History - Cold War, Berlin

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A communist propaganda mural showing how good and how happy citizens were under communist rule. The mural is silhoutted by how East Germans really felt about communism with a photograph of the uprising in East Berlin on 17th June, 1953. The photograph is on the ground and is exactly the length of the propaganda mural and while the mural is in bold colours the photograph is in black and white with a light blue background.

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This private memorial to those killed trying to flee East Germany after the Berlin Wall went up is located in between the Brandenburg Tor and the Reichstag. The wooden cross bearing a name of Heinz Sokolowski and the date he died is one of the original crosses. The smaller white crosses also have the names and dates of those that were killed. Gunter Liftin was the first to die trying to cross the wall. Propaganda on both sides of the Wall tell a different story on how many died trying to flee into West Berlin. The west's numbers were 5000 and the east only 6. The true number to date is 136 deaths.

Another interesting site along Karl Marx Allee is the Karl Mark Buchhandlung, once a well stocked bookstore selling titles focusing on Berlin architecture and on Karl-Marx-Allee. Unfortunately the book store is no longer in business, and the location now houses another office. Still, the bold sign lettering on the building facade has been saved, so from the street it doesn't look unlike what it was in past times. The film “The Lives Of Others” (“Das Leben der Anderen”) featured this store in the closing scenes of the film, so you may be interested in seeing it and recognize it.

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Cafe Sybille is a great stop along Karl-Marx-Allee. While you are in this area and hopefully taking note of the Socialist Realist architecture, you should stop in here - not just to have a coffee and something to eat, but for the fine display of DDR era artifacts and documents that describe the history of this area and its construction. There are old posters, photos, some furniture etc., and quite interestingly, an ear from the old Stalin statue that was torn down after the fall of the DDR. This piece was hidden away and later put in place here.

During the early 1950s the DDR planned and re-built Karl-Marx-Allee into what it saw as a showpiece of communism from the rubble of fascism. All along the stretch from about Frankfurter Tor to Strausburger Platz the street is lined with tall, narrow buildings designed in a style decided upon by the politicians that tried to blend some of the historic look with the new, proud Stalinist style that had been developed in the USSR. These buildings cost many times more than conventional construction of the times, but the objective was not merely to house people; it was to show everyone what the State could achieve. When you walk or ride along this area you should take note of how narrow the buildings are, almost a facade to make it appear that there is much more housing than there really is.

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This Soviet Memorial, built in the years following WW11, is one of the largest Soviet soldier cemeteries in Germany. Expansive rows memorials and commemorative plaques lead to the 11 meter-high bronze statue of a Soviet soldier, depicted over a destroyed the swastika and holding a child in his arms. The graves of thousands of Soviet soldiers who died in the battle for Berlin lie alongside the memorial area. This is an interesting place for those interested in the large, social-realism design popular in this era of history.

The memorial is located in Treptow Park on the southem bank of the river Spree in eastern Berlin. This urban oasis consists of recreational space, grassy meadows, sports fields and playground areas. There is also a beergarten and historic cafe' that sometimes has jazz bands playing. During warm, summer days the park is especially popular, a place for people to mingle, take in the sun, play soccer in the meadows, eat ice cream, walk along the River Spree, etc.

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Between 1951 and 1989 the East German Stasi used the Hohenschönhausen Prison as a detention centre for prisoners that had not been convicted. These consisted of persons opposed to the regime but also later on persons trying to flee to the west. During the early days various method of physical torture were used on the prisoners but as time went on the methods became much more sophisticated and psychological techniques were used. The prison was located in a restricted military zone and did not appear on any maps, the prisoners were transported there in vans with blacked out windows, so they had no idea where they were being held. They were held in insolation and this was part of the techniques used by the Stasi. Due to the length of time prisoners could be held in the prison, in the end most were forced to confess.
At present you have to go round the prison as part of a group. You need to pick a tour carefully, most are in German though there is one in English at 2pm on Saturdays. I went on a Monday which is a free day and was put on a tour where the guide also spoke English.

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I decided to go for a stroll around the ellipse-shaped street of Majakowskiring with its upmarket houses. During the 1950’s this was the road that senior members of the GDR government lived in with its 1920’s houses, which were converted to suit their needs. During that period the street was well guarded and shielded from the outside world. For members of the Politburo this was not enough and after the Hungarian Uprising they became more nervous for their safety and a decision was made to build the secure Forest Community out at Wandlitz north of Berlin.