Berlin
Germany's capital city lies in
the far east of the country, only about 90 km (56 miles) from the border
with Poland. With a population only half that of London or Paris, Berlin
covers a much greater area; within the city limits are forests and
farmland as well as lakes and rivers, and even the more densely populated
areas are broken up by fine parks and extensive areas of Kleingarten,
the leafy allotments which are a weekend refuge for many Berliners.
Stretching right up to the famous Brandenburg Gate in the very center of
the city is the vast Tiergarten, once the hunting park of Prussian
royalty. No rival in size to either the Thames or Seine, the River Spree
makes an attractive setting for the monumental neoclassical buildings of
the central Mitte (Middle) district in the east, before winding westward
past the new government quarter, then curving around the gardens of
Charlottenburg Palace in the west. Before reunification, Mitte formed the
center of East Berlin, its main thoroughfares being Friedrichstrasse and
the broad boulevard of Unter den Linden. Cut off from the East, an
alternative hub for West Berlin developed around the Zoo railway station,
and although Friedrichstrasse has revived as a prime shopping street, the
West's Kurfurstendamm avenue has kept its more exclusive reputation.
Here, the imposing ruin of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stands as a
reminder of Berlin's wartime agony. East Berlin's most prominent
structure is the TV Tower which is 1,197 feet (35 meter) tall.
Unlike the inhabitants of
Munich, intimately connected with their Bavarian hinterland, Berliners
are a people apart. Energetic, witty, and irreverent, they have their own
dialect, and delight in pricking any sort of pomposity. Every Berlin
monument has its nickname: the Memorial Church is known as the "Hollow
Tooth", and the "Washing Machine" exactly describes the head of
government's new and rather boxy Chancellery. Berlin has always attracted
outsiders, from Germany and beyond, particularly students and young
people in search of alternative lifestyles. many congregate in the
densely built-up inner borough of Kreuzberg, which is also home to
numerous Turks, the city's largest immigrant community.
Industrial Heartland
As the national capital,
Berlin has seen an influx of civil servants and other government
employees, but it has long been Germany's most important industrial city,
famous for great engineering firms such as Siemens. Many of the
inefficient industrial plants of East Berlin failed to survive
reunification, and while unemployment remains a major problem, the future
of the city's economy seems assured, given Berlin's central location in
the expanded European Union.
The history of Berlin
A relatively insignificant
trading city in the Middle Ages, Berlin began its rise to prominence in
the 15th century as the seat of the Hohenzollern family, rulers first of
Brandenburg, then Prussia, and finally the German Empire itself. The
city's glory days began after the unification of Germany in 1871, when it
expanded rapidly and great edifices such as the Reichstag - the
Parliament building - were erected. World War I brought misery and near
starvation to Berliners; the conflict ended with revolution and the
abdication of the last Hohenzollern, Kaiser Wilhelm II.
In the short interval before
the rise of Nazism, Berlin became a powerhouse of modern culture and was
notorious for the extravagance of its nightlife. Then, British and
American bombing and Soviet assault in 1945 left most of the city in
ruins. Its division into eastern and western sectors by the victors of
World War II grew ever starker; a Soviet blockade from 1947-48 was
overcome when the western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift and brought
in essential supplies, but the city had to wait until 1989 for the
infamous wall to be breached and for East and West to be reunited.
The Berlin Wall
On the night of 13 August
1961, the East German government erected a crude barrier of breeze blocks
and barbed wire between the two halves of divided Berlin, its aim being
to stop the flight of its population to the freer and more prosperous
West. Constant "improvements" to the Wall eventually made it an almost
impenetrable barrier of smooth-faced concrete 13 feet (4 meters) high,
backed by other fortifications, watch towers, and a "death strip" which
not even the numerous security guards were allowed to enter. Many East
Germans lost their lives in their attempts to escape, though others
succeeded by digging tunnels, swimming across lakes and canals, and even
aboard home-made aircraft.
