On November 9th, 1989, Germany had one of its happiest days: the border between GDR (East Germany) and FRG (West Germany) started being demolished after being up since 1961.
The partition of the country ended, separated families and families reunited, and the rule of the communist USSR ceased to oppress the people. Now you can buy the pieces of the wall as a souvenir! Let’s see the five most important landmarks in Berlin to learn about these events!
1. Checkpoint Charlie
Checkpoint Charlie, located on a busy Friedrichstraße, is probably the most well-known memorial to the Berlin Wall and the country partition. What Charlie, you ask? Actually, the Americans hold control of three border crossings, and this one is named simply after the third letter of the Alphabet, ‘C’.
It was a military border crossing between the Eastern part of Berlin, ruled by the Soviets, and the Western part under the USA and allies’ control. It became a materialistic symbol of superpowers’ confrontation. The crossing was granted only for the officials and foreigners with special permission.
This crossing was probably the most agitated spot: in 1961, at the peak of the Cold War crisis, tanks from both sides faced each other! Now, it’s an open-air, free museum representing a small barrack with some sandbags (the exact replica of the former crossing point) in front of it and a large portrait of a young gentleman on a pole. You can also visit a souvenir shop and the Checkpoint Museum nearby.
2. Blackbox Cold War exhibition
The museum located close to Checkpoint Charlie provides the background for examining such an important landmark.
It documents the process of the wall’s erection and gives some information on the main events and tragic deaths that happened right here in the past.
3. East side gallery
East Side Gallery is the longest open-air museum in the world, opened in 1990. It’s an actual part of the Berlin Wall stretching for about 1.3 km that was turned into a huge piece of art by around 120 artists from 21 countries, helping humanity reconcile with Germany’s tragic past of the 20th century. The East Side Gallery is located on the embankment of the River Spree and would make a perfect walk itinerary on a clear day!
Of course, don’t miss the most famous pieces: Fraternal Kiss by Dmitri Vrubel with Honecker and Brezhnev (среди этой смертной любви) and Trabant breaking through the wall by Birgit Kinders (however there are quite a few other memorable murals). The most recent restoration of the wall took place in 2009.
4. The Wall Museum
The Wall Museum is a well-made private multimedia space that opened in 2016. I’d suggest you not miss it, as it is located right on the Spree back by the East side gallery. In the museum, you can learn about some of the major stages of the Wall’s existence (with the most detailed mapping of the Wall), the daily life of Germans of that time, and individuals who played an important role in the WWII aftermath and the Cold War, shaping history the way we know today.
Those include ans-Dietrich Genscher, James Baker, Miklos Nemeth, Helmut Kohl, Michael Gorbachev (who actually was the person promoting the opening of this museum), Stanislav Petrov, who prevented the nuclear war, and so on.
5. Potsdam Square
Did you know that Potsdamer Platz went from the busiest traffic intersection in Europe around 1900 with the road from Potsdam City to Berlin to no man’s land and was finally transformed into a vibrant hub with shops and restaurants?
Come here to see the Center Potsdamer Platz (former Sony Center) and the recently opened Mall of Berlin.
And don’t miss fantastic observation deck, Panoramapunkt, with the fastest elevator in Europe (it takes only 20 sec to get to the observatory!) and impressive views of Berlin from above.
You can spot some famous landmarks from here: the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, the Berlin Television Tower, and many more.
And, of course, some of the most famous sections of the Wall are located here on the square: actually, the last original ones were removed from here in 2008, the sections you see today are a memorial.
What else to see?
You can also visit the Wall Memorial located at the border control strip in Bernauer Straße; Bösebrücke bridge as the Bornholmer Straße border crossing was the first crossing to open on 9 November 35 years ago; there are also some pieces of the wall left standing throughout the city such as by the Topography of Terrors museum.
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Hope you liked my guide!
Yours,
Anna xxx
