The Wall - the story begins

Today we are meeting up with Folke Bulda - my Dad’s cousins son, so my 3rd cousin. We have been in contact with Folke spasmodically since we last saw him face to face at our wedding in Melbourne in 1998. He has kindly offered to be our guide in Berlin for the next few days which is very generous of him.

We met at our apartment this morning at 8am, and went out for a light breakfast before starting our day of exploring. Berlin has an excellent public transport system, which we fully utilised over the day. We caught the tram, the bus, the U-Bahn (underground railway) and the S-Bahn (above ground railway). All works very well, and there is always another tram or train coming if you miss one.

Folke started our walking tour in a very non-touristy area to show us examples of East and West Berlin housing, and we were able to see the remnants of where the wall was. He took us to a ‘people’s park’ that had been built following the wall coming down, that had been a beautiful ‘green’ space, but now is an overgrown and uncared for park where the grass is brown or non existent, and there is rubbish all over the place. Folke was a bit shocked about how rundown the area was, and explained that money, or lack of it, was the cause. There is also a disused stadium here that is covered in graffiti and street art, again, very sad to see.

We followed the path of the wall along Bernadette Straße until we reached the Gedenkstätte Berliner Maher (Berlin Wall Memorial). As we walked along you could see large photos depicting the building of the wall and some very dramatic attempts to cross the wall. We read some heart breaking stories of families separated by the wall, and there were a number of memorials to people who had lost their lives attempting to escape to the West.

When the Wall was built on August 13, 1961, Bernauer Strasse became a symbol of Berlin’s division. The effects of the sealed border were dramatically vivid here because the facades of the apartment buildings on the East Berlin side of the street formed the boundary between East and West. When the border was closed, families, friends and neighbours were cut-off from one another. Entire families risked their safety by leaping from windows to freedom until the authorities bricked up all the windows in these residential blocks. About 2,000 residents were forced to leave their homes and resettle elsewhere.

At the Berlin War Memorial you can climb up about eight flights of stairs to look at the wall(s). There were guard towers, and at least 2 or 3 actual walls dividing East from West Berlin, as well as a range of obstacles designed to stop people and cars. This is the only section of the wall where you can truly appreciate the many-layered system of border fortifications as they actually were. The memorial runs for about 1.4kms along Bernauer Strasse, but only 220 metres of the original border wall which once encircled Berlin along 155kms has been preserved, as people had very strong opinions and felt “the wall MUST come down”.

There is a “Window of Remembrance” where the victims of the Wall are remembered individually, and there is a Chapel of Reconciliation that is located on the site where the Church of Reconciliation stood before it was torn down in 1985. There were so many stories of heartache, tragedy and hope that made this a very emotionally draining place to visit, but also very important to acknowledge and remember. When we went down to use the subway, Folke told us about how all the stations in the East were bricked up and became “ghost stations”. The trains still travelled through the stations of the East from the West and out to the West but the train didn’t stop, and as you travelled through you could see guards at each of the stations and that was all.

We then took a U-Bahn to central Berlin and went to see Brandenburger Tor and Pariser Platz. The Brandenburg Gate stands in the middle of Pariser Platz, and is now surrounded by modern buildings, such as the US and French embassy buildings. The Hotel Adelong Berlin is also located here, but this is a reconstruction of the original, which was destroyed in WWII. We then walked to the Reichstag, which is the German Parliament. It has been destroyed by fire, bombed in WWII, it has been wrapped up by the artist Christo and in 1999. The British architect Lord Norman Foster transformed it into one of the most modern parliamentary buildings in the world, whilst maintaining the facade (there are still small bullet holes from WWII visible) as it would have looked when built by Paul Wallot in 1884-94. The Dome was part of Foster’s transformation, and allows 360 degree views of the area. Unfortunately, we have been unable to secure tickets to up to the Dome because there is a Security Conference there until Thursday, and no-one is allowed access until it is finished.

We then caught a bus to the centre of West Berlin, Kurfürstendamm, passing by Tiergarten, the Presidential residence, canals, and crossed the River Spree. Berlin is a beautiful city that is well laid out. In the centre of the West Berlin we visited the Kaiser-Wilhelm- Gedächtnis-Kirche. All that remains of the Church is the Church Tower as the Church was destroyed in WWII, and it serves as both a Memorial and stark reminder of the impact of war. We then stopped for lunch and a chance to rest, as we had been on the go for over 5 hours. This turns out to be the day we walked in excess of 20kms!

After lunch we strolled around the inner city suburb of Charlottenburg, which has lovely tree-lined streets, less hustle and bustle, and a beautiful mix mix of old and new which blends in very well. Apparently , many wealthy Russians live here (some even without bodyguards)! We then caught a bus to have afternoon tea with Folke’s in-laws, Dieter and Sylvelin, and his daughter Mailin, who was very pleased with the gifts we brought her from Melbourne. Dieter and Sylvelin were very kind to open their home to us, and over a cup of tea we heard stories from them about the impact the wall had on them and their families. It was very moving to hear directly from someone about the fear they lived with for years, not knowing if the Stasi (secret police) would knock on their door. After tea and cake we walked to the Olympic Stadium that was built for the 1936 Games - it is an imposing place with a large bell tower, and built in the Fascist-style architecture favoured by the Nazis. It was built to show strength and domination, and it definitely gave that vibe. We were able to go to the top of the bell tower (215 metres), where we got amazing views of the city and surrounding suburbs.

The stadium is used for football matches, and is the venue for Ed Sheeran’s concert on Thursday, and the World Athletics Championships in August. There was also an area cordoned off, and it turns out a Netflix series was filming there, but the security guard wouldn’t give us any details - although he did let us sneak a peek as a small scene was being filmed. We then caught the train back to the centre of town and went to Museumsinsel (museum island), a diverse museum complex built on a small island in the river Spree - we will return on Thursday to visit some of the museums. We had dinner at a typical German restaurant where we had some delicious German fare. After dinner Folke showed us another lovely little spot called Hackescher Markt that had lovely buildings, stores, cafes and apartments. We then found our way home and fell into bed.Read more