How to deal with trauma? Do you bury bad memories or keep them part of your psyche? Steve Smethurst sees how Berlin is coping
It takes a little while for the modern-day character of Berlin to emerge to the first-time visitor. Initially, it might even seem bland, but when you remember its history, it’s anything but.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the German city lacks the self-important grandeur of most European capitals – if a person had suffered the abuses and isolation that Berlin has endured, they would have been sectioned long ago. Its population was purged brutally of any diversity in the 1930s, its buildings were bombed to rubble in the 1940s, then, from the 1960s, the majority of its citizens were hemmed in by a wall for the best part of 30 years.
While many Berliners would like to draw a line under the past and start again (investment and regeneration continue apace), denial is not what psychologists tend to recommend. So while most reminders of the city’s past have gone, there are still some deep wounds that are being kept deliberately open.
Not least is the Topographie des Terrors exhibition (8 Niederkirchnerstrasse), an open-air museum built into the few remaining foundations of the buildings that once housed the Gestapo and SS headquarters.
As you walk through the trenches, display boards detail the atrocities carried out by these forces – from a photograph of a woman (accused of sleeping with a Polish Jew) having her head shaved in front of a large crowd, to harrowing details of deportations to concentration camps. The lives of resistance fighters, many of whom lost their lives battling the Nazis, are also picked out.
Not far away is the Jewish Museum (9-14 Lindenstrasse), which tells the story of 2,000 years of Jewish history in Germany. Not surprisingly, much of the exhibition focuses on the Hitler years and there is a large space with absolutely nothing in it, an effective symbol of what has been lost to humanity. The word ‘holocaust’, incidentally, is not found often at the museum. Since it derives from the Greek for a ‘burnt offering to the gods’, many Jewish people find it offensive, and prefer to use the word ‘Shoah’ instead.
A third museum within walking distance of the two above is the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie. As museums go, there’s no denying it’s a bit shambolic, but at the same time there’s no doubting the emotional pull as you read the stories of people who went under, over or through the 155km barrier that separated East Berlin from West. According to its records, there were more than 5,000 successful escape attempts, but also many harrowing fatalities.
Outside central Berlin, there are other reminders of the past. Wannsee – the largest inland beach in Europe is a popular site for relaxation, and is also where you will find the villa, now a museum, where the chilling ‘final solution’ was proposed by Hitler to his cabinet.
Also on the outskirts of Berlin is another site with strong military connections – Potsdam. The town was the venue for the Potsdam Conference – held to decide how to administer the defeated Nazi Germany after World War II and was attended by Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill (and later Clement Attlee), and Harry S Truman. The town is well worth a day trip as it was also home to the residence of Prussian kings until 1918 and is where you will find the world heritage site of Sanssouci – the summer palace of Frederick the Great.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that the 16th century Spandau Citadel is where Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess was held. While it’s an impressive battlement, Hess was actually held in Spandau prison. While near the ancient fortress, it was demolished after his death in 1987. Of course, Berlin isn’t just a site for military history. The ‘new Berlin’ can be viewed from the spectacular rooftop terrace/dome of the Reichstag – although you should get there early to avoid the lengthy queues.
It is also slowly rediscovering the reputation it had in the 1920s as the party capital of Europe – it’s not there yet, but there are certainly plenty of places to eat, drink and be merry. The Scheunenviertel, (‘barn quarter’) is what was once the Jewish district and is now home to pubs, restaurants and galleries. You also could try tea at the Kempinski Hotel, take a walk down the tree-lined Unter den Linden, or view the art treasures at the Pergamon.
If you fancy some local entertainment, the Bar Jeder Vernunft (‘Devoid of all reason’) is Berlin’s comedy hotspot, while the Philharmonie is Germany’s ‘temple’ of classical music. And if you simply fancy a pint and want to watch the world go by, there’s no shortage of pubs. Make sure you check out the local specialities, perhaps the Berliner Weisse, or if it’s a bit nippy in the evening, maybe enjoy a nice gluehwein after all that wandering around the museums… Prost!
