Berlin, the German capital, presents an interesting cityscape as it tries to refashion its identity. Being the historic capital of Germany, it carries the scars of the political turmoil experienced by Germany and expresses this clash of multiple identities in a unique and intrinsically ‘Berliner’ way.
To explore Berlin, there is no better way than walking around its sights. The city is dotted with beautifully done and colourful graffiti and silently encourages street artists to render its palette in hues of bright green and deep red. This movement is particularly evident in the many Kunsthaus (art house) occupied buildings in the city, like the Galaria Taschels.
The Galaria Taschels, in central Berlin, was formerly a departmental store and Nazi prison.
It suffered structural damage during World War II and was scheduled for demolition, until squatters occupied it in opposition. These squatters rendered every available space within the building with graffiti and converted the building into an art gallery with a movie theatre and space for artists to showcase their work. This gallery is now quite an attraction for Berliners, and any move to demolish it is frequently faced with public outrage. When I visited this gallery, it featured exhibitions on bank excesses, with the centrepiece being a metal spider stretching its limbs across people in different circumstances, on space and global environmental concerns. An interesting feature of the art on display here is that it appears scattered and haphazardly arranged, but once you walk around, all the exhibits come together.
Over on Potsdamer Platz, a section of the Berlin Wall is maintained in the centre of the plaza. The Wall originally split the plaza into the East and West, the Soviet and American sectors respectively. The contrasting architectural styles of East and West Berlin can be seen here. On the east side of the wall is a brooding concrete edifice that was the East German departmental store, Zentrum, and over the West side are old office towers with large windows and angular niches. This difference illustrates the contrasting ideals in either sector, with East Berlin focusing on utility, and West Berlin encouraging private endeavour and aesthetic design to attract capital.
A little distance away, at the Brandenburg Gate lies another side of Berlin, one influenced by the German Monarchy. This gate was the erstwhile entrance to Berlin, and features prominently in the history of the city, with Napoleon riding in triumphant through the gate to celebrate his victory over the Prussian Empire, and President Reagan calling on General Secretary Gorbachev to open East Berlin to the West. It is a sandstone structure topped with a statue of Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory, riding a four-horse chariot and carrying an iron cross to represent the German Empire. This gate opened to the Unter den Linden, a boulevard of linden trees, which led to the city palace of the Prussian kings and later the German Kaiser. To the north of the Brandenburg gate is the Reichstag, the German parliament, which has retained its original façade from 1894 with the addition of a glass dome. The dome is accessible to the public, and provides a panoramic view of the city and a peek into the German parliament when it is in session.
The Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag building are of gothic mould and belong to the age of the Prussian Empire. They represent the desire to build an imposing capital with wide open spaces to represent the wealth and reach of the Prussian and German Empires.
Close to the Reichstag is the Holocaust Memorial, a citizen initiative to create a reminder of the excesses of Nazi Germany. The Memorial is built in a sloping bowl with 2,711 concrete blocks arranged in a grid. The memorial is monotonously grey and disorienting close to the centre as the concrete stele reaches above human height and restricts the visitor’s vision to the path before him. The memorial is meant to represent the illusion of order in a time of disorder and to evoke the feeling of despair, through its uniform grey colouration and narrow straight paths. Another relic of Nazi Germany is the concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, in the outskirts of the city. The camp has been converted into a memorial, and its layout and division into sectors evidences the clinical efficiency of its operation. There was a strict separation of Jewish and Gypsy Prisoners and Soviet Prisoners of War, and the bunkers for housing, cleaning and working inmates were set along sequential paths to enable mechanical operation.
The city of Berlin is at a crucial cultural juncture, with its multiple identities constantly clashing in expression. While its old historical centre was flattened during the World War, the relics that remain carry the weight of its Prussian heritage and its associated notions of German nationalism. Opposed to its Prussian legacy is the emergence of its underground art movement that expresses its aesthetic through bright and bold colours streaked across decrepit buildings and streets, which celebrate its tolerance for foreign influences. Aside from these two cultural traditions is the guilt of Nazi excess, and of its American and Soviet past. The multitude of such influences renders it a beautiful city offering a varied experience, visually and culturally, at every step, and is well worth a visit.