Image by Ciarán Fahey

More than 20 years after it was taken down, the Berlin Wall continues to be the city’s principal attraction for visitors.

The success of sights like Checkpoint Charlie and the recently repainted East Side Gallery has convinced the city powers to rebuild it – some of it at least – as a memorial on Bernauer Straße, where a section of the original Wall still stands.As expected, flocks of tourists eagerly make their way to the site, perhaps in their hurry overlooking a discreet installation in the former “ghost station” of Nordbahnhof.

Pictures and placards in German and English tell the incredible tales from the division of the city’s public transport system and the madness which ensued once the Wall went up in 1961. (The 50th anniversary of its construction took place on August 13th last.)

Barbed wire and bricked-up entrances were the order of the day, as the East German government sealed off all possible escape routes to the West, creating these ghost stations where trains passed through East Berlin on their way from one section of West Berlin to another. Passengers could only glimpse out at the dimly lit eeriness patrolled by border guards as they whizzed by.

Stories of courageous escapes, explanations, diagrams and multimedia all feature in this fascinating but small exhibition of the crazy realities of life in the shadow of the Wall. Best of all – it’s free!

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Nordbahnhof | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Gartenstraße | Mitte
24 hours daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Ciarán Fahey

For me one of Berlin’s most fascinating sites is also one of its lesser-known – the former Stasi Prison in Hohenschönhausen. A tour of this so-called “detention facility” with one of its former inmates helps lift the lid on the chilling methods of East Germany’s secret police as they sought to protect their raison d’être. It never fails to cast a shiver down my spine.

Some 250,000 political prisoners passed through its doors over 40 years, many never to be heard from again, before it was finally shut down on October 3rd, 1990. Ordinary people were subjected to all sorts of unthinkable psychological torture, with the prison authorities becoming sadistic experts in interrogation and intimidation.

East Germany’s Ministry for State Security (Stasi) had been set up to protect the socialist state and it did so with brutal efficiency. Anyone could be snatched without warning, and kept for months in total isolation with only the prospect of further interrogation to break the monotony. Many former prisoners later died of leukemia-related illnesses, believed to have been contracted from X-ray machine radiation. Some of those who survived now offer guided tours so the terrible secrets of a dark past can be revealed and never forgotten.

Most of the tours are in German, but excellent tours in English are available daily. It really is a fascinating insight into the inner workings of a state in constant paranoia. Registration is now in a new office opposite the prison.

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Stasi Prison | Art & culture, Relaxing | Tour € 5
Genslerstraße 13A | Outer – North&East | +493098608230
Mon – Fri 11:00 – 15:00, Sat – Sun 10:00 – 16:00, Tours in English daily at 14:30

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Ciarán Fahey

As city squares go, they don’t come much uglier than Alexanderplatz. Surrounded by a rash of imposing GDR-style unimaginative blocks, with perhaps Berlin’s ugliest fountain plonked in the middle, this is not the place to come for a romantic stroll. Much like the “Friendship Between Peoples Fountain” in fact, Alex looks terrible but means well.

Its real beauty engages on a more personal level thanks to the excitement of people milling around, the tourists and punks, the trams trundling through, and the tempting (even for vegetarians!) smell of roast Bratwurst which emanates thanks to the sausage sellers scattered around. Effectively the centre of a decentralised city, Alexanderplatz changes to suit the seasons and the whims of the people at any given time.

In November 1989, the largest demonstration before the fall of the Berlin Wall took place here and was pivotal to the fall of the East German regime. Its biggest gatherings these days occur at the various fairs and markets which call it home throughout the year. Glühwein-swilling at Christmas, chocolate-swilling at Easter, and beer-swilling any other time, there’s always something for swillers to swill!

Overlooked by the Fernsehturn, Alexanderplatz is also home to the funky World Time Clock, erected in 1969 and a popular meeting place for Berliners since. I presume this is so they know exactly how many minutes late you are. Germans don’t like to be left waiting as I’ve found out on numerous occasions, but thankfully for latecomers, Alex has plenty of distractions.

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Alexanderplatz | Art & culture, Relaxing, Shopping | Free
Alexanderplatz | Mitte
24 hours daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Ciarán Fahey

There are many places in Berlin you shouldn’t go and others you simply have to go to. What’s wonderful about this city is the sheer wealth of places which fall into both categories. Kaserne Krampnitz is most certainly one of them. Abandoned in 1992 by the Russians in the wake of German Reunification, this former military training school has been lying idle ever since, its ever-increasing overgrowth disturbed only periodically to make films such as Enemy at the Gates and Inglorious Basterds.

You won’t find this huge site mentioned in any of your travel guides, and the high unfriendly wall around it doesn’t exactly encourage unannounced guests, but visitors brave enough to venture in will be stepping in the footsteps of those history would rather forget.

The Nazis moved their army riding and driving school here from Hannover in 1937. Of course, lessons ended with the loss of the war, and their victors remained at the site until the fall of the Berlin Wall made them redundant too. Abandoned barracks, creepy club houses and former corridors of power now await exploration.

Be very careful! It has been rumoured that security keeps a watchful eye over the site and the legality of camera-clutching onlookers wandering around has yet to be tested in a court of law. (It’s not on my ‘To Do’ list.) A sign outside warns potential trespassers: “Betreten und Befahren verboten!” Of course, I could never condone trespassing or anything so naughty. If anyone asks, I didn’t send you…

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Kaserne Krampnitz | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Krampnitz | Outer – South&West
24 hours daily. Well…

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Image by Robby Block

On a dark side street in Friedrichshain by the railway viaduct, right next to the river before the land slips away into the Stralauer peninsula, you will find the Salon – Zur wilden Renate. The bar itself seems quite normal by Berlin standards, comfy mix and match furniture, a real fireplace, slightly quirky decorations, nothing too madcap – and nothing that would give you a hint of the mutli-level labyrinth below that seems like the brainchild of Tim Burton and Josef Fritzl.

Enter the bar and to the left of the door you will find the gatekeeper who explains to you in only rough ideas what you are about to experience. You may enter only alone! Do not take anything you don’t want to lose! No smoking! No drinks! 

Once you agree to his pre-conditions and fork over ten euro, he’ll give you a large gold coin and exhort you not to lose it. He’ll leave you to get a drink and think over what’s going to happen next. At some point he’ll come over and take you by the hand and lead you to a door at the end of the bar. He’ll show you their statue of liberty. He’ll tell you to keep an open mind and he’ll open the door for you.

And I can’t tell you anything else….. except if it gets tight, breathe. 

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Peristal Singum | Art & culture, Bars | Labyrinth entrance € 10.00
Alt-Strahlau 70 | Friedrichshain
Wed – Sat 18:00 – 22:00

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Image by Robby Block

There isn’t a lot that needs to be said about this monument; although it tends to be one that lots of people overlook. The bronze sculpture Der verlassene Raum by the artist Karl Biedermann was commissioned in 1988 in remembrance of the 50th anniversary of the Pogromnacht (Night of Broken Glass) – which saw Jewish homes, business and synagogues throughout Germany destroyed by SA Stormtroopers.

Near the Tiergarten, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe overwhelms you with its size and scale. Its concrete slabs tower over you erasing your path and your existence as you lose yourself to the labyrinth. In contrast, this small memorial on Koppenplatz accomplishes the opposite somehow. The slightly oversized table and chairs, one pushed back, one overturned, impress you with the immediacy of the situation. The residents have just left, probably to one of the nearby assembly points in the neighborhood.

The floor is ringed with the words of Nelly Sachs, the Berlin born, Nobel Prize winning poet. They read: …oh the houses of death / invitingly appointed / for the host who was once a guest / Oh you fingers, / laying the threshold / like a knife between life and death / Oh you chimney stacks, / Oh you fingers, / And the body of Israel going up in smoke!

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Der verlassene Raum | Art & culture | Free
Koppenplatz | Mitte
24 hours daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Robby Block

Faced with a severe housing shortage in the early 1900s, progressive city planners sought the help of forward thinking architects to provide decent housing for the growing working class population. The architects wanted to contribute new approaches to city planning and these estates were built on the outskirts of the rapidly expanding city, although with close connection to transit nodes for easy commuting.

At that time running water and indoor plumbing were a rarity, so the inclusion of such “luxuries” in these flats was truly progressive. Later, upon completion of the projects, more conservative city planners complained that their inclusion was too opulent for “simple people.” Berlin’s progressive mayor Gustav Böss at the time defended them stating: “We want to bring the lower levels of society higher.”

Fans of modernist architecture found reason to celebrate in 2008 when six Berlin housing estates from 1910 – 1930 were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. These estates, representing work from such luminaries as Hans Scharoun, Walter Gropius and Bruno Taut, were chosen primarily for the above mentioned values, but also as they suffered little damage during the war and subsequent renovations.

The estates are spread out over Berlin, around what were then the city edges. Perhaps the most iconic is the Hufeisensiedlung or Horse Shoe Estate, in Neukölln, built around a central garden and pond with ranks of two and three storey flats flanking the central horse shoe.

Other estates can be found in Prenzlauer Berg, Charlottenburg, and Wedding.

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UNESCO Berlin | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Lowise-Reuter-Ring | Neukölln
24 hours daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Robby Block

The Neues Museum on Berlin’s Museum Island finally reopened in 2009 after having been closed for over 70 years. The museum was closed as a precaution in 1939, prior to WWII, and after suffering much damage during the war was left by the successive regimes as a ruin. Finally in the 1990s, a massive renovation project began, overseen by the British architect David Chipperfield. Finally Nefertiti, the famous bust of the erstwhile Egyptian Queen, whose ownership is still disputed by the Egyptian government, had a worthy resting place.

Late last year as construction work got started on the extension of the subway U5 several pieces of “degenerate art” were uncovered in the basement of a private house near the Rotes Rathaus on Alexanderplatz. The eleven sculptures had been confiscated by the Nazis, as they were deemed too Jewish or un-German from museums and private collections. It is still unclear how the ended up in someone’s basement, perhaps a mystery for future historians to uncover.

The works include a bronze cubist sculpture of a female dancer by Marg Moll, “Hagar” by Karl Kanppe and “A Likeness of the Actress Anni Mewes” by Edwin Scharff. Although the works have been cleaned and preserved for the exhibition, they still show evidence of having been buried in the rubble of the city for the last 60+ years.

See them now as they are not part of the permanent collection!

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Entartete Kunst | Art & culture, Relaxing | Museum entrance € 10
Bodestraße 1 – 3 | Mitte
Sun – Wed 10:00 – 18:00, Thu – Sat 10:00 – 20:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Robby Block

Next time you are on Alexanderplatz (check the Alexanderplatz article) don’t forget to look up. Socialist art adorns a number of the buildings surrounding the square. Most likely all the work you see was done by one man, Walter Womacka. The mosaic depicting the socialist vision of a brighter future on the Haus des Lehrers? Womacka. The fountain some guidebooks claim locals call “the whore’s brooch”? Womacka. The space-agey bronze frieze on the side of Haus des Reisens? You guessed it, Womacka!

A short journey away from Alexanderplatz sits the former State Council of the GDR, now ironically the European School of Management, an upper-crusty, private business school, home to some beautiful Womacka stained glass windows. Unfortunately you need permission to get in, though you can sneak a peak behind the guard before she sullenly throws you out. No worries, as just across Unter den Linden at the main building of the Humboldt University, a much more egalitarian place of higher learning, you will find another glorious stained glass by Womacka, featuring socialist superstars admonishing Germany’s best and brightest to strive for a better future.

Finally, if you head back over to Alexanderplatz you can find two more socialist era bronzes, although not by Staatskünstler Womacka. One is the rather large and imposing statue of Marx and Engels at their eponymous forum. Across the river at the Hochschule für Musik you will find depictions of Karl Liebknecht’s pre-mature proclamation of the German Free Socialist Republic from the Berlin City Palace in 1918.

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Public art in East Berlin | Art & culture | Free
Alexanderplatz | Mitte
24 hours daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Robby Block

In the western part of Berlin, near Bahnhof Zoo, is the famous Kaiser Wihelm Memorial Church, a partially restored bombed out ruin that today stands as a reminder of the horrors of war. In the eastern part of the city lies another ruin of a much older church that today remains largely forgotten. Just across a busy six lane thoroughfare from Alexanderplatz lies a leafy oasis, a quiet spot away from the crush of the city.

Construction on the original Fransican Abbey began in 1250 and it was a fine example of early gothic style until it was destroyed by Allied bombing on 3 April 1945. Today the ruin stands as another reminder of the war that left the city devastated. The space now stands as an open art exhibition space in a garden-like atmosphere. In summer theatre productions are also performed.

Nearby, you can also find two more reminders of Berlin’s history. The first, directly behind the church is the original Berlin Wall, which surrounded the old cities of Berlin and Cölln. Nearby, in a quiet stretch of residential housing, is Berlin’s oldest restaurant Zur Letzten Instanz. The restaurant dates to 1561, though the current building is a post-war reconstruction. The interior is also quaintly period, though I’d stick to the Biergarten outside. I can’t vouch for the menu personally, it tends towards typically Berlin cuisine. You’ll probably find delicacies like Eisbein, often translated as pig knuckle, and once eloquently described to me by a friend as a fatty, pink, meaty marshmallow.

Guten Appetit!

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Franziskaner Klosterkirche | Art & culture, Relaxing, Theaters, Restaurants
Klosterstraße 73A | Mitte
April – Nov, Tue – Sat 12:00 – 18:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin