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Berlin
Wall
 I've
always wanted to visit Berlin but for some reason or another I never could
quite find the time. Now with reunification it's no longer a problem. Driving West we
made a quick stop in the German capital. I didn't expect to have time to
see the Berlin Wall as my destination was the Pergamon Museum but as luck
would have it we passed one of the few remaining spots where the Wall is
still standing. It's very difficult for someone not from Berlin to judge
which is the West or East sector of the capital as there is major construction
going on everywhere. The only hint that I found was that the older
buildings were grimier but this would soon be changed as all of the
buildings were getting a good cleaning also.
The
Berlin Wall was erected on the night of August 13, 1961. It was a weekend
and most Berliners slept while the East German government begun to close
the border. In the early morning of that Sunday most of the first work was
done: the border to West Berlin was closed. The East German troops had
begun to tear up streets and to install barbed wire entanglement and
fences through Berlin. The first concrete elements and large square blocks
were used first on August 15, 1961. Over the years the wall was
"improved" upon. Some facts about the Berlin wall:
| Persons succeeded in passing the Wall |
ca. 5000 |
| Persons arrested in the border area |
ca. 3200 |
| Persons killed on the Berlin Wall |
192 |
| Persons injured by shooting |
ca. 200 |
    As
you can see almost from the moment the wall went up it became a magnet for
graffiti and eventually it evolved into permanent canvas as you can see
from the pictures here... There are a number of website dedicated to the
Wall some almost Nostalgic to the fact that it no longer exists except in
the minds of those who feel that there still is a wall between two
different peoples.
  The
infamous Reichstag Building is now used by the Federal Government but with
the big line of people waiting to get in we decided to save the tour for
another time. The old Nazi ghosts seem so far away this beautiful sunny
day. It was February 27, 1933 when the building was burned down and a
dazed Dutch Communist named Marinus van der Lubbe was found at the scene
and charged with arson. One day later a feeble President Hindenburg and
Chancellor Hitler invoke Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which
permits the suspension of civil liberties in time of national emergency. A
supplemental decree creates the SA (Storm Troops) and SS (Special
Security) Federal police agencies. Germany would embark on the nightmare
years,
Pergamon
Museum
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"In
Pergamon there is a great marble altar, 40 feet high, with
remarkable statues - the entirety is surrounded by a Battle of
Giants" |
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Lucius
Ampelius |
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   After
the Berlin Wall we arrived at my main goal for that day's sightseeing. The
Pergamon Museum was a place that I had read about many years ago but
because it is situated in East Berlin I was never able to visit it
before. With an annual figure of 600,000 visitors the Pergamon
Museum ranks among the most popular buildings of the Berlin State Museums.
Its main attraction is the Pergamon Altar (2nd century BC).
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frieze depicting the battle between the Gods and Giants is regarded as a
masterpiece of Hellenistic art. If you've seen the Elgin Marbles in the
British Museum this must equal if not exceed that work. The presentation
is especially stunning. The Altar was erected in approximately 180 B.C. as
a memorial to the victories of Attalos I. It was dedicated to Zeus and
Athena. The Altar shows a frieze of 75 gods and their adversaries
fighting. The frieze represents the triumph of the Greeks over the
Persians. |
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   From
there visitors can proceed to the Museum of Ancient Near Eastern Art. One
of the major attractions lies along the main axis of this section of the
museum. Here visitors can walk through and wonder at the world-famous
reconstructions of brilliantly colored Babylonian monuments: the
Processional Way, the Ishtar Gate and the facade of the throne hall of
King Nebuchadnezzar II (604 - 562 BC). Sections of the buildings were
re-created to approximately the original dimensions by meticulously
re-assembling the many broken pieces of excavated glazed bricks. Along the
walls depictions of lions, bulls and dragons symbolize the major gods of
Babylon.
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