"Berlin and Berliners ..." a Berlin Travel Page by leafmcgowan

The key to Berlin - is old and new - to be a Berliner, is for anyone who arrives and remains there. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, one of the most influential individuals in shaping the city, was born in Neuruppin (Brandenburg) is considered a Berliner since he's buried there and the city's cemeteries are the final arbiters of who belongs there. Ulm born singer and actress Hildegard Knef is another famous Berliner. "Once a Berliner, always a Berliner". Or so they say. Even John F. Kennedy was seen as a Berliner by choice (even though the Members of the Federal Parliament are forced to be Berliners on June 20, 1991 when they were forced to move from Bonn to Berlin). World tales of many suffering homesickness for the city, even to the extremes of a young man who hijacked a plane from Istanbul to Berlin, just because he wanted to come home. Tales of Berliners being brash and lacking in taste could also be interpreted as being quick-witted and independent. The city is a fabulous smorgasboard of culture, art, music, museums, history, imposing buildings, elegant shops, and notorious events: Some of the most famous are Bus Route 100, Boat Trips, Museums as Theatre, Fabulous Monuments, The Berlin Wall, Over 3,000 culutral events every day, Colonnades of the Alte Nationalgalerie, the former GDR state bank, Wings for the Imagination, the Neukolln Opera, High and Fringe Culture, Carnival of Cultures, Summer Nights in the Open-Air Arena, Battle of the Cockroaches, and the notorious Bear-O-Mania. Of course, my trip to Berlin, did not consist of a single highlight above as most guides advertise ... as I found my adventures a little more off the tourist trekk ( though I did imbibe in some of the hotspots) as I explored this "Island in the Red Sea."
See, Berlin at the end of WWII was divided by the former Soviet Union and the Allies (Britain, France, and the USA) to a division of the German Reich and Berlin into four occupation zones ...and the Soviets made their own plans different from the Allies. The west was surrounded by the Soviet zone and under Allied control. After the six-power conference in London, the Allies decided to reconstruct their zones while the Soviets withdrew cooperation in March 1948 - when they blocked all land access to West Berlin in June that same year. The mayor and governor organized an airlift for 11 months to take care of the 2.5 million people in West Berlin who were supplied with all the necessities of life - from coal to toilet paper to the Tempelhof airport. In 1950 financial aid brought this 'front line city' billions in subsidies and tax concessions - spent of renewed splendour, new districts, department stores, dance halls, film festivals, museums, and art - all to show West Berlin's will to survive as a self-governing entity and was knicknamed "Shop Window of the West." 1952 - the GDR leaders in the East severed all telephone lines between East and West and by 1953 they shut down all the bus and tram links between the two areas. Berliners had to walk, using the still-open sector border crossings, the U-Bahn or S-Bahn. June 1953 East Berlin workers staged an uprising against the raising of production norms - which took the lives of 21 people and 187 injured, now celebrated as Tag der Deutschen Einheit (day of German unity). 1961 - 2.7 million people fled from the East to the enticing 'Golden West' resulting in the closing of the Soviet zone borders and the Building of the Berlin wall - making Berlin an island in the "red sea". You can see the history in Berlin's architecture.

The architecture represents the spirit of the times as the Cold War was fought with trowels and mortar. From pre-WWII when there was only 1 Berlin - it was typically Classical - drawing on mixtures of Neo-baroque and neo-classicism and mocked as "Parvenupolis" with some traces of Expressionism. The Cold War brought on a war of the architects after the city was partitioned - as the East set up a "Competition for Berlin the Capital City" architectural race. Soviet neo-classicism combined with elements drawn from Schinkel - massive housing blocks in wedding-cake style rose out of the rubble on both sides. 1956-1957 the "Interbau" - International architects were commissioned to erect, on the edges of Tiergarten, visible evidence of the 'forward looking city'. Modern styles of Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, Egon Eiermann, Bruno Taut were influential in the Hansaviertel district. 1961-1966 the Springer publishing firm built its 19 story skyscraper on Kochstrasse in Kreuzberg holding a view to the other side - getting a reaction from the East in 1972-1977 on Leipziger Strasse - four identical blocks, 25 storeys high, with 11 storey connecting blocks to obscure the publishing house. The Europa-Center on Tauentzien was the first high rise block in West Berlin (1963-1965) as a 22 story building clad with steel and glass holding an ice rink, restaurants, 100 shoppes, became a new shopping experience. Until 1991 the residence of the Senator for Culture was placed here. The 14 m (46') high Mercedes star signalled to the East the strength of capitalism. The competition of the East and West can be seen all throughout the city - duplication of zoos, operas, museums, concert halls, observatories, theaters, etc. all showing to each other that they didn't need one another. After the Fall of the Wall, Berlin became a magnet for architects with bold new designs bombarding the city.
Berlin is a young city, not yet 800 years old - it occupies an area of 892 sq km (344 square miles) and the division of East and West no longer exists. There are 190 km (120 miles) of waterway and almost 2,000 bridges in Berlin making Berlin a "waterside city" giving rise to many houseboats and floating homes. Ref: AAA Spiral Guide to Berlin