Berlin!

Part of the Berlin Wall(Mauer) along the East Side Gallery

Berlin!

Berlin.....I like Berlin!  It feels like a city made of neighbourhoods, many small communities interlinking with each other and for the most part, sharing what they need.

The Downtown Centre is, I admit, incredibly touristy, and people could say that there are areas of “historic” Berlin that have “sold out” to the tourism industry.(One of the first buildings past the Brandenburg Gate is a Starbucks, the first thing you see once past “Checkpoint Charlie” is a McDonalds, and many, many, MANY people wandering around, looking lost and “getting in the way” of the locals trying to use the cycle paths!

But then again, Berlin has an incredible history, and is a vibrant place for “underground” or up and coming artists, ideas, innovations, etc, so why shouldn’t they make an income from the tourists who will come?  Also, there has been so much growth and development within the city in the last 25 years, that there has been a challenge of how to develop things without “wiping out” the records of their history, while at the same time, how to do you highlight and remember it all, without commercialising it too much and “profiting” from what, perhaps, wasn’t always so positive?  Not to mention trying to do all this while still reconciling oneself as a “local” to what that history was and what it means/meant for your home and nation?

Berlin, on the whole(except maybe one or two central areas) is trying to balance and blend its history with its present, embracing the one without glorifying it and reaching for the other with hope and creativity!

Memorial art to those who died attempting to leave the GDR

Current Graffiti Art in another part of town

I arrived last Saturday and got "settled" into my berth on the boat I stayed on.  This is an old, ex-army ship of the GDR which has been bought by a lovely lady named Kerstin Hack, who is an author and personal coach, who wants to renovate that ship into both a home for her, but also a space to host people and allow them space and time and support as they, perhaps, question things in/about their lives as to where they have come from, where they would like to "go" and process some things which might hinder them from becoming the people they may never have realised they could be!

She and her ship builder have been working on it for the past 3 years, raising funds for it as they go(she has already spend most of her savings on it in the first two years!) and getting help from whomever feels kind enough to help and volunteer!

The boat itself is still very "unfinished", with woodworking set up in what will be a seminar/small meeting room, and the "kitchen" combined with a toolbench, and painting, sanding, chipping, and building ceilings and floors going on all over.  But its on a lovely piece of the river Spree, and if you are willing to "go with" the slight awkwardness of living in an unfinished construction area, on a boat, its a lovely and welcoming place to be!

The "Heart of Berlin", Kerstin's shipe(Schiffe) 

Helge(Shipbuilder, right), Marta(68yr old German lady visiting to help, centre) and John(Australian living in Israel who came to help, left)

As I said, I settled in on Saturday and Sunday, having a fairly relaxed day, painting a bit, reading a bit and chatting to Kerstin a bit, as she was to leave for Switzerland the following day.  From Monday to Wednesday I had the boat to myself, which was LOVELY, but on the Monday/Tuesday I went into town to "explore" and wander, visiting the Grosse Tiergarten(GORGEOUS big park which I remember from my 2 day visit in 1993!), walking through the Brandenburg Gate(Tor) and down Unter den Linden, and then on Tuesday visiting the museum workshop of Otto Weide, who was a german with a broom making business during WW2.  He employed mostly deaf and/or blind Jews, and through his help, protection and support(the army needed his brooms so his workpeople were considered "necessary") he was able to hide and save a number of people(not all) who would have been deported to the extermination camps much earlier.  After that I then stopped at another exhibition remembering "Unsung Heros", about many so-called "unknown" people who were involved in helping many political refugees escape or hide.  From there I went up to an area along Bernauer Str, where a section of the Berlin Wall still remains and they have kept a large portion of the area directly "behind" the wall(on what was the East German side), and have made what was once called the "Death Strip" into a memorial park, with a Dokumentzentrum(Document Centre) exhibition, documenting the post WW2 history of the area(the political situation between the 4 "Victorious Allies", the increasing tensions, the building of the wall, life within the GDR, some of the successful and failed escape attempts, the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 and life since the wall), which was excellent, but weighty!

Entrance to Otto Weide's Broom Workshop

Exhibition to the "unsung heros"

A view of the "Mauer" along Bernauer Str, showing what the "Death Strip" looked like before, and now

Memorial Park at Bernauer Str(Wall along the left, extended with Iron posts to show the path it took)

"Now & Then" photo of the street crossing Bernauer Str

Photo memorial of all those who died attempting to cross the "Death Strip" and get over the Wall to West Berlin

I then walked along the East Side Gallery, which is another section of the Wall which was left, and which many Graffiti Artists "claimed" as a canvas shortly after the wall came down, making a tool of oppression into an exhibition of art.  

Unfortunately, the wall has been graffitied again, since! But there is to be a "clean up" & restoration of the originals done soon! 

East Side Gallery, 1.5km stretch of the wall, left to become an artist expression of freedom!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were a mix of sanding, painting, reading, welcoming Marta who is a 68yr old German lady who had heard about the boat and wanted to help, and wandering around Berlin a bit more, but never seeing everything!

Checkpoint Charlie(or what is left of it!) I found this to be one of the strangest stops for me, as I remember visiting this when I was here in 1993, only 4 years after the "fall of the Wall".  Then, it was a very impacting, stark reminder of the very recent past.  Now, I would say that it is the "kitch-iest" bit of Berlin history...

Berlin Cathedral

Memorial in Memory of the Holocaust

Giant Lego Giraffe, Potzdammer Platz

Then on Saturday, I had the opportunity to meet up with the brother of a friend(Esther Witt), Christoph, who with a group of friends was hosting a "day out" at the Templehof Airfield for some local refugee families.

Templehof Airfield was once the main airfield for West Berlin, and was instrumental during the "Berlin Airlift", which was a period of nearly a year when the Soviet powers blockaded West Berlin(which was entirely surrounded by Soviet territory) in the hopes of forcing the Western powers to give up control of it to the communist regime.  For a year West Berlin survived because of a "loop hole" in the rules, which still allowed the use of the airspace! So the only supplies which could reach the city were flown in via Templehof Airfield.

Since then, the Airfield eventually became obsolete as Berlin continued to grow and new airports were built on the outskirts, but when it was suggested that the field become used for housing and commercial business space, many people(including Christoph and his friends) protested, and eventually won the referendum held, which enabled the airfield to become a shared public space.  It is now a a recreational space providing habitat for meadowlarks and other wildlife, with the old runways being used for running, cycling, rollerblading, longboarding, kite surfing, etc, and the remaining green space used for picnics, bbqs, sunbathing, and a community allotment garden!

Christoph and his friends periodically organise "days out" for families who would not normally get to have a "holiday" or "trips to the seaside", etc, and instead, arrange for them to come and have a picnic here, with activities they can do(flying kites, chalk drawing, longboarding, games).  This time they had arranged to host some refugee families for the afternoon, who were lovely people and which was a lot of fun!

On Sunday, I left Berlin and caught a bus up to Neubrandenburg where I get to stay with Ralf and Katarina Neumann and their 7 month old daughter Ava, and get to connect in with the "Polyux" Community for a few days! :)