Berlin Germany

German History - Diversity Destroyed - Berlin Dome - DDR Museum - Pergamon Alter - Neues Museum - Technology Mueseum

Mother with dead son; memorial to victims of war and tyranny, Neue Wache Berlin

My first attempted visit to Berlin was in April 2010 on my return from Boston Marathon to Malaysia; Air Berlin happened to have a cheap flight one way to Bangkok, so I booked a stopover for three nights on the Eastern Comfort hotel boat.  However, all flights across the Atlantic were cancelled due to Eyjafjallajokull Volcano in Iceland, so I can to cancel and return home across the pacific instead.  Annette was traveling to London for a weekend in May 2013, so I booked a short trip to Berlin with the boys, just Friday night to Sunday evening.  The iconic I-amsterdam three dimensional sign, which shows up in various parts of the city was now at the Schiphol Airport and the boys couldn't resist climbing on it and jumping from block to block (See Conor).  Soon we were off on the one hour flight to Berlin Tegel Airport and hopped on the bus to central station.  I assumed the central station stop would be obvious, as in other cities of Europe, but Berlin is different and such landmarks non-distinct, so we missed the stop.  We walked to the river and were soon were on the right path back to the station and the Meninger Hotel.

First stop Saturday was the Brandenburg Gate on the U underground rail.  It was built at an old customs gate in a time of as a monument to peace and in a time of peace by the Prussian king Frederick Williem II in 1790; it has seen much turmoil over the years since then.  Atop the giant structure sits the bronze chariot of Goddess Victoria pulled by four horses; a symbol of victory too tempting for Napoleon on his victory march through the Brandenburg Gate in 1806.  He had the statue taken to Paris, only to be returned after the Prussians took that city in 1814.  Many military parades have passed under the gate over the years.  Hitler passed under the gate to open the Berlin Olympics in 1936 and held many political rallies here in the 1930's.  President Kennedy gave a speech here in 1963 to support the exposed West Berliners in the face of the Soviet threat, expressing his solidarity with the free citizens with the phrase, "Ich bin ein Berliner".  In the distance through the grand green park stood the tall column of the Grosser Stern with a golden Goddess Victoria atop.  Like the Arch de Triumph in Paris, the Grosser Stern is circled by main city roads making it slightly less accessible; the more tranquil and accessible Brandenburg Gate, however, is center of focus on political protest, celebrations or other important communal activities for the city.  June 17th Street runs between the Grosser Stern and the gate in memory of the East German strike workers brutally gunned down by the Red Army in 1953.  Alarmed at the rate of defections from the east to the west during Soviet times, the gate was closed in 1961 and only reopened it in 1989.

We took a bus to the east along Linden Street toward Museum Island, in what was under GDR control during the cold war, and stopped at Berlin's oldest university founded by Wilhelm von Humboldt, who was a philosopher and man of letters himself, who wrote about the duties and limits of government.  Next door set in a small green park is the Neue Wache, a modest but robust  building originally constructed as a guard house for the King of Prussia in a classical Roman style.  After World War 1 and the fall of the monarch it was converted into a war memorial.  East Germany revised it to remember those war victims of the fascists.  Today it is an empty shell of building illuminated by a skylight with a single statue of a mother holding a dead son in memory of the victims of fascism.  The emotion of the scene is sharpened by the contrast with the cold empty surroundings.

Brandenburg Gate

Political Rally at the gate

Hitler's victory procession 1933

Wilhelm von Humboldt; Government should keep out of my moral affairs!

Mother with dead son by Kathe Kollwitz at Neue Wache

Next to the Neue Wache we visited the German History Museum whose early exhibits reflect the constant warring during the middle ages.  Full faced metal helmets and body plates were developed to protect from the brutal metal spears.  Chain mail armour was developed to protect while also allowing more flexibility.  One gets a sense that the excess wealth of farming society was poured into weapons and protection like never before during the middle ages.  With the decline of the roman empire, the feudal powers of Europe fought for control over large swaths of the continent.  Rome was gone, but religion still very powerful and the papacy vied for power in the struggle also.  The papacy had it's own taxation system, the selling of indulgences to fund St Peter's Basilica, which incensed a young priest, Martin Luther, on moral grounds.  He questioned the validity of such sales in his 95 theses, printed in Latin and tacked to the door of the Wittenburg Church in 1518.  The texts spread, but it was only a year or two later after translation to German and wider distribution that they had real impact.  By 1520 the Pope issued a rebuttal, but Lutheranism was well on it's way, driven by the frustration of corruption within the Catholic Church.  Most interesting is the propaganda war back and forth on paper as depicted in cartoon scenes; for example “Kissing the Pope’s feet”, a sketch commissioned by Martin Luther in 1545 which depicts a subject pooping on the pope's feet rather than kissing.  The papists in turn depicted Martin Luther dead with the clouds of heaven a reminder that he was to pay in the next life according to their dogma.

Spear, machete and spike combination

Martin Luther, awaiting rejection in papist heaven

Pooping instead of kissing the pope's feet, by Martin Luther

Farming implements of the middle ages

Quintessential 9th century battle gear

Sawfish sword

What a strange sight on the battle field; more like war of the worlds than  middle ages

Enough protection?  

Distinctive hat of Prussian Army with spike; in case all other weapons fail!

French tutor teaches of the bitter loss of Alsace with emphasis on the linger resentment of Germany

Arms of late 19th century

We left the old main building of the the history museum and visited the new extension at the back which had a special exhibit on the Nazi 1930's in Berlin called Diversity Destroyed Berlin 1933 - 1938.  Although hurting from the financial crash, Berlin would have been a city of vibrant cultural life in arts, literature, cafes and theater similar to Vienna, London and Paris.  However, the rise of the National Socialists in the 1930's was about to change that as was presented in the exhibit.

One wonders had Hitler not existed whether the Nazi movement would have managed to gain such power and produce so much destruction.  The discord was already vibrant in the far right, the antisemitism, the Aryan desire to be rid of the Gypsy's and gays and all this driven on by inflation and unemployment would have supported the rise of the right, however, it is not a given that the war, as we know it, would have occurred.  Hitler was not the founder, but an early party member (No 55) and being aggressive, ambitious and a strong orator, he was quickly recognized as a leader.  His eclectic ideology also allowed him to combine anti-communism, anti-capitalism, authoritarian nationalism, socialism and a goal for an ethnically cleansed society in a most unusual way.  The 1920's were a struggle for his party and he was jailed in 1924 for his attempted coup.  Hitler's minority party had even less seats in 1928 than earlier in the decade, but with the 1929 wall street crash and global depression, his party was pushed into the main stream in 1930'e election winning himself the Chancellorship in 1933.  In the late 1920's the electorate were frustrated and bought the authoritative solution offered by the Nazi party, but the public soon lost their voice as the Nazi's ended democracy with the Enabling Act and ramped up violence to enforce their control, persecuting opponents and Jews in a more formal manner.

On display were the knuckle dusters and instruments of violence used by the National Socialists who would fan out from neighborhood depots or cafes to round up and harass suspects, crushing political opposition.  As soon as Hitler gained absolute power in 1933 his thugs worked to tamp down communist resistance and a week of torture and terror began in June of that year in Berlin.  Columbia House was set up as a local concentration camp in Berlin in 1933 to house the opponents of Hitler's National Socialists without rights or justice.  By the end of 1933 there were 120,000 storm troopers based in Berlin to harass opponents and flight of Jews and political opponents ramped up quickly.  There were pictures and portrait sketches of so many Berliners who fled to the USA; a third of German and Austrian Nobel winners before 1933 were of Jewish descent, which was quite a benefit for the USA and other countries who accepted exiles of the 3rd Reich.

The Nazi's were serious about their ethnic cleansing program; the issued posters promoting euthanasia for disabled people highlighting their cost to society in support through their life.  They promoted tools to measure the dimensions of skulls to determine different races to be weeded out.  Eugenics was adopted as state policy by the health departments who advised on partnership for marriage, gave loads only to the right racial partners, promoted sterilization for undesirables.  On display was the impact of the 1938 pogrom, called "Crystal Nacht" in which Jewish businesses and synagogues were burned and worse was jet to come.  The exhibit captured well the reduction of the diverse city during the 1930's.  I wondered what Sigmund Freud would have thought of the psychology of Hitler, as they would have lived in the same city of Vienna in 1908-1913 and Hitler's annexation of Austria and Vienna in 1938 caused Freud to flee to Britain where he dies a year later.   They would not have met, but surely Freud would have spent some time trying to understand this lightning rod of social discontent during the 1930's, however, I have not found any writings on the subject.

Next special exhibit was on The Gulag 1923 - 1956 in Russia; it was in German and Russian without English translation, and having viewed enough of the depressing things mankind can achieve, we were glad to just scan through quickly the barren pictures of isolated labor prison camps which were home to 14 million Russians during their period of operation.

Frenchman in the Rurh!

One billion marks, inflation of the 1920's Germany

"That's Enough" chose Hitler!

Nazi propaganda posters on Jews

"The perpetual Jew", Nazi Propaganda

Britain and Russia unite against the 3rd Reich

Neville Chamberlain; returns with assurances from Hitler!

We walked across the narrow west passage of the Spree River to the grand old buildings of Museum Island, first visiting the Berliner Dom (Domerhaltung), or Cathedral of Protestant Church, the largest in the city.  An imposing building which looks more like a courthouse than a Church, it was built in 1905 to replace an earlier cathedral from the 15th century.  The interior was salvaged from the older Church and the alter looks rather lush by protestant standards.  The main seating area sits under an enormous dome roof overhead with an impressive organ set to the side.  The boys sat and rested as I climbed the 270 narrow steps to the roof which provided great views of the city from all angles.  We exited through the Crypts in the basement of the building, which were modest by standards of other European cities, but for the ornate sarcophagus of 17th century Philip Wilhelm who sired 17 children.

Berlin Dom

View of Lustgarten

View to Rotes Rathaus

Rathaus, Altes Stadhouse & Nikolaikirche

Sarcophagus of Phillip Wilhelm

We now crossed the main passage of the Spree River from Museum Island towards Alexanderplatz and the Mitte district of the former German Democratic Republic.  There we bought some groceries, wine and traditional German Bratwurst on the street and found a seating area in the Marx & Engels Forum, a tree shaded park by the river.  The park was dedicated to the founders of the Communist Manifest on 1848 and on which the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was founded.  There are various viewpoints as to whether the park should be retained after the downfall of communism and currently half the park is a construction zone for a new highway, but the statues of Marx and Engels stand peaceful in bronze today; Marx seated and Engels standing, they look like fatherly figures and not connected with the enormous strife and turmoil which the Marxist philosophy would unleash on society.  It was a battle which was due for reconciliation anyway, with the decline of monarchic control and the impact of the industrial revolution on societies to be corrected; however, his thoughts of class struggle have been taken up too fervently by many leaders and politicians, even in recent times in Chairman Mao's China of the 1960s or Pol Pot's class struggle in Cambodia of the late 1970's.  A century to a century and half after the manifesto, there is no doubt, however, that societies of Europe are more balanced economically among the classes that they were.  On a set of steel plates near the statues were printed postcards of atrocities and repression brought about be the Marxist ideals.

After lunch and playing at the park for a while we ventured into the DDR Museum (also called GDR Museum) along the river front.  On display upon entering the museum was a mid 1970's Trabant, one of the 50 worst cars ever produced as ranked by Time Magazine.  However deficient the car may be, it brings memories of simple times and a certain nostalgia with it for East Germans.   East Germany was the most productive state in the United Soviet Socialist Republic, but under central government control of communism, products and services atrophied and the East German society was reduced to 2/3rd the GDP per person by the time of reunification, which put a large burden on West Germany financially.  The museum housed many objects of the USSR period in Germany and painted a picture of the control and repression of government on society.  The freedom and simplicity of nudity was highlighted as a reaction to the rigor and control on society.  Although the subject matter is highly interesting, the DDR Museum is a bit gimmicky and mediocre as it could do much more to provide insights into the recent history of the East Germany.

Karl Marx (seated) and Friedrick Engels (Standing)

"The dignity and beauty of Free People", by Margret Middell, mid 1980's

"Old World" by Werner Stötzer, mid 1980's

Struggle at Marx & Engels Forum

Entrance to the Aquadome

Trabant

Freedom of nudity in East Germany

Jail cell of repressive East German government

The exodus and building of the wall (1961), to be knocked in 1989

"Three Girls and a Boy", by Winfried Fitzenreiter 1988 along The Spree River

"Two Girls and Two Boys", by Liam & Conor

Ich bin ein Berliner, Kennedy supports the West Berliners

We made our way to north end of Museum Island to visit the Pergamon Museum, one of a set of museums housing antiquities.  The town of Miletus, Anatolia Turkey, dates from BC times, but it was destroyed by earthquake around 1000 years ago.  Upon rediscovery in early 20th century it was excavated and the market entrance brought to Berlin to be reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum.  The gates are imposing and impressive, more so at the feat of reconstruction inside a museum building.  Behind the entrance is an exhibit on the Ishtar Gate, the 8th gate into the city of Babylon, Iraq, built in 5th century BC in a stunning blue tile with yellow raised faced depictions of animals.  It was excavated in early 20th century and reconstructed in the Pergamon in the 1930's; a replica was built and stands today in Iraq.

The series of artifacts, pottery and script on display were impressive.  The early script is fascinating, losing much of the graphic complexity of later times and reflecting a series and grouping of short line markings.  The pottery displayed the ancient swastika a universal sign of peace of the time, rather than the brand of destruction it took on under the Nazi's.  The story of Gilhamesh and Enkidu overcome Humbaba, guard of the Cedar Forest (1700BC) was depicted in pottery.

The Pergamon Alter is the most impressive reconstruction in the museum.  The Pergamon Acropolis was built by the Greeks in present west coast of Turkey and was excavated in late 19th century by a German archaeologist.  The temple was built for the Cult or Pergamon and the Telophos Frieze reconstructed in the interior tells the story of the founding of the cult and key events along the way.  Hellenic power was rooted in ancestry derived from part man part god.  Telophos was son of Hercules and grandson of Zeus, which legitimized the hinterland city's claims on Greek heritage.

The question of how such a large quantity of archaeological materials show up in Europe is always a controversial topic.  It seems that much of the collection was not taken by force of war, but more pulled by interest of the well funded archaeologists and neglect by the home countries, who only late gained a national conscious as to the value of these collections.

Gates of Miletus, Anatolia, housed at Pergamon Museum

Ishtar Gate of Babylon, Iraq

Swastika was a healthy symbol of peace in ancient times

Gilhamesh and Enkidu overcome Humbaba, guard of the Cedar Forest (1700BC)

Text from 2000 BC of Umamma, King of Sumer, building a temple for his wife

Ancient text (>2000BC)

Two Scythian warriors fall in battle

Telephos receives arms from Auge

The rains started slowly as we wandered back through Friederick Strass Station, where we ate a snack on the steps of the busy scene.  We then walked along the river and over to the Reichstag.  A glass wall has etched the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a sensible but unenforced statute of the United Nations.

Article 13: Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.  Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

The Reichstag stood out as an old building among the modern structures which dominate the city today.  A fire in 1933 retired it's use as a Parliamentary building and may have saved it during the way, as it would otherwise have been a prime target for bombing.  It was restored after reunification and home to parliament since 1999.  A piece of the Berlin Wall stands in front as a reminder of the cost of separation.  We returned to the station and our hotel where the boys relaxed while I read on the park bench out front.  The weather was gloomy and the city seemed a disjointed mixture of modern and classical buildings, broken up by a significant amount of construction activities with cranes dominating the skyline view in all directions.  Rebuilding has gone on since the war and the is no signs of a recession in the construction activities currently.  However, the new growth also allows the city to move on from it's past and bring innovative new ideas.

Jews packed quickly on orders of police, assuming authorities would retain some basic level of humanity

Bridges over The Spree

Reichstag

The right to cross borders; UN Declaration of Human Rights

Add  Footbridge from Marie-Elisabeth-Lueders-Bldg (left) to Paul-Loebe-Bldg over Spree River

Monument of Solidarity of Europe at Reichstag

Reichstag from front

German Chancelory (Bundeskanzleramt)

Hauptbanhof (Central Station - Above & Below) - Meninger hotel at left

Trains below and above

Time and space at central station

Berlin 2013; A city under construction, cranes dot the skyline

Liam really wanted to see the Neues Museum of antiquities the day prior, but it was closing as we passed by, so we were first in line Sunday morning for 10:00AM opening, after checking out of the hotel.  The Neues Museum is a part of the "Staatlichte Museums zu Berlin", an amazing complex of museums throughout the city, many on Museum Island were we would visit the Neues.  As we waited for opening we wandered the empty parks and statues surrounding the buildings under an overcast sky.

We started with an special exhibit "In the Light of Amarna 100 Years of the Nefertiti Discovery".  A century ago excavations at the 13th century BC town of Amarna Egypt revealed a well preserved bust of Queen Neferiti which was on display (Picture below is copy from gift shop, as no pictures allowed).  Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Neferiti dispensed with the multi-god cults of the time and progressed a single Sun God concept.  It is recorded that she had six daughters.  We toured a wonderful permanent collection of ancient texts written on delicate papyrus of early Christian, Coptic and Jewish origin as well as some pre-christian texts.  A permanent exhibit on Egyptian archeology was also present in the basement, but in between we toured the rooms of German antiquities from Celtic times through Roman.  On display was the Berlin Gold Hat, a tall spire of gold embossed with symbol of both lunar and solar calendar and probably donned by a high priest of ancient times.  It is estimated to be over 3000 years old.  Celtic, Roman and other influences are also evident in the ancient artifacts of the region.

Alte National Gallary (Neues to left)

Humpty Dumpty

Grand walkways

Queen Nefertiti (Copy in gift store, as pictures not allowed in museum)

Hieroglyphics of Egypt

Sun God

Egyptian sarcophagus

Neues Museum Building

Ancient script on delicate papyrus

Coptic Christian Texts

Enter the medieval times

Celtic traditions of pre-Roman Germany

The Berlin Gold Hat of 1000BC or older

Ancient swastika of Celtic times

Celtic pot

Figure statues of Celtic Germany

Departing the Neues and Museum Island in the rain we caught a taxi to the German Museum of Technology on the south side of the city center.  We briefly visited the section on manufacturing technology and industrial scale weaving and textile manufacture with highly mechanical machines and sowing machines which could be programmed on their task with punched cards to implement their design.

We then moved to the transport in aviation, nautical and later automobile.  Staring with ballooning of the late 18th century to man's attempt to simulate the flight of birds with contraptions like those drawn by Leonardo DaVinci in the 16th century, we were soon into early engine flight of WW1.  Otto Lilienthal was a German pioneer of engine-less gliding flight with his birdlike wings jumped off hills.  Light planes and flimsy engines were not enough to change the course of that war, but the real impact of aviation came in WWII.  In between commercial passenger aviation developed with the classic Junkers Ju 52 or "Aunt Ju - Iron Annie" was on display with the Lufthansa logo.  There was of course the Hindenburg Dirigible filled with Hydrogen, as bomb of sorts, which finally did ignite.  Fortunately the pure hydrogen gas inside was not mixed with air, so a detonation did not occur, allowing the burning wreck to make it to ground saving 2/3rd of those on board.

The Aero engine display is impressive with many V-12 water cooled engines packing significant power in the run up the WWII. The war machine turned so many industries into the production of the war needs including aviation that there was a huge depression in production after the war and some airplane makers switched to cars, bring with them their distinctive aviation designs.

The technology museum is built around two semicircular rail sheds with ample inventory of old trains and carriages.  Rail was threatened by the developments of the ward in transport, but in the air and on the road, but it has maintained it's place in passenger service in Europe, unlike the USA which has minimal rail arteries other than on the east coast.  There was an interesting display on the development of telecommunications with glow tubes and cathode ray tubes, before the semi-conductor.  Our final stop was the automobile section which is housed in a separate building.  A modest, but interesting set of vehicles was housed there.

Industrial textile production

Enormous cogs which transfer wind power and adjust blade angle

Steam Power

Steam Power

Flying machines like those by Leonardo DaVinci

Otto Lilienthal, brave soul takes to the air gliding like a bird

The Hindenburg Dirigible

Man power flight, or gliders from elevated hills

World War 1 era flight

Rolls Royce Aero Engine

Down stroke V-12 Aero Engine

Straight six - interwar years

V-12 water cooled aero engine

Deconstruction of down stroke aero engine

"Aunt Ju" Junkers Ju 52

Influence of Airplanes on Cars, as manufacturers switched businesses

Two fine Rail Sheds of the museum

Train carriage of the early 1900's

Cathode Ray Tube, early Television

Radio Communication with bands for each city

Early telecommunications

Early Opel

People's Cars; 2CV, VW, Model T

Mercedes Benz

Opel

Classic Taxi

Wankel Rotary Engine

BMW Dissected

Amphicar by Quandt Group, 1960's

Ancient Shell Gas pump

We walked through the park nearby past the Tempodrom to the ruins of Anhalter Banhoff, a main south train station and departure point for many Jews during WWI to the concentration camps.  before it was badly damaged by allied bombing.  The station was dismantled in 1960's, but the main entrance facade was left and still stands today oddly isolated before a soccer field.  We took the metro back to central station and a taxi from there to Tegel Airport, which itself will soon be closed and flights replaced from Schonenfeld further out.  As we snacked on our last German curry wurst we viewed a statue of Otto Lilienthal, the gliding aviator safely on the ground before us.  We only had a short visit and the city really deserves much more time to explore, but it is impressive how the city has developed back it's diversity destroyed in the 1930's.  Returning on the one hour flight we has an unusually good view of the 14th century Dutch city of Naarden with it's distinctive mote protection as well as the waterlogged hinterlands of Amsterdam.

Otto Lilienthal, flight of man at Tegel Airport

Naarden, well protected by motes of the 14th century

Copyright Patrick McGillycuddy 2013

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Email: patrick@mcgillycuddy.net