Ich bin ein Berliner
By Jimm Budd
Once again capital of Germany, Berlin is, in many eyes, the most exciting, dynamic city in Europe. The shopping is spectacular, the nightlife wild and wicked. The theatrical production called Cabaret awoke my interest in Berlin. That along with such films as The Fall and Goodbye Lenin plus all those spy novels by John le Carre. If history bores you, skip Berlin.
Double-decker tour buses await passengers at almost every corner and for me there is no better way to become acquainted with a city than by a sightseeing tour. In Berlin the first stop often is the rebuilt Reichstag, now the Bundestag, or Federal Parliament. In 1933 fire destroyed the interior and the then-new chancellor (prime minister) Adolf Hitler blamed the blaze on the communists, rivals of his own National Socialist German Workers Party. To crush them, he demanded, and got, dictatorial powers.
Berlin was virtually destroyed in World War II, first by Allied bombing, then by the Soviet army during the Battle of Berlin. The remnants of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stand crumbing amid the sleek new stores, hotels and stores along Kurfurstendamm, one of the more fashionable shopping avenues. Along Wilhelmstrasse you can see where Hitler killed himself at a place once home to the Reich Chancellery. That edifice has been replaced by a shabby building now home to a Chinese restaurant called the Peking Duck.
Not many years ago, Berlin was a divided city occupied by the four powers that won the war. The Soviet Sector was separated by a wall that ran past the Brandenburg Gate, most famous of Berlin landmarks. A few blocks away stands a replica of “Checkpoint Charlie,” the U.S. Army post where, when the wall stood, tourists could cross from west to east. The wall was about 6-1/2 feet high, hardly very imposing -- but anyone getting too close in the Soviet-controlled East was likely to be shot. On the western side, ladders led up to the top so that tourists could peer over. You can visit the Wall Museum and also a museum displaying about all that is left of the vanished (East) German Democratic Republic.
In West Berlin, war rubble was cleared away and new buildings erected. In East Berlin, wherever possible damaged buildings were patched up and repaired. The Soviets, who conquered Berlin, kept for themselves the heart of the old city, including Mitte, the center. Today, this is the area you want to be. Avenues like Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse are where all the excitement is. The construction crane is, according to one wit, replacing the bear as the symbol of Berlin. Stalin Allee is now Karl Marx Allee. The past is not to be forgotten. Marx, after all, was a German.
Museum Island, in the middle of the River Spree – which cuts through Berlin – is, as the name implies, home to several museums. During nearly a week, I had time to visit only one. Others are being refurbished, a job that will not be completed for another ten years.
My great regret is not having had time to see more. I would have liked to have seen the Rathaus (City Hall) where President John F. Kennedy gave one of his most famous speeches. Giving a morale boost to West Berliners at the time fearing hostilities by Russian troops, Kennedy said: “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, I take pride in the words, “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a citizen of Berlin).
Also, I never got out to sample Berlin's fabled nightlife. And somehow I missed savoring that most famous of Berlin delicacies, curry wurst. Understandably, I want to go back. You can never get too much of Berlin.
