In Griebnitzsee you can still find the mansions Churchill, Truman and Stalin lived in during the negotiations for the the Potsdam Treaty from July 17 to August 2 1945. It was in this mansion where President Truman issued the order to General Spatz that led to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Griebnitzsee you therefore find Hiroshima Square right opposite the Truman Mansion in memory of the victims.
President Obama also chose Berlin as the place for his first comprehensive speech on foreign policy when he was still a presidential candidate. His vision of a peaceful world without nuclear weapons characterized by solidarity and cooperation marks a historic change in U.S. foreign policy - at a historic place. Like in many other key areas of international politics, President Obama has therefore provided new hope to the world that human society can be transformed in a way that nations, cultures and religions can live peacefully side by side. If 20th century Berlin is remembered mainly as the capital city of Nazi Germany and political melting pot during Cold War confrontations, let us all hope that 21st century Berlin will be remembered for the beginning of a new era of peacefulness in Western foreign policy.
Tag 4: Erinnerung braucht Orte
Auf unserer Etappe 4 von Lichtenrade nach Lichterfelde Süd wird besonders deutlich, wie wenig noch zu erkennen ist von der jüngeren Berliner Geschichte, die ja auch in hohem Maße europa- und weltgeschichtliche Relevanz hat. Man könnte den Weg im üppigen Grün für einen Feldweg halten. Das ist er jetzt auch. Und er ist mehr. Es ist der Kolonnenweg, der innerhalb der ehemaligen Grenzanlagen liegende asphaltierte Weg für die Patrouillen- und Versorgungsfahrzeuge der Grenztruppen. Sie haben 28 Jahre lang eine besondere Sperranlage bewacht. Eine, die sich nach innen richtete - gegen die eigene Bevölkerung.
Nach dem 9. November 1989 ging alles ganz schnell: „Mauerspechte“ hackten sich – aus welchen Motiven auch immer – ihr Stückchen aus der Berliner Mauer. Ganze Mauersegmente wurden andernorts zu anderen Zwecken aufgestellt, so z.B. in der Sand- und Kiesfabrik in Treptow zum Abtrennen des aufgeschütteten Sands. Besonderer Beliebtheit erfreuten sich die Lochbetonplatten bei Landwirten zum Befestigen der Hofeinfahrten. Den Streckzaun sehen wir auf unserem Mauerspaziergang in seinem zweiten Leben als: Kaninchenstall, Kompostumzäunung, Gartenzaun, Grundstücksmarkierung und Garagenbegrenzung. Er wurde im Stück hergestellt, indem gewalztes Metall zugeschnitten, die Sehschlitze maschinell eingekerbt und die bearbeiteten Flächen gestreckt wurden.
Wir suchen die versteckten, überwachsenen Reste. Mittels Recherche und Büchern ergänzen wir die Fundstücke; versuchen uns ein Bild zu machen von dem, was vor 20 Jahren unübersehbar war.
Der Eingangsredner auf der Podiumsdiskussion im DAZ zu „Neues Licht auf das Sperrgebiet“ erinnert daran, dass das kritische Gedächtnis Berlins bis heute fast vollständig eliminiert wurde. Das Bemühen besteht heute darin, Barrieren, grenzen und Übergänge zu re-identifizieren. Diese wieder gefundenen Reste werden markiert / kartografiert / beschrieben / restauriert / konserviert / … und somit verortet. Die Orte sind für uns notwendig, um Erinnerung und Geschichte(n) zu evozieren. Nicht nur für die Zeitzeugen, die die Teilung Deutschlands und Berlins erlebt haben, sondern auch und vor allem für die Generationen, die die Tragweite nur noch anhand von ´markierten Resten´ und Dokumentationen im weitesten Sinne nachvollziehen kann.
Nach dem 9. November 1989 ging alles ganz schnell: „Mauerspechte“ hackten sich – aus welchen Motiven auch immer – ihr Stückchen aus der Berliner Mauer. Ganze Mauersegmente wurden andernorts zu anderen Zwecken aufgestellt, so z.B. in der Sand- und Kiesfabrik in Treptow zum Abtrennen des aufgeschütteten Sands. Besonderer Beliebtheit erfreuten sich die Lochbetonplatten bei Landwirten zum Befestigen der Hofeinfahrten. Den Streckzaun sehen wir auf unserem Mauerspaziergang in seinem zweiten Leben als: Kaninchenstall, Kompostumzäunung, Gartenzaun, Grundstücksmarkierung und Garagenbegrenzung. Er wurde im Stück hergestellt, indem gewalztes Metall zugeschnitten, die Sehschlitze maschinell eingekerbt und die bearbeiteten Flächen gestreckt wurden.
Wir suchen die versteckten, überwachsenen Reste. Mittels Recherche und Büchern ergänzen wir die Fundstücke; versuchen uns ein Bild zu machen von dem, was vor 20 Jahren unübersehbar war.
Der Eingangsredner auf der Podiumsdiskussion im DAZ zu „Neues Licht auf das Sperrgebiet“ erinnert daran, dass das kritische Gedächtnis Berlins bis heute fast vollständig eliminiert wurde. Das Bemühen besteht heute darin, Barrieren, grenzen und Übergänge zu re-identifizieren. Diese wieder gefundenen Reste werden markiert / kartografiert / beschrieben / restauriert / konserviert / … und somit verortet. Die Orte sind für uns notwendig, um Erinnerung und Geschichte(n) zu evozieren. Nicht nur für die Zeitzeugen, die die Teilung Deutschlands und Berlins erlebt haben, sondern auch und vor allem für die Generationen, die die Tragweite nur noch anhand von ´markierten Resten´ und Dokumentationen im weitesten Sinne nachvollziehen kann.
Lebenspraxis
Am Ende des Symposions im DAZ meldet sich ein Mann zu Wort. Es ist ihm wichtig, von einer Westberliner Lebenspraxis berichten: „Es war eine Lebensleistung, in West Berlin zu leben und die Mauer nicht zu sehen,“ sagt er. "Wir wussten, wo man abbiegen muss, damit man der Mauer nicht begegnet. So hat sich Westberliner Leben organisiert und ich denke, ich spreche da nicht nur für mich. Mit der Mauer zu leben hieß auch ein Stück weit, sie zu verdrängen.“
Day 3: Sharp city borders and Cold War economics
Today we walked from Rudow/Schönefeld to Lichtenrade. We are not any longer hiking the inner-city border, but have arrived at the outer-city borders in the South of former West-Berlin. This means a considerable change in landscape – and a slight change in activities. We stopped hunting for wall-related artefacts in corners, on house walls and behind rubbish bins. Instead we started crawling through bushes, climbing fences, looking into peoples’ backyards etc. in our frantic search for a breath of history. Those of you who love the hard boiled facts about life, the universe and everything might be thrilled to hear that we passed the most southern point on our route.
Sharp city borders & green belt
The so-called “sharp city borders” of Berlin probably made the biggest visual impression on us today. The term expresses the fact that in former outer-border areas you see dense urban development right up to the city borders, where it then suddenly stops and country-side with wide, empty spaces opens: no urban sprawl – just a deep, sharp cut.
The reason why we see this is very simple. Due to the restricted space in the encircled western part of the city, dense housing developments went right up to the wall. The Eastern German government was not interested in development close to the borders as this made the wall much more difficult to control from escape attempts. Unlike in the case of the inner-city border, it was no big problem to keep the areas in front of the Eastern side of the wall free – the birth of the sharp city corners.
Walking along these sharp city borders was astonishing, but feels a bit unreal as well. It must have been a bit like this for the resident of the Lego towns, which I built when I was young: they never sprawled as there was a constrain on development from the limited number of pieces I owned, my attention span was too short and my lust for destruction too big to allow for any longer period of city development. So there were always dense development clusters in an open landscape: my Lego city residents could always go straight from their house into the jungle.
Picture 1: Sharp borders at Gropiusstadt today
Picture 2: Sharp borders at Gropiusstadt in divided Berlin
This is how it still is in many places at the outer-city border of Western Berlin. It is pretty cool to walk from a densely populated suburb into the countryside in absolutely no time. It is pretty freaky that you could not do this for a long time and would have hit a wall instead.
The sharp city borders are probably most visible in Gropiusstadt. Gropiusstadt is one social hotspot in Berlin with dozen of high-rise estates that became world famous with the story of Christiane F., who grew up there. But wherever we went it was tricky for us to document the sharp borders on photos with our crappy little pocket camera. Ultimately we found a nice, old picture at one of the information points along the way – the resulting “meta-picture” shows it well.
The protected wall area has developed in most places at the outer city border into a green belt of spontaneous vegetation similar to the one at the inner German border, which has become a nature reserve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Green_Belt). Unfortunately, unlike to its “big sister”, the green belt around Berlin will probably not be protected. The land owned by the federal state of Brandenburg is pretty valuable – and let’s be honest: who on earth except David Attenborough does really care about these snails and worms and rats and trees and plants anyway.
Picture 3: 'Kolonnenweg' in the green belt of Berlin
Cold War economics
Even though I am pretty familiar with the concept of footprinting and its application to cities, I never really thought about how life was maintained in Western Berlin. Clearly, there was not sufficient space available to provide all the resources and absorb all the wastes of the resident population in West-Berlin. I knew that most food and other resources were flown in initially and later transported in by road via the transit passage between West-Berlin and West Germany. But what about the waste? It would have been crazy to ship it all back to West-Germany.
So – there was an incentive to maintain economic relationships between East and West Berlin right from the start of the Cold War. West Berlin was interested in getting rid of its waste. East Berlin was interested in “hard” West-German currency. So they started to trade millions of tons of waste over the years.
Picture 4: Rail track for waste transportation between East and West Berlin
Similarly, to attract valuable foreign currency the East German government built a special transit passage to make the Eastern Berlin airport Schönefeld easily accessible for Westerners without the complicated passport control procedures. For visitors and residents of West Berlin Schönefeld provided an attractive alternative, as flights to some European destinations were offered at cheaper rates. Regardless of all hostile perceptions at the time, these offers were sometimes too good to be declined. Cold War economics.
Ownership
We went to a symposium of the exihibition “Neues Licht auf das Sperrgebiet” at the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum (DAZ) (see beginning of this blog). The discussion – badly moderated – revealed an interesting issue we have not been aware of so far. When the Eastern German government dispossessed people of their land to build the wall, they put in place a law saying that in case of its fall, people would get their land back. In the reunited Germany, a similar practice was generally followed to deal with issues of land dispossession in Eastern Germany, but not in the case of land of the former inner German borders – henceforth referred to as “border land”.
Border land continued to belong to the German government. If the land was needed for development, the rightful land owners were entitled to a compensation of 75% of the market value. Otherwise they had the chance to buy it back for 25% of its market value. If they did not want to buy it back or did not have the means to, it remained in state ownership. Ultimately, border land owners were dispossessed twice. A darker chapter of the young history of the united Germany.
Sharp city borders & green belt
The so-called “sharp city borders” of Berlin probably made the biggest visual impression on us today. The term expresses the fact that in former outer-border areas you see dense urban development right up to the city borders, where it then suddenly stops and country-side with wide, empty spaces opens: no urban sprawl – just a deep, sharp cut.
The reason why we see this is very simple. Due to the restricted space in the encircled western part of the city, dense housing developments went right up to the wall. The Eastern German government was not interested in development close to the borders as this made the wall much more difficult to control from escape attempts. Unlike in the case of the inner-city border, it was no big problem to keep the areas in front of the Eastern side of the wall free – the birth of the sharp city corners.
Walking along these sharp city borders was astonishing, but feels a bit unreal as well. It must have been a bit like this for the resident of the Lego towns, which I built when I was young: they never sprawled as there was a constrain on development from the limited number of pieces I owned, my attention span was too short and my lust for destruction too big to allow for any longer period of city development. So there were always dense development clusters in an open landscape: my Lego city residents could always go straight from their house into the jungle.
Picture 1: Sharp borders at Gropiusstadt today
Picture 2: Sharp borders at Gropiusstadt in divided Berlin
This is how it still is in many places at the outer-city border of Western Berlin. It is pretty cool to walk from a densely populated suburb into the countryside in absolutely no time. It is pretty freaky that you could not do this for a long time and would have hit a wall instead.
The sharp city borders are probably most visible in Gropiusstadt. Gropiusstadt is one social hotspot in Berlin with dozen of high-rise estates that became world famous with the story of Christiane F., who grew up there. But wherever we went it was tricky for us to document the sharp borders on photos with our crappy little pocket camera. Ultimately we found a nice, old picture at one of the information points along the way – the resulting “meta-picture” shows it well.
The protected wall area has developed in most places at the outer city border into a green belt of spontaneous vegetation similar to the one at the inner German border, which has become a nature reserve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Green_Belt). Unfortunately, unlike to its “big sister”, the green belt around Berlin will probably not be protected. The land owned by the federal state of Brandenburg is pretty valuable – and let’s be honest: who on earth except David Attenborough does really care about these snails and worms and rats and trees and plants anyway.
Picture 3: 'Kolonnenweg' in the green belt of Berlin
Cold War economics
Even though I am pretty familiar with the concept of footprinting and its application to cities, I never really thought about how life was maintained in Western Berlin. Clearly, there was not sufficient space available to provide all the resources and absorb all the wastes of the resident population in West-Berlin. I knew that most food and other resources were flown in initially and later transported in by road via the transit passage between West-Berlin and West Germany. But what about the waste? It would have been crazy to ship it all back to West-Germany.
So – there was an incentive to maintain economic relationships between East and West Berlin right from the start of the Cold War. West Berlin was interested in getting rid of its waste. East Berlin was interested in “hard” West-German currency. So they started to trade millions of tons of waste over the years.
Picture 4: Rail track for waste transportation between East and West Berlin
Similarly, to attract valuable foreign currency the East German government built a special transit passage to make the Eastern Berlin airport Schönefeld easily accessible for Westerners without the complicated passport control procedures. For visitors and residents of West Berlin Schönefeld provided an attractive alternative, as flights to some European destinations were offered at cheaper rates. Regardless of all hostile perceptions at the time, these offers were sometimes too good to be declined. Cold War economics.
Ownership
We went to a symposium of the exihibition “Neues Licht auf das Sperrgebiet” at the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum (DAZ) (see beginning of this blog). The discussion – badly moderated – revealed an interesting issue we have not been aware of so far. When the Eastern German government dispossessed people of their land to build the wall, they put in place a law saying that in case of its fall, people would get their land back. In the reunited Germany, a similar practice was generally followed to deal with issues of land dispossession in Eastern Germany, but not in the case of land of the former inner German borders – henceforth referred to as “border land”.
Border land continued to belong to the German government. If the land was needed for development, the rightful land owners were entitled to a compensation of 75% of the market value. Otherwise they had the chance to buy it back for 25% of its market value. If they did not want to buy it back or did not have the means to, it remained in state ownership. Ultimately, border land owners were dispossessed twice. A darker chapter of the young history of the united Germany.
Tag 2: Wächter des Wegs
Die taz veröffentlicht seit dem 06.07.2009 Artikel über die jeweils 10 km langen Etappen des Mauerwegs, den ihre Redakteure ablaufen. Wir liegen bei unserem ´Mauerspaziergang´ etwas vor ihnen im Weg (zumindest in den Teilen, die sie bis jetzt veröffentlicht haben) und ich staune beim Lesen über die unzähligen Möglichkeiten, die der Weg bietet, wahrgenommen zu werden. Manche Sätze erinnern mich: ´Ja, genau, so war das, als wir da entlanggelaufen sind.´ Andere Stellen bleiben fremd und der Eindruck drängt sich auf, dass da jemand entlanglief, der den Auftrag dazu hatte und nicht, weil es eine Herzensangelegenheit war.
Auf unserem Weg begleiten uns Fragen. Zum Beispiel: Was bewegt (mich)? Was verändert (sich/mich)? Wie bemerke ich Veränderung? Was wird konstruiert? Wie wird konstruiert? Welche Landschaft finde ich vor? Welche Landschaft entsteht? Bin ich auf dem Weg? Wie finde ich den Weg? Gibt es ´Wächter des Wegs´? Jeden Tag, auf jeder Etappe, gibt es andere Antworten auf diese Fragen. Und noch mehr Fragen. Manchmal – wie zwischen Treptow und Neukölln – ist es schwer zu erkennen, wo exakt die Mauer verlief. Natürlich ist der Weg mit den Hinweisschildern ´Berliner Mauerweg´ markiert, die sich auf der ehemaligen Mauerhöhe in exakt 3,60 Metern befinden. Schwierig wird das intuitive Finden, das augenscheinliche Erkennen des ehemaligen Grenzstreifens. Grundstücke wurden mittlerweile ausgeweitet, der ehemalige Kolonnenweg überteert. Unterwegs treffen wir auf die ´Wächter des Wegs´. Menschen, die in Bürger- oder Einzelinitiativen in mitunter unbeachtetem Engagement die neu entstehende Landschaft pflegen. Im Dialog mit der Vergangenheit entstehen Plätze des Heute und Orte des Morgen. Am Britzer Zweigkanal nahe des ehemaligen Grenzübergangs Sonnenallee entdecken wir ein Insektenhotel.
Biegt man kurz darauf am Teltowkanal ab, wird man mit einem dunklen Kapitel neuerer Berliner Stadtplanung konfrontiert. Direkt nach der Wiedervereinigung wurde es versäumt, die auf dem ehemaligen Sperrgebiet entstandene einzigartige Landschaft unter Schutz zu stellen und über die Zukunft dieser innerstädtischen ´Narbe´ nachzudenken. Aufgrund der billigen und recht problemlosen Aneignung der ehemaligen Mauergrundstücke wurde die A 113 mitten durch eine Naturidylle geplant, gebaut und am 23. Mai 2008 für den öffentlichen Verkehr freigegeben.
Nur wenige Politiker dachten nach dem Fall der Mauer ´über den Tag hinaus´, wie z.B. Willy Brandt, der am 10. November 1989 anregte: „ein Stück von jenem scheußlichen Bauwerk […] als Erinnerung an ein historisches Mostrum stehen (zu) lassen. […] Denen, die heute noch so schön jung sind, und denen, die nachwachsen, kann es nicht immer leicht fallen, sich die historischen Zusammenhänge, in die wir eingebettet sind, klarzumachen.“ Ganz in diesem Sinne ließ Michaele Schreyer (Grüne; 1989-1990 Senatorin für Stadtentwicklung und Umweltschutz) die Mauer an der Niederkirchnerstraße unter Denkmalschutz stellen – nicht ohne dafür erbittert angefeindet zu werden. Heute zeigt die Niederkirchnerstraße einige der letzten originalen Überreste der Berliner Mauer im Zentrum Berlins.
Nachtrag 1: Mit einer sehr umstrittenen Bilanz der Verkehrssenatorin zum einjährigen Bestehen der BAB 113 will Ingeborg Junge-Reyer den Weiterbau der A 100 begründen (Berliner Morgenpost vom 16.07.2009)
Nachtrag 2: Im § 14 Abs. 3 des Grundgesetzes steht: „Eine Enteignung [von Eigentum] ist nur zum Wohle der Allgemeinheit zulässig.“ Vergleicht man die Proteste gegen Enteignungen im Zuge eines Autobahnbaus mit denen gegen die Einrichtung eines ´historischen Schutzgebietes´, ist man verblüfft. So scheint der Autobahn(aus)bau dem Wohle der Allgemeinheit mehr zu dienen, als der verantwortungsvolle Umgang mit der eigenen Umwelt und Geschichte. Geht die Rechnung auf?
Auf unserem Weg begleiten uns Fragen. Zum Beispiel: Was bewegt (mich)? Was verändert (sich/mich)? Wie bemerke ich Veränderung? Was wird konstruiert? Wie wird konstruiert? Welche Landschaft finde ich vor? Welche Landschaft entsteht? Bin ich auf dem Weg? Wie finde ich den Weg? Gibt es ´Wächter des Wegs´? Jeden Tag, auf jeder Etappe, gibt es andere Antworten auf diese Fragen. Und noch mehr Fragen. Manchmal – wie zwischen Treptow und Neukölln – ist es schwer zu erkennen, wo exakt die Mauer verlief. Natürlich ist der Weg mit den Hinweisschildern ´Berliner Mauerweg´ markiert, die sich auf der ehemaligen Mauerhöhe in exakt 3,60 Metern befinden. Schwierig wird das intuitive Finden, das augenscheinliche Erkennen des ehemaligen Grenzstreifens. Grundstücke wurden mittlerweile ausgeweitet, der ehemalige Kolonnenweg überteert. Unterwegs treffen wir auf die ´Wächter des Wegs´. Menschen, die in Bürger- oder Einzelinitiativen in mitunter unbeachtetem Engagement die neu entstehende Landschaft pflegen. Im Dialog mit der Vergangenheit entstehen Plätze des Heute und Orte des Morgen. Am Britzer Zweigkanal nahe des ehemaligen Grenzübergangs Sonnenallee entdecken wir ein Insektenhotel.
Biegt man kurz darauf am Teltowkanal ab, wird man mit einem dunklen Kapitel neuerer Berliner Stadtplanung konfrontiert. Direkt nach der Wiedervereinigung wurde es versäumt, die auf dem ehemaligen Sperrgebiet entstandene einzigartige Landschaft unter Schutz zu stellen und über die Zukunft dieser innerstädtischen ´Narbe´ nachzudenken. Aufgrund der billigen und recht problemlosen Aneignung der ehemaligen Mauergrundstücke wurde die A 113 mitten durch eine Naturidylle geplant, gebaut und am 23. Mai 2008 für den öffentlichen Verkehr freigegeben.
Nur wenige Politiker dachten nach dem Fall der Mauer ´über den Tag hinaus´, wie z.B. Willy Brandt, der am 10. November 1989 anregte: „ein Stück von jenem scheußlichen Bauwerk […] als Erinnerung an ein historisches Mostrum stehen (zu) lassen. […] Denen, die heute noch so schön jung sind, und denen, die nachwachsen, kann es nicht immer leicht fallen, sich die historischen Zusammenhänge, in die wir eingebettet sind, klarzumachen.“ Ganz in diesem Sinne ließ Michaele Schreyer (Grüne; 1989-1990 Senatorin für Stadtentwicklung und Umweltschutz) die Mauer an der Niederkirchnerstraße unter Denkmalschutz stellen – nicht ohne dafür erbittert angefeindet zu werden. Heute zeigt die Niederkirchnerstraße einige der letzten originalen Überreste der Berliner Mauer im Zentrum Berlins.
Nachtrag 1: Mit einer sehr umstrittenen Bilanz der Verkehrssenatorin zum einjährigen Bestehen der BAB 113 will Ingeborg Junge-Reyer den Weiterbau der A 100 begründen (Berliner Morgenpost vom 16.07.2009)
Nachtrag 2: Im § 14 Abs. 3 des Grundgesetzes steht: „Eine Enteignung [von Eigentum] ist nur zum Wohle der Allgemeinheit zulässig.“ Vergleicht man die Proteste gegen Enteignungen im Zuge eines Autobahnbaus mit denen gegen die Einrichtung eines ´historischen Schutzgebietes´, ist man verblüfft. So scheint der Autobahn(aus)bau dem Wohle der Allgemeinheit mehr zu dienen, als der verantwortungsvolle Umgang mit der eigenen Umwelt und Geschichte. Geht die Rechnung auf?
Day 1: Becoming experts...
The first day saw us hiking from our flat via S-train station Wollankstrasse down Warschauer Strasse. This was the day of the major wall sights – and the only passage, which we have already walked a few times in the past. It was good to revisit the various places and remember some of the stories around the inner-Berlin wall. Still, there were many new things to explore – the two new guides did us very well there.
Picture 1: Part of electric signal fence
Picture 2: Wall remainder at house in Prenzlauer Berg
Picture 3: Old connection box
In fact, over the day we have become experts in identifying old Eastern German wall related security devices ranging from special street lamps to fences: sounds very geeky – was very geeky – but really interesting as well, because these features hidden in the existing infrastructure are often the only remainders of the wall. If you do not know about them, the wall is completely gone. With retrofitting activities progressing fast in the Eastern part of the city more and more of these features are vanishing and will be gone in the not-so-far future.
What is still most visible in many parts of Berlin is the structure of the wall. For those who have not been to Berlin so far: the wall was a conglomerate of security zones and barriers ranging in size between several tens of metres to over two kilometres. When the wall was pulled down, what remained in these areas was usually the path, the security guards used for patrolling (Kolonnenweg), as well as a lot of open space. Due to ownership issues, the length of planning processes etc. these areas have remained largely untouched for many years, developed a spontaneous vegetation and given Berlin centre a feeling of greenness and openness. However, these open spaces are vanishing now rapidly being replaced by new built areas. So even as a newcomer to Berlin, the major impression of this first day of hiking was that the city is changing rapidly and the history of the divided Berlin becomes less and less visible in the general cityscape. If you want to see it – don’t wait too long!
The first day out was also a reminder that Berlin is paved with very special stories. Today we learned about Osman Kalin. He is a Turkish immigrant who has been living in the western part of Berlin Kreuzberg since 1963. Technically this statement is not correct. In Kreuzberg there was a small piece of land where the wall was not standing right at the political border between East and West, but slightly removed leaving a small triangle of Easter
n soil “unprotected” and accessible to West Berlin citizens. For a long time this piece of land was used as a dump and served some homeless people as a meeting point in the evening. Until Osman Kalin came in 1982. He cleaned the whole place, built a house on Eastern soils and started growing vegetables. He lived there on Eastern territory tolerated by the GDR government and maintained good relationships with the security guards by sharing his harvest.
Life has not become easier for Kalin since the fall of the wall. He has managed to stay on his grounds even though there have been attempts to drive him out of the place. For now the district of Kreuzberg has granted him a right of residence and the "Gecekondu" will continue to contribute its little story to Berlin.
Picture 1: Part of electric signal fence
Picture 2: Wall remainder at house in Prenzlauer Berg
Picture 3: Old connection box
In fact, over the day we have become experts in identifying old Eastern German wall related security devices ranging from special street lamps to fences: sounds very geeky – was very geeky – but really interesting as well, because these features hidden in the existing infrastructure are often the only remainders of the wall. If you do not know about them, the wall is completely gone. With retrofitting activities progressing fast in the Eastern part of the city more and more of these features are vanishing and will be gone in the not-so-far future.
What is still most visible in many parts of Berlin is the structure of the wall. For those who have not been to Berlin so far: the wall was a conglomerate of security zones and barriers ranging in size between several tens of metres to over two kilometres. When the wall was pulled down, what remained in these areas was usually the path, the security guards used for patrolling (Kolonnenweg), as well as a lot of open space. Due to ownership issues, the length of planning processes etc. these areas have remained largely untouched for many years, developed a spontaneous vegetation and given Berlin centre a feeling of greenness and openness. However, these open spaces are vanishing now rapidly being replaced by new built areas. So even as a newcomer to Berlin, the major impression of this first day of hiking was that the city is changing rapidly and the history of the divided Berlin becomes less and less visible in the general cityscape. If you want to see it – don’t wait too long!The first day out was also a reminder that Berlin is paved with very special stories. Today we learned about Osman Kalin. He is a Turkish immigrant who has been living in the western part of Berlin Kreuzberg since 1963. Technically this statement is not correct. In Kreuzberg there was a small piece of land where the wall was not standing right at the political border between East and West, but slightly removed leaving a small triangle of Easter
n soil “unprotected” and accessible to West Berlin citizens. For a long time this piece of land was used as a dump and served some homeless people as a meeting point in the evening. Until Osman Kalin came in 1982. He cleaned the whole place, built a house on Eastern soils and started growing vegetables. He lived there on Eastern territory tolerated by the GDR government and maintained good relationships with the security guards by sharing his harvest.Life has not become easier for Kalin since the fall of the wall. He has managed to stay on his grounds even though there have been attempts to drive him out of the place. For now the district of Kreuzberg has granted him a right of residence and the "Gecekondu" will continue to contribute its little story to Berlin.
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