A Look Into History: The Berlin Wall At Checkpoint Charlie

Oh, hello. Did you just arrive? I didn't see you there.

Well, that was my pathetic attempt to lighten the mood because what I'm talking about today is not exactly a happy subject but rather a solemn (and interesting) one. Since I've arrived, I have visited Checkpoint Charlie and/or the wall a couple times. I've learned way more than I had ever known about this rather depressing point in Berlin history.

I'll start with Checkpoint Charlie. What is that, you ask? Well, as the picture illustrates, it was the point of access from West Berlin (aka Die BRD) into East Berlin (aka Die DDR). As you may or may not know, Berlin was controlled by the four allies after WWII. If you can recite all four without looking, imagine me giving you an electronic high five (or a coke, or one million dollars, whatever you want). In alphabetical order they were: The Americans, British, French, and Russians. In 1945 all of the allies decided to work together to help rebuild and restructure Berlin. All except the Russians that is, because they didn't agree with the Capitalist views of the others allies. So, they decided to split of and form their own government. As a result, the American, British, and French (who controlled the western half of Berlin) formed what came to be known as Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or BRD. Their goal was to help rebuild a government that was for the people by the people. A system of democracy was installed giving the people power to choose their leader. Meanwhile the Russians set up a communist form of government which came to be known as Die Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or DDR. The system was complicated, but the short of it is that the people had no power and were repressed. The people with political power were what was called the SED (Sozialistischen Einheitspartei).

Over the next years, the tension between the west and east continued to grow (what with the cold war and such), and 3.5 million people fled from East to West Berlin due to rumors of a wall being built as well as joblessness among other things. On 13 August, 1961 the border between the East and West was closed and a temporary barbed wire fence was hastily built. The phones were blocked, the houses on the border were boarded up and the residents evicted.

The picture on the left was at the site of the military checkpoint in 1961. Nobody was allowed to go from side to side, and the soldiers were given orders to kill those who tried. There are two very famous photos that were taken around this time. One is of an east side soldier jumping over the barbed wire fence into West Berlin because he had family over there that he did not want to abandon. The other is of a women on the east side trying to climb out her window that was on the border, but was being pulled back into the building by a Russian soldier. Luckily a crowd of people went over to her and pulled her onto the West side safely. If you can find these pictures, take a look because they are quite interesting.

Berliners had to live like this for 20 some years. Many tunnels were dug underneath, some successful in smuggling people from east to west, but some failures. The people who were caught were either put in jail or shot. It is not known how many people were killed in an attempt to flee to the west, but there are about 92 confirmed deaths of those attempting to climb over the wall. The picture to the right is the famous "You Are Now Leaving The American Sector" sign.

The wall was finally destroyed in November of 1989. This period in time as known by Germans as "die Wende" or turning point. It was then that the reunification of Berlin happened. Even today one can see quite a different from East to West Berlin. In Mitte, it's not so obvious, but in other places it is very different. I've heard that Kreuzberg is the most significant as it still has a lot of poorly maintained buildings and slums (though I have never seen these differences myself). I am staying in an apartment on the east side, and I can see a difference from where I live to where the border into West Berlin is located. The buildings aren't quite as nice and it has more of an "old time" feel. I've heard that when the wall came down, it was like going from the 1980's in the west back to the 1960's in the east.

If you would like to know more about the wall, ask me! I'd be glad to answer what I know. I'd also recommend a German movie called "The Tunnel" about a man who was famous for digging underneath the wall and smuggling many people into West Berlin. It's actually one of my favorite German movies I've seen so far, it's very intense.

This picture on the left is not an actual piece of the wall, but rather a duplicate. It's there so that people can walk up to it and experience what it would have been like to be separated by this enormous structure. We are not actually allowed to touch the real wall for preservation purposes. The pictures below, however, are pieces of the wall still in tact near Checkpoint Charlie.

Is There Anything To Do In This Town?

Yes. They say that New York is the City that never sleeps, but I'm thoroughly convinced that this city doesn't even know what sleep is. Another friend from IES named Adam and I met up with others from the program to help another, Charles, celebrate his birthday. We ended up meeting up with them on Schönhauser Allee.

We sat at this bar named NEMO's for a while, and I had a delicious dark beer called Lava. I was there with a handful of other IES people who were all laughing and having a great time. While at Nemo's, the others managed to finish off two cheap bottles of champagne, in celebration of Charles' birthday. Nonetheless, we had fun hanging out and getting to know one another.

From there, we all walked to an absinthe bar, where everyone wanted to try real absinthe, as apposed to the fake stuff that was just legalized in America. The place was packed, but we managed to find what we were looking for. After waiting about 10-15 minutes, we went outside to finally taste this drink that supposedly causes hallucinations when enough has been drunk (hence why it's illegal in America). I was only curious what it tasted like, so I didn't order one, only tasted. I honestly didn't think it was anything special, just a jacked-up version of jägermeister. But, the preparation process is cool because it involves fire. First you light the absinthe-soaked sugar cube and let it burn until it goes out. Then you pour a small shot of water over the sugar and into the absinthe and mix it until everything is dissolved.

Finally after those steps, you drink it.

From there, those remaining walked to a dance club (after a few absinthe drinks, some people had to go home). This particular "Diskothek" was also on Schönhauser Allee, so it only took about 10-15 minutes to walk there. I'm not one for dancing, but I gotta say that the clubs here in Berlin are quite fun. Everybody dances and has a great time, even those who can't dance (I.E. me).

Anyway, about 5 of us stayed there and danced for about an hour to an hour and a half. We ended up leaving because the D. J. started playing crappy 80's American pop songs, song we've all heard a billion times and hate but that Germans seem to not have heard and love.

From there, we walked to a Hookah bar, where I tried Mango Hookah tobacco. It tasted ok, but it wasn't anything spectacular. It wasn't about the Hookah anyway, it was more about socializing. We 5 remaining ended up sitting outside, smoking Hookah, and talking for another hour or two. It was a lot of fun, except for the fact that the temperature had dropped about 15 degrees since the start of the night. By 4:30 am, charles, Amy and I decided it was pretty late and decided to start making our way home. By this time in the morning the trains only run about every 15-20 minutes, so we had to wait. We got to Alexander Platz at about 4:50, and on the Straßenbahn at about 5:15. After finally getting back, I went to sleep at about 5:30. It was actually an all around fun evening/night/morning, granted I was tired the next day and slept pretty late. It was fun and look forward to the next time we can all get together again.

Here are a few more random pictures from that night, including some random picture of people from the Netherlands who really wanted me to take their picture. Enjoy! :)

The Arrival

So, where do I begin? It was a long trip. I took the picture above while we started making our descent into London. It was really quite neat to see the sunrise from above the clouds. But by this time, I was ready to get off the plane and be done with travelling. The entire trip took around 14-15 hours and by the time I reached Berlin it was 11:35 the next day (making it only about 4 am in Minneapolis). So as you might guess, I was really tired the entire first day in Berlin. But I remember the first thing I noticed about Germany, or at least Tegel Airport which is where I flew into, was that the airport was very organized and fast. I got off the plane and was practically already at customs. I waited maybe 5 minutes before my turn came. The guard looked at my photo, then at me, then at my photo, then me once more before stamping my pass and allowing me into Berlin. Then, the amazing thing was that my baggage claim was just around the corner and had already begun running. My point is that what normally might have taken 30 minutes to an hour elsewhere only took maybe 15-20 minutes in Tegel.

From Tegel, I walked outside and attempted to figure out how to get from the airport to my hostel. There were a lot of taxis waiting just outside the entrance, but the line n

ever seem

ed to end. Every time I thought I could get in one, the entire line moved, S

o I kept walking around the corner until I found the end of the line. After asking around as to where I needed to go, I was finally directed to an open taxi. By this point I was just glad to be heading to where I needed to go. The ride was only about 15 minutes long and 10 euros.

The picture above was my room in the Baxpax Downtown Hostel. It was my first stay ever in a hostel. It was quite a neat experience. I've heard that people have a lot of hit or miss experiences with hostels, but I think mine was a hit. It was very clean,

secure, well-run, and the people were friendly. The people who ran the place were very helpful as well. My room wasn't ready when I got there, so the receptionist gave me a map of a good place to walk and inexpensive places to eat. So, I ended up just exploring the streets of Berlin (at least around the Hostel in Mitte) which proved slightly difficult. Coming from America, I am used to the grid system as a layout for the streets. I quickly found out that Berlin is not aligned in any kind of order. The streets all twist, turn, curve, and randomly stop or become others. But I didn't stray too far from Ziegel Strasse. I ended up eating at a fairly inexpensive "Brot Bäckerai" which is a bread cafe. It was quite delicious. After I was done, I made my way back to the hostel.

By the time I got back, I still had a few hours to kill before my room was ready, so I sat on a sofa and dozed in the lounge. I decide

d sleeping was a bad idea, so I got up and tried to find someone to talk to. So, I walked up to 2 guys sitting close b

y and started a random conversation with them.

These were the 2 british guys I spoke of before, Their names were Russell and Phillip and they came from Newcastle England. After I got settled into my room, Russell, Phillip, another guy from the hostel and myself all decided to go to a pub crawl that night. So at 8 we walked to the meeting point and shortly thereafter walked to the first bar. Being that I was still jet lagged and exhausted, I decided not to buy the wrist band which would have allowed me to drink free for 45 minutes, get a free shot of jag with every other drink bought, and free entrance to the club at the end. I ended up drinking a couple beers with Phillip and Russell and a shot of jag (just to see if it tasted any

better in Germany) and then calling it quits. We all went to the 2nd bar, but the Brits and I stayed behind and talked about music and such. We didn't want to follow the huge group of mostly Americans because they were drunk and loud. In fact, while in the 2nd bar, Russell asked who I thought was the loudest, "the Germans, Brits, Yanks, or Ossies?" I laughed and replied that it was probably the Yanks. Anyway, after a little while the Brits and I walked back to the hostel, decided we should have breakfast the next morning, then went to sleep. The next morning we met for Kaffee, where we chatted and had a great time. I told them I'd find them on facebook and write "spot on" or "rubbish" on their wall (which I did). I will miss those guys, but I am truly glad for the experience we had although it was short.

Hello everyone! Berlin is an exciting place! There is so much to do, so much to see. I've only been here a week, but I've seen so much. Among the sites inclued: Brandonberger Tur, Der Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie and a part of the Berlin Wall, Die Jüdische Kirche, Berliner Dome, and many more. I will go into more detail when I can add pictures to each name. I've taken several pictures (some keepers) and I intend to post them as soon as I get my computer up and running, hopefully within a week or so.
My first night here, I stayed in a "Jugendherberger" which is a hostel auf Englisch. It was really neat. I met two guys from Newcastle, England and chatted witht htem for a while. Later that night they, myself, and another Ami (from Amerikans, it's a German nickname for us Americans) went to a pub crawl. Had I not been jetlagged, it woul dhave been a fun time. Don't get me wrong because it was still a great time, I just ended up turning in by 11 pm or so, which is 4 pm Minnesotan time. I spent most of the evening talking with the Brits, which was great.
I will expand more on my adventures later. This bit was for the people who just couldn't wait to read some of my blog :)
So until later,
Tchüß and grüße aus Berlin!