Five essential places in East Berlin

October 02, 2020 at 16:34 p.m.
East Berlin. PHOTO: Unsplash
East Berlin. PHOTO: Unsplash

 

One of the places with the highest influx of tourists in the world is the Berlin Wall, for representing the greatest symbol of war (and freedom) in modern history.

As well as being a permanent reminder that there were once two Germanys: the West (West) Germany, in which capitalism, the "economic miracle" and democratic freedoms ruled under the command of the French, English and Americans.

And the East (East) Germany, a state adhering to the socialist regime led by Soviet forces.

The same one that established its capital in East Berlin, which turned that region into a cold war icon.

This historical passage can be recognized through the architectural spaces and artistic that still survive in that area after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the subsequent reunification German.

Axanderplantz TV tower

Monumental engineering figure built in 1969 was the propaganda image par excellence of the East German regime.

The broadcasting tower is 368 meters high and each year counted, on average, one million visitors.

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The East Side Gallery

Located in the Friedrichshain neighborhood, The East Side Gallery is an open-air exhibition that brings together the work of various artists from around the world.

Those who met to intervene between February and September 1990, after the fall of the Wall.

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Bernauerstrasse Memorial

documentation center and memorial it is a commemorative site of the German division and is located in the historical place known as Bernauer Strasse, which extends along 1,4 km of what was the border strip.

Includes the Monument commemorative of the victims of the communist dictatorship, the Window of Remembrance and Chapel of Reconciliation.

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Checkpoint Charlie

It is the most popular border checkpoint during the Cold War, as it separated the American zone from the Soviet area and only foreigners and diplomats could pass through there.

To remember it, a booth was reconstructed that serves as a stage for actors dressed as soldiers to take pictures with tourists.

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Kino International

It is an emblematic building of the cinematographic glamor that existed at that time and is currently one of the venues of the festival Berlinale.

It was built between 1961 and 1964 by Josef kaiser and its architecture resembles a parallelepiped. It features a spacious lobby, a floor-to-ceiling cafe with minimalist furnishings, and a sequin-draped screening room.

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Curious fact:

One of the films that most faithfully portrays the differences between the two territories is the German film sonnenalle (1999)

Feature film directed by Leander Haufman about the life of Michael Ehrenreich and his friends, a group of young people who lived in East Berlin in the 70s and face the prohibitions and shortcomings of socialism in the face of capitalist greed.

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