WEEKEND IN… Berlin


Strasse and head to the East Side Gallery on Muhlenstrasse (eastsidegallery-berlin.com) – it’s one of the world’s largest open-air “galleries” of street art, presented on a 1.3km section of wall beside the River Spree. Assuming you take time out


from your explorations to see museums, nightlife and cultural attractions during a weekend break (this is the home of the Berlin Philharmonic, after all), a visit to the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse (berliner-mauer- gedenkstaette.de/en), accessed from Nordbahnhof S Bahn, will give information not only about the wall but also a full list of other interesting locations you can visit. Berlin is a sprawling city and, spending a weekend jumping


It’s well worth visiting, but it’s the area as a whole that puts the wall into perspective, providing alarming visual evidence. Beyond the section of wall standing here is part of the “death strip” – the wide section of land dividing East and West Germany that was once soaked with weed killer to give patrol guards the clearest possible view of potential transgressors. The tall building on the far side of the wall is the former Reich Air Ministry of Hermann Goring, home of the Luftwaffe. It’s an example of how walking the route of the wall provides insight not only into the past 50 years, but also the Nazi period before that. Notably, this building wasn’t designed by Hitler’s chief architect, Albert Speer, but by Ernst Sagebiel, the man behind Tempelhof airport. Today it houses the German finance ministry, but it retains Max Lingner’s 1950s 18-metre mural made from Meissen porcelain tiles, illustrating the triumph of worker


84 NOVEMBER 2015


production. In 1965, a family managed to escape from a high window here, via a zip wire, to make a new life in the west. Walk along to Erna Berger


Strasse and you can see one of the few remaining watchtowers, still oppressive even with the surrounding widespread renovation, nowhere more comprehensively achieved than in the completely reimagined Potsdamer Platz nearby. A line indicates the wall’s route though this district, yet now luxury hotels such as the Grand Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott tower above the U Bahn and S Bahn lines here, and there’s even a small section of wall – for so long the centre of attention, but now almost seeming out of place. Beyond this, you can see parks marking out the line of the wall towards the Tiergarten park. As night falls, there are more options for a wall tour. Take the U Bahn out to Warschauer


Clockwise from top left: The


footprint of the wall; Potsdamer Platz; German finance ministry; Max Lingner’s Building the Republic mural


on and off the S-Bahn, it can be difficult to get a sense of its entirety. Still, the remains of the wall provide a thread for exploring it from east to west, especially since it loops around the centre of the city, and sometimes appears when you are least expecting it. Take a look at the historic Reichstag and newer “Band des Bundes” (collection of federal government buildings), which deliberately chart the course of the wall from east to west in a gesture of connection. Better still, take a guided tour – there’s everything from walking and cycling, to Segway or even Trabant tours. Berlin is constantly changing, but at its heart there is still this shadow line that will never be erased.■


USEFUL WEBSITES ■ berlinonbike.de/en ■ berlin.fattirebiketours.com ■ videobustour.de/en ■ visitberlin.de/en/welcomecard


Visit businesstraveller.com


VISITBERLIN/PHILIP KOCH/GERMAN NATIONAL TOURIST BOARD/GIANLUCA SANTONI


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