Curry and Architecture

I started the day with a currywurst. Yum. Not only was it nice to eat something hot in the crummy weather, but the sauce and curry powder mixed wonderfully, and it only cost 1.95 euros, or about $2.50. Having completed that delicious tourist must, I headed over to the Goethe Institut to take a tour of Mitte, the oldest section of Berlin. I won't repeat the whole tour, but there were some bits of information I found particularly interesting.

Telling East from West

The crosswalk men I mentioned in a previous post no longer properly represent the old east and west boarders. This is because many of the eastern Ampelmännchen were replaced with the western style during the early years after the reunification. Then, a movement to save the Ampelmännchen turned the tide and actually resulted in a few cross walks in West Berlin to be converted to the eastern style. The better way to determine if you are in East or West Berlin is to look for plattenbau buildings made from repeated, identical segments of concrete. These buildings were typical of East Germany, where everything down to the furniture was standardized. You can also look for the streetcars, which were invented in Berlin but almost entirely removed from the west side of the city in an attempt to modernize it.

The Old and the Destroyed

Right in front of the Fernsehturm, a symbol of Socialist modernity and one of the tallest buildings in Europe, sits the St. Marienkirche, the over eight hundred year old catholic and later protestant church. It is still in use today and is in the process of being restored. Its accompanying statue of Martin Luther was allowed to return after a century of exile, but it could not reclaim its former place in front of the church. Instead, it was placed off to the side and behind a row of trees. Just a few hundred feet away is das Rote Rathaus, the red city hall. It was only about 80 years old when it was damaged horribly during WWII. When the communist German Democratic Republic set about repairing it, they fitted the stained glass windows in the front with Soviet iconography. Finally, we visited the ground where the Berliner Stadtschloss, an enormous palace, had housed German Royalty for centuries until 1950. A fire caused by the bombings had made the building virtually uninhabitable. Since no one seemed to want to repair it, a politician decided to blow it up as a demonstration of his loyalty to socialism. Only a small section where Lenin had once given a speech was preserved.

I find myself once again amazed by how much the division of Berlin affected the way the two halves grew. Even buildings centuries old were affected by the soviet presence. It makes me wonder what influence capitalism has had on the western half, which I have overlooked. Moreover, how have the people been shaped by this division? I doubt I'll take a tour anytime soon where the guide says "and on your right, you'll see a Wessi. Please note the distinctive clothing..."