Exploring Berlin - Part One
Berliner Dom cuts an impressive shape in the centre of the city. 1/640s 50mm F4.0 ISO 100.
I’ve been learning German now for more than three years. I’d always wanted to learn a second language but after a misfire with French at school it was something I’d put off for quite a long time. Despite now spending so much time learning, and thoroughly enjoying the experience, the pandemic had blown a hole in my travel plans and I had still never even set foot in a German speaking country. I finally had the chance to go in the Autumn of 2022 and, whilst I had more ambitious plans to travel to the south of the country (which I may do this year), I thought I’d keep it simple and start with the capital city – Berlin. Famed for its deep and divided history and being very easy to get to it made an ideal place to begin exploring the country.
I touched down in the almost brand new Berlin Brandenburg Airport. 1/250s 50mm F5.6 ISO 2000.
The Oberbaum Bridge was my first sighting of Prussian Berlin. 1/500s 50mm F5.6 ISO 100.
East Side Gallery is the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall still standing and has been turned into a graffiti art gallery. 1/1600s 50mm F1.8 ISO 100.
Touching down in Berlin it quickly becomes obvious that this is a city very different from London. The latter has an almost claustrophobic nature with its tight roads and narrow alleys but Berlin is very much a European city. Wide streets that sit on a grid system give it a more open feel and there’s a lot more space for things as simple as car parking which is almost completely absent in central London. There’s certainly a sense of modernity here but don’t be fooled by that completely as there’s plenty to signify its robust history. Not long after I first hopped off the S-Bahn overground trains and was making my way to the East Side Gallery, I was greeted by the mighty and very Prussian Oberbaum Bridge. Berlin was of course originally the capital of Prussia, historically the most dominant force in the German Empire, and their calling cards are littered all over the city. Though of course much has also been lost during the destruction of WW2 and some poor Soviet attempts at re-development in the east of the city.
I made the interesting choice to bring along my Kodak Pocket Camera for this trip, and the results with it I will cover in later blogs. 1/800s 50mm F2.8 ISO 100.
The Reichstag was a popular spot for Berliners to sit out in the warm evenings. 1/6400s 50mm F1.8 ISO 100.
Like London is built on the River Thames, Berlin is built on the River Spree. 1/800s 50mm F2.8 ISO 100.
This large piece of modern architecture sits behind the classical Reichstag building. 1/1000s 50mm F4.0 ISO 100.
Given where I was and that there was only so much I could see, I made the decision to focus on the cold war history of the city. What life was like as an East German behind the infamous Berlin Wall, that conflict’s most enduring symbol. Walking through places like Checkpoint Charlie and Potzdamer Platz, it really was hard to comprehend that had I been standing on that very same spot some thirty five years before, I would be in what would have resembled a war zone. And also have been shot dead on the spot. This all happened a few years before I was born, but it isn’t hard to see why this was one of the world events people of my parent’s generation remember most vividly.
Checkpoint Charlie - one of Berlin’s most (in)famous landmarks. I didn’t get a chance to go into the dedicated museum. 1/1250s 50mm F2.8 ISO 100.
Potsdamer Platz was the intersection point for the different parts of the wall. 1/2000s 50mm F1.8 ISO 100.
Another of Berlin’s most famous landmarks - The Brandenburg Gate. Many gates used to flank the formerly walled city, this is the only one remaining and sat just behind the wall of the East side during the Cold War. 1/2500s 50mm F4.0 ISO 100.
For those more curious about life behind the wall I recommend a visit to the fantastic DDR Museum which, though not large, has a wide array of items visitors can touch and interact with to get a better understanding of the subject. In fact I would say this is the most interactive museum I have ever visited, it even has a Trabant simulator (which was sadly broken) and a lift from an East German apartment block that pretends to break down before it opens its doors to austere communist accommodation. There’s even a section about the very popular FKK movement or naturism (or nudism) as we call it in English. I imagine it would cause quite a scandal back home to have a family friendly museum display video reels of naked people on the beach. However, I’m not sure who that says more about, the us or the Germans? Few things get between a Brit and his written letter of complaint.
These fancy lights in the DDR Museum once adorned the ceilings of the now demolished Palace of the Republic - The East German parliamentary building. 1/60s 50mm F1.8 ISO 100.
A tribute to the popular FKK movement in East Germany. 1/60s 50mm F2.8 ISO 250.
The DDR Museum has many items that visitors can interact with. 1/125s 50mm F2.8 ISO 1000.
A young boy pretends to be a Stasi spy until the close eye of Erich Honecker. 1/100s 50mm F2.8 ISO 320.
To top off the experience there is also a separate East German motorbike museum, which houses all the various models that members of the public and government officials would have used during that period. Owning a Trabant was the dream for many East Germans, but that car had a waiting list that could be up to fifteen years, so instead many opted to ride low-powered motorbikes instead. This alongside the common ownership of allotments and the FKK movement gave people a small sense of freedom and rebellion in a country where everyday life was heavily restricted.
The separate DDR Motorbike Museum is also well worth your time. 1/30s 50mm F1.8 ISO 320.
It has a fantastic display of the various different East German motorbike models with a few other pieces of memorabilia. 1/30s 50mm F1.8 ISO 320.
A more poignant reminder of life in Berlin during the Cold War was a walk down Bernauer Straße along to the Mauer Museum. This street sat on the dividing line between East and West and was a place that many people made their escapes in the early days of the wall. Markers show where the wall once stood and the trail has many information points detailing the escapes and how life here evolved as the wall grew in size. As with many other places along the dividing line it is almost impossible to tell that a wall once stood here, such is the huge amount of re-development these areas have undergone since re-unification.
The memorial and displays at Bernauer Straße showcase the harrowing stories of escaping East Berlin. 1/800s 50mm F4.0 ISO 100.
The Mauermuseum allows visitors to overlook a mock-up section of the Berlin Wall. 1/4000s 50mm F4.0 ISO 100.
Residents of East Berlin would never have been able to peer through gaps in the wall. 1/3200s 50mm F1.8 ISO 100.
The Mauer Museum itself gave you a chance to not just hear more stories of a city divided but to see with your own eyes what a section of the wall would have looked like with its rigorous security. Once upon a time West Germans and foreign visitors would have stood on platforms just like this take a glimpse of a peculiar life on the other side. Thankfully these days it’s all for show and of course to educate.
The Mauer Park is a community re-claimed space that once sat at the frontier between East & West. 1/100s 50mm F4.0 ISO 100 - Two photo panoramic.
Trabiworld is dedicated to all things Trabant. These terrible cars have become an enduring symbol of life in East Berlin and feature heavily in ‘Ostalgia’. 1/1600s 50mm F1.8 ISO 100.
Tourists can actually go on tours where they drive these cars around the city. 1/640s 50mm F5.6 ISO 200.
My time in Berlin was divided into two sections with a short weekend visit to Poland in the middle. Check back next week for part two of my time in Berlin and the week following for my adventures through the Polish cities of Wroclaw and Krakow. If you’ve not made your own visit to Berlin yet then I do highly recommend it, especially if you too have a keen interest in history.
The bear is the symbol of Berlin and it’s common to see advertising statues across the centre of the city. 1/800s 50mm F1.8 ISO 100.
Public transport in the form of the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn will get you around the city quickly and cheaply. 1/320s 50mm F2.5 ISO 100.
The Berlin State Opera is another grandiose Prussian building. 1/250s 50mm F5.6 ISO 100 - Two photo panoramic.
The Berlin Holocaust Memorial which stands opposite the American Embassy. 1/400s 50mm F5.6 ISO 100.
Inside the Holocaust Memorial is a seemingly endless set of undulating pathways that surround the entrant with warped pillars and where others fleetingly come and go. 1/50s 50mm F5.6 ISO 100.
The Anhalter Bahnhof was once a mighty train station that was damaged irreparably during the Second World War. It was eventually pulled down by the communist government in 1960, with only a small portion of the front façade remaining. Tens of thousands of Jews were deported here from Berlin during the Holocaust. 1/640s 50mm F4.0 ISO 100.
Sadly atrocities are not a thing of the past. Many flowers and tributes in honour of the people of Ukraine have been left outside of the Russian embassy on Unter den Linden. 1/100s 50mm F4.0 ISO 100.
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