associated with that episode in history has been so subtly maintained in Berlin. It is almost as if the German public is trying to tell the world ‘Get a life. We want to move on!!’. But of course, the millions of tourists are coming there to understand the world as it was between 1933 and 1945. There is not a single sign which says Hitler’s bunkers. It is only due to the tour guide that we came to know of it. I think it is definitely a painful experience for the German public to be reminded of this episode every day of their lives.

I believe the night life in Berlin is arguably one of the best amongst European cities. I think it is a fun place. As our guide was repeating so many times, Bavarians think of the Berliners as a decadent group. Anyway it was good to visit the capital of Germany and see for myself what the Cold War meant. I have heard this word used in so many contexts but to see in actual reality, the way it worked, was definitely an experience.