WHKMLA : A Historical Summary of Berlin's Architectural Controversy

A Historical Summary of Berlin's Architectural Controversy

Korean Minjok Leadership Academy
International Program
Woo, Na Young
Research Paper, AP European History Class, November 2007

I. Introduction
II. Promotion of National Strength and Unity (1701~1919)
II.1 The Background
II.2 The Significance
II.3 The Restored
II.4 The Undamaged
II.5 The Exceptions
III. Turn towards Practical Use (1919~1933)
III.1 The Background
III.2 The Significance
III.3 Architectural Modernism
III.4 Artistic Attempts
IV. Propaganda and Megalomania
IV.1 The Background
IV.2 The Significance
IV.3 War Losses
IV.4 Vestiges of 'Germania'
IV.5 Lingering Victims
V. Unwelcome Dedications to 'the People'
V.1 The Background
V.2 The Significance
V.3 Presence of Division
V.4 The Race
V.5 In the Name of Communism
VI. Convergences and Choices
VII. Bibliography
Appendix : List of Buildings and Monuments

Teacher's Comment

I. Introduction
            Berlin is a city that cannot be forfeit. Although it is embedded with various scars, from the haunting remnants of Nazi rule to the lingering presence of the division between the west and the east, Berlin easily reclaimed its position as the capital of the German people when Germany was reunited for the second time in 1990. Just as any other, what many may refer as "architectural," dilemmas Berlin had to endure, however, there indeed had been controversy regarding the new capital of united Germany. The critics of Berlin had supported Bonn, West Germany's former seat of government, as their new capital and reasonably argued that Bonn promised a virgin purity that Berlin sorely lacked. As a capital is the center of a nation, both literally and figuratively, the critics' concerns were not only realistic but also diplomatic. Nonetheless, six centuries of prominence were not to be taken lightly, and the significance of a city that had suffered alongside the German people through wars, dictatorships and division had swiftly concluded the case.
            Yet, for the value of significance, the new government as well as the German people must pay the price of resolving further dilemmas. How are victims to be commemorated in a city once controlled by the perpetrators ? How are the former offices in which crimes had been planned and idols worshipped to be transformed to innocent apartment houses ? How are future memorials to be separated from future demolitions ? As expected, the underlying problem Berlin faces are beyond the shapes of the buildings or other such "architectural" concerns. Rather, the city calls for an entire reevaluation of values, ones bordering upon political, social, cultural, historical and even religious and psychological factors. The problem is then further complicated by the fact that Berlin must also succumb to certain economic limits and aesthetic standards as well.
            This paper will not attempt to overestimate itself by claiming that it will fully cover the solution to Berlin’s complex dilemma. Instead, it only will offer a modest outline of the historical background of and the controversy regarding certain buildings within divided time frames in the hopes that it may one day become a guide to those interested in relieving the tension that permeates Berlin.

II. Promotion of National Strength and Unity

II.1 The Background
            Although Berlin appeared on historical records as early as the 13th century, the city did not achieve its prominence until the Hohenzollerns, the electors of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, completed their residential palace, the Stadtschloss, in 1451 and formally declared Berlin as the capital of Brandenburg in 1486. Between the 15th and the 19th century, however, Brandenburg, to be increased in size and elevated in status to the Kingdom in Prussia in 1701, was beleaguered by major warfare. Nonetheless, its architecture undoubtedly flourished during this period. Especially when contrasted with what was to come in the future, that is, buildings and monuments from a defeated empire, a failed democracy, and two successive dictatorships, the castles, museums and churches commissioned by King Friedrich II "the Great" or designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel certainly emitted an aura of glory and pride.
            After the Thirty Years War ravaged the Holy Roman Empire from 1618 to1648, the first to come in the line of great leaders was Margrave Elector Friedrich Wilhelm I (ruled 1640~1688). Under the "Great Elector," as he is often addressed, Berlin expanded to absorb nearby regions and desperate refugees, particularly the French Huguenots and the Jews, seeking religious toleration. In order to accommodate such heterogeneous group of people and to avoid possible conflict, the rulers of Brandenburg pursued a wise policy of detaching diplomatic concerns from domestic ones. At the same time they allied itself with the Calvinist and Lutheran principalities in the Holy Roman Empire, Friedrich Wilhelm and his successors also allowed its people to practice any religion of choice as long as taxes were paid in return. This decision not only added to the state's wealth but also increased the available human resources by attracting skilled artisans, merchants and farmers. However, despite the elector's efforts, Brandenburg, compared to its influential future neighbor and enemy to the west, France, remained unnoticed by the world at large, as only one of the myriad of states crowded in the middle of Europe.
            Within the country itself, Brandenburg grew more independent and inclined to associate itself with the French. Especially with the Habsburg hegemony over the Holy Roman Empire weakened as a result of the Thirty Years War, the Ottoman Wars and other such unsuccessful confrontations, the German princes, with the Hohenzollerns at the front, could not resist their chance at freedom. As a matter of fact, Friedrich III, the successor to the Great Elector, crowned himself as Friedrich I (1688~1713), the King "in" Prussia, in 1701. Note that he is not the King "of" Prussia because only a part of the Duchy of Prussia had come under Brandenburg control (the remainder was acquired in 1772). Nonetheless, the crown carried great significance in that the Prussian lands lay well beyond the boundaries, and thus, the reach of the Holy Roman Empire. The King's grandson, Friedrich II "the Great" (1740~1788), famous for military leadership in the Silesian Wars and the Seven Years War, readily accepted the Enlightenment ideals of the French philosophes and promoted architecture that emulated "the Sun King" Louis XIV's extravagant style. A collection of state institutions, the Forum Friedericianum, centered on the former Opernplatz, or today's Bebelplatz, perhaps best exemplifies Friedrich II's wish to introduce the "civilized" French culture to his fledgling kingdom.
            Fortunately for the German people, the great intimacy the Hohenzollerns sought from the French quickly dissolved by the time of the Napoleonic Wars in late 18th to early 19th century. The absolutist monarchs not only balked at the French Revolution but also suffered humiliation at Bonaparte's hands when the general-emperor invaded Berlin and stole a sculpture of a horse-drawn chariot, the Quadriga, from the top of the Brandenburger Tor, or the Brandenburg Gate, in 1806. By the start of a new century, with no model to pursue and wars and revolts on their hands, the kings had not only lost the incentive but also the necessary funds to raise stately buildings. However, renowned architects still continued to enhance Berlin's splendor. Until the establishment of the unified German Empire in 1871, Karl Friedrich Schinkel and his Neo-Classical and Neo-Gothic style particularly dominated the architectural sphere in Berlin. Today, the surviving works of Schinkel are mostly cluttered around the Bebelplatz and the "Museum Island" region, Museumsinsel.

II.2 The Significance
            As expected, hardly any buildings or monuments constructed before the late 19th century has undergone serious dispute. After Germany was reunified in 1990, numerous buildings were either deconstructed or reconstructed due to their Nazi or communist affiliations. But the buildings mentioned above and others of similar origin did not have to share the same fate because they had remained relatively aloof from the "contamination" that pervaded from 1933 to 1990. In fact, neither the Nazis nor the communists had dared to dilute their propaganda by occupying or otherwise using the buildings built for and by the Hohenzollerns, the monarchy. For example, the Gestapo headquarters would have lost its imposing edifice and gained an ironic implication instead had it been placed within the Berliner Dom, a Neo-Baroque cathedral built in 1750.
            Besides their "purity," the Prussian buildings could also flaunt their legacy. Constructed in one of the most successful periods the German people had enjoyed, the buildings themselves came to symbolize the great rulers and victories of the time, both of which have effectively fostered national strength and pride. To add to even further credit, the buildings on Museumsinsel and Bebelplatz mainly housed institutions associated with either statesmanship or culture, both of which have been emphasized to raise a capital city of the one Prussian people, later to be the one unified German people. In other words, the remnants of Prussian might provided a stable ground for Berlin to stand on its otherwise unstable background.

II.3 The Restored
            The sentiment the German people felt toward the era can especially be illustrated through the St. Hedwigs Kathedrale, Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, Staatsoper unter den Linden on Bebelplatz; the Berliner Dom, Neues Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie on the Museumsinsel; as well as Schloss Bellevue and the Konzerthaus. These buildings, which are some of the most representative structures of the era, had suffered severe damage during the Second World War. However, unlike buildings from other eras, these had been quickly salvaged from limbo and restored to their formal splendor without a slightest hesitation or dispute.
            The St. Hedwigs Kathedrale, a Roman Catholic church, may at first seem an anomaly at the center of what had once been a predominantly Protestant nation. Yet Friedrich II had ordered the construction of the building in 1747 in the hope of making peace with the Catholic population in Silesia he had conquered from Habsburg control. Mostly destroyed in the First World War, the cathedral was reconstructed from 1952 to 1963 for Berliners as well as tourists to continue to enjoy the Romanesque building as well as to ponder the wise policy of religious toleration of the, indeed, Great King.
            Two other prominent churches of the era are Friedrichswerdersche Kirche and the Berliner Dom. Designed in a Neo-Gothic style by Schinkel, the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche is also referred to as the "Schinkel-Museum" due to the sculpture collection it has housed ever since its reconstruction. The Berliner Dom, which has always housed the original sarcophagi of the Hohenzollerns, was completed in 1750. Unfortunately, or fortunately, much of the ostentatious Baroque embellishments were destroyed during the War, and the church now supports a considerably simplified façade.
            One of the first buildings to be installed into the Forum Friedericianum, the state opera house, Staatsoper unter den Linden, had to be restored twice. The first tragedy struck when, barely one hundred years since its construction, the opera house was damaged by fire and had to be refurnished in 1841. Fortunately, Schinkel and other influential architects, such as Langhans, were present to help modify the badly singed interior. The second time, Allied bombings during World War II had almost razed the Neo-Classical masterpiece to the ground. Nevertheless, Berlin simply chose to rebuild it from scratch from 1952 to 1955.
            Other institutions that provided intellectual pleasure were the Konzerthaus, the Neues Museum and the Altes Nationalgalerie. Lying somewhat askew from the Forum Friedericianum, the Konzerthaus, or the concert hall, was built by Schinkel in 1821 as a substitute for Langhans' National Theatre that had been burnt down in 1817. Fashioned in the Neo-Classical style, the exterior of the building has been meticulously reconstructed. However, the interior had been altered not only to accommodate technological innovations but also to rearrange its layout. Most importantly, the Konzerthaus has been home to the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, recently renamed as the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, ever since it was founded in 1952.
            The irony of the Neues Museum is that although it had been built to supplement the Altes Museum, the latter had outlasted the former. From 1855 to 1945, the Neues Museum had housed collections from Antiquity, mostly Egyptian art. Although reconstruction had started relatively early, complications involving disagreement with the architect and financial issues led to a long delay, and the Museum is to be refashioned by 2009 to an information center.
            The Alte Nationalgalerie, or the old national gallery, was constructed in 1876 as the "Nationalgalerie" in order to house the modern arts collection that had been on display at the Akademie der Künste, the Academy of Fine Arts, since 1871. After its relocation, the collection then suffered a partial destruction in the hands of the Nazis and the communists who followed. With the Nationalgalerie on the eastern side of Berlin, the West Berlin government built a counterpart of the Nationalgalerie, named the Neue Nationalgalerie, the new national gallery. Thus, the "Nationalgalerie" on Museumsinsel then was renamed the Alte Nationalgalerie. The building itself suffered damages from World War II bombers, but was reconstructed to it its former replica of a Roman temple until 1969.
            Last but not least, Schloss Bellevue, the Bellevue Palace was built in 1786 to be used as a royal palace, particularly, for Friderick II's brother, Prince Ferdinand. Occupied by the members of the Hohenzollern family until 1918, the building was then turned into museum of German ethnography in 1935, only to be renovated three years later into a hotel to accommodate guests of the Third Reich, or the Nazi government. Despite the crimes associated with its last residents, Schloss Bellevue was restored from its World War II damage and used as a secondary residence by the President of West Germany, the primary being the Villa Hammerschmidt in Bonn, from 1957 to 1994. Perhaps its fame as the first Neo-Classical building in Berlin as well as its strategic location in Tiergarten, the former royal hunting grounds and the present day equivalent of New York City's Central Park in Berlin, have outweighed its Nazi infiltration. In 1994, four years after the second German reunification, Schloss Bellevue became the official residence of the President and regained its formal glory not only in its outer form but also in its inner significance.

II.4 The Undamaged
            Even more fortunate than the buildings that were immediately rebuilt are those that had suffered little damage in the first place, such as the Humboldt Universität, Alte Bibliothek on Bebelplatz; Lustgarten, Altes Museum on Museumsinsel; and the Siegessäule at Tiergarten.
            The Humboldt Universitat did not start out as a university. The building had actually been constructed for another of Friedrich II's brothers, Prince Heinrich, in 1753. But in 1810, it began to assume its shape as Berlin University with the encouragement of Wilhelm von Humboldt, a lawyer, politician and professor of linguistics. Later in 1949, Berlin University was renamed to honor Wilhelm and his brother, Alexander, a professor of natural science. In its heyday in the early 20th century, the university not only produced well-known historical figures, such as Marx and Engles, but also attracted famous scholars of the age, including Einstein, Koch, Planck and Hegel. During the Nazi and the communist regimes, the Humboldt University continued as a, respectively, Nazi and communist institution. However, although it had suffered the loss of some twenty thousand volumes on May 10th, 1933, when the Nazis burnt "degenerate" books, the building remained intact through the war. The university also preserved its traditions through the forty long years of division within another institution in West Berlin, the Free University of Berlin, founded in 1948.
            Physical damage is not the only kind of damage that may be inflicted upon a monumental building. The Altes Museum, another piece by Schinkel, could never again fully reclaim its Greek, Roman and Hellenistic collection since after the Second World War. Similarly, the Alte Bibliothek, the old library, also called the "Kommode," or the "chest of drawers," due to its curved Baroque façade, came to house the law faculty of the Humboldt University instead of the royal collection of volumes it used to have, much of which had been burnt by the Nazis in 1933.
            Besides the Tiergarten, the Hohenzollern royalties had installed another royal park, as a matter of fact, right next to their residence. Started as a small plantation for vegetables and herbs in the late 16th century, the Lustgarten began to make up for its name, or pleasure garden, when the Great Elector placed statues, fountains and other such fixtures within the grounds. After Friedrich Wilhelm I turned it in to a marching ground for military training, the Lustgarten became a park again after the construction of the Altes Museum in 1830. History repeated itself again when Hitler had poured concrete over it in to turn it into an army drilling ground, only to have it restored to its current form according to the 1830 design in 1989.
            The Siegessäule, the Triumphal Column, too, endured Nazi influence when it was moved to its current spot in Tiergarten from its former location in front of the Reichstag, the Parliament building, in 1938. Originally built to commemorate the victory against the Danish in 1864, the column had the gilded statue placed on top after the Prussian victories against Austria in 1866 and France in 1871. Neither the column nor the statue had been affected by World War bombers.

II.5 The Exceptions
            As dramatic as Schinkel's Schlossbrücke, the bridge that connects Museumsinsel to Unter den Linden, may be, with its mythical stone figures glaring on both sides, the first sight beyond the bridge invokes an anticlimactic effect. The Schlossplatz, once home to the residential palace of the Hohenzollern, the Stadtschloss, is today an empty plot of land with only the haunting remnants of a half-demolished building towering over it.
            Upon its construction in 1451, the Stadtschloss presented a central reason for Berlin to be named as the capital of Margraviate of Brandenburg, the Kingdom of Prussia and the united German Empire, respectively. Although constantly refashioned to suit contemporary tastes by each generation of kings, the Stadtschloss housed the Hohenzollern in its four-story structure for nearly five hundred years. Despite the long history, however, a palace without a king or an emperor to fill its halls has no raison d'etre. As a matter of fact, after its last occupant, Wilhelm II, fled to the Netherlands after World War I, the empty Stadtschloss came to be regarded as an offense to democratic, totalitarian, and especially, communist nations that were to succeed the monarchy.
            When the democratic Weimar Republic seized power among the ensuing chaos of the War, the Stadtschloss was immediately associated with the failed monarchy, a stigmatization that would last through the Nazi and the communist governments as well. Temporarily used a museum, the building was largely ignored and untouched until it was damaged by Allied bombings during World War II. After 1945, the palace was partly restored to make room for temporary exhibitions. However, located on the Soviet sector of Berlin, the Stadtschloss was to face its worst and final consequence.
            Despite protest from various groups of people, who valued traditional symbols and aesthetic qualities they deemed necessary for a respectable capital of a nation, orders for the building's demolition was finally carried out in 1951. Only one fa?ade of the Stadtschloss was preserved and incorporated into a 1964 government building, the Staatsratgebaude. The reason for the unique salvage was that one of the balconies on that particular side had been used by a communist politician when he, albeit unsuccessfully, proclaimed the establishment of a socialist nation in 1918, only hours before a social democrat proclaimed that of a German republic from the Reichstag building. To somehow compensate for the Stadtschloss, the communist government then erected the Palast der Republik, another government building that is to be detailed later in the chapter.

            The Brandenburger Tor, better known in the English-speaking world as the Brandenburg Gate, was constructed in 1795 as one of the gates of a wall that surrounded Berlin before the city was expanded to its current size. As the most famous of the gates, it still stands as an individual monument of its own at the heart of Berlin. More important than the structure itself, however, is the steel sculpture perched on top. Originally a symbol of peace, the Quadriga, which depicts a goddess riding a chariot with a staff in her hands and an eagle on her shoulder, suffered theft, destruction, and altercation in various hands.
            The murky story of the Quadriga begins in 1806, when Napoleon Bonaparte, the "Corsican monster," occupied Berlin and took away the Quadriga as a memento of his German conquest. Note that Napoleon thus brought the Holy Roman Empire to an end and replaced it with the Confederacy of the Rhine, from which Prussia and Austria were excluded. When Napoleon, later dubbed the "horse thief of Berlin," was finally defeated, Europe sought to reestablish the pre-Napoleonic, "old" order, and the Quadriga made its way back home, where it was promptly christened as a symbol of victory. It was further presented with a Prussian eagle in the place of a Roman one and a new staff including the iron cross, a symbol of German militarism designed by Schinkel at the request of Friedrich Wilhelm III. The plaza facing the Brandenburger Tor, mainly used for marching grounds, was renamed as Pariser Platz as a reference to Paris, the city the Germans wrecked their revenge.
            From the symbol of martial victory, the gate increasingly became a monument of national pride. In the 1860s, its surrounding walls were taken down, leaving the Brandenburger Tor in the middle of a greater Berlin. Later, the Prussian soldiers home-bound victorious from the Franco-German War in 1871, a war that was most likely decisive to the German unification, held their triumph through its doors. As the favorite setting to hold marches and to arrange rendez-vous with foreign dignitaries, the Brandenburger Tor and its Quadriga became an ever-present feature on German currency, postcards and even playing cards.
            But even such a striking landmark could not be safe from the controversy that suffocates Berlin to this day. Although the Brandenburger Tor did not topple during the mass air raids of the Second World War, the Quadriga was severely damaged. Fortunately, however, the Nazis had made plaster casts of the structure before the War became full-blown. The unfortunate part was that the casts were in West Berlin while the Brandenburger Tor was in East Berlin. In 1958, the two necessarily joined hands in one of the fewest cooperative attempts made between the west and the east. West Berliners forged a replica of the original Quadriga and left it near the boundary of the Berlin Wall, where East Berliners were to take the sculpture and mount in on the gate. Despite the straight-forward deal, a dispute erupted because the militaristic symbols of the Prussian eagle and the iron cross were forbidden in East Germany, while it was not so in West Germany. These figures were thus sawed off; West Germany raged at the "betrayal." Nevertheless, the damage had been made, and West Germans could only look longingly at the goddess’s backside since the Quadriga had always faced "inwards" to the city.
            Heated discussion over the Quadriga rose for the last time in 1990, when New Year's revelers rendered the sculpture beyond repair. Taken down for another restoration, the Quadriga faced two options, either to be turned into the pre-1958 version with the iron cross in its staff and the Prussian eagle or the post-1958 one without both features. In 1991, the decision was made that although the two Prussian symbols may seem inadequate in Berlin, a city of both weapons and wounds, they represented glories before the World Wars and thus would only hint innocuously at the German people's pride in their nation. The goddess was to be ornamented again.

III. Turn towards Practical Use

III.1 The Background
            When Bismarck spoke of "blood and iron," he did not do so without foundation. The monarch he served, Wilhelm I (1861~1888), crowned himself as Kaiser, or Emperor, at the Hall of the Mirrors, Versailles, four months before the Peace Treaty of Frankfurt ended the Franco-German War. Thus, in 1871, the German Empire was born, literally, in midst of battle. The war against the French, however, was only one in a series of Prussian victories in the late 19th century. After victory against Denmark and Austria, respectively, and the acquisition of the Alsace-Lorraine region, which had once been German territory, from the French, the German people were no doubt willing, if not even hopeful, to unite as a Germany dominated by Prussia.
            The auspicious beginnings of the German Empire, however, belied its underlying problems, which ultimately brought the Empire to an abrupt end by 1919. A point to clarify is that regardless of the elimination of its namesake, the term "German Empire" continued to be used throughout the republic that was to follow. Nevertheless, the two political structures will be strictly separated in this paper. Aside from the appellation problem the future generation would suffer, the German Empire had been found on unstable grounds. Although its militaristic ventures had been a significant factor in gaining the public's favor, Prussia's assumption of control over the German people also involved skilled diplomacy. Bismarck, now chancellor of the new Empire, had been and still remained the man behind the stage, pulling the strings and maintaining the precarious balance in domestic and foreign affairs throughout Wilhelm I's reign. With a single man responsible for and attending to such delicate matters, however, perhaps the end of the German Empire had always been apparent from the very beginning. When the idealistic and "Wilhelmine" - that is bombastic and presumptuous - Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888-1918) dismissed Bismarck from office in 1890 for wielding too much influence, the German Empire began its descent that would last two hectic decades.
            The First World War can especially trace its origins to the failure of the German Empire to take appropriate action on the world stage. Despite Bismarck's warnings, his successors enthusiastically enlarged the German navy, planning to expand their reach as far as India and experimenting with imperialism in Africa among older and more thus settled European powers. The United Kingdom almost instinctively recognized the German Empire as an enemy that would threaten, and soon did threaten, its "rightful" and critical dominance over the seas. Thus, in response, the British aligned themselves with the French, the Empire's natural enemy since the Franco-German War, and the Russians. The German Empire was thus trapped between three potent enemies, and the scene for World War I was ultimately set.
            Although the war itself had not caused much damage on the German nation, its aftermath, including the exorbitant reparations and the subsequent inflation and unrest, had most definitely turned the German people against their incompetent Kaiser, whose irresponsible behavior, they believed, had brought the misfortune upon them.
            On November 9th, 1918, the German Empire finally ended, but chaos persevered. Even before the First World War came to an official conclusion, two politicians had simultaneously claimed the birth of two new German republics within hours of each other: Philipp Scheidemann supported the Democratic Republic and Karl Liebknecht, the Free Socialist Republic. The ensuing political tumult resulted in the reluctant but voluntary abdication of Wilhelm II, who then fled to the Netherlands, and the transfer of power from a member of the House of Hohenzollern to Friedrich Ebert, a politician more moderate than either Scheidemann or Liebknecht.
            Because the German people feared a bloody revolution such as the one that had recently taken place in Russia, they were cautious of making any radical change. Even when Liebknecht and other communist leaders were murdered in early 1919, the German people took little notice, for they had chosen stability over equality and sided with the non-extremist policy of Ebert. Nonetheless, despite the people's and the government's efforts to make best of the situation at hand, the newly established German Republic, later better known as the "Weimar Republic," after the city of Weimar in which the first constitutions were drafted, continued to be disturbed by political uproar as various parties rose and fell in their struggle to assume power.
            The Weimar Republic's economic concerns, however, greatly overshadowed its political fracture. Although the German people had anticipated a heavy payment, the reparations the new Republic were held responsible as well as the lands and resources it had to relinquish were exorbitant beyond imagination. Beyond the Rhineland, which was taken according to the Treaty of Versailles, the Ruhr valley, probably the most industrialized and lucrative region of the Republic, was to be occupied by the French because the reparations were not being paid on time. The Republic was to somehow compensate for its losses while at the same time paying their "debt" on tight and already late, if not completely impossible, schedule.
            To make situations even worse, the Great Depression spread its heavy gloom around the world, and the struggling German Republic was particularly hard hit. Although reparations were later shrunk in amount and the time limit, lengthened, the government had myopically printed more and more new money in order to cope with the economic crisis and caused flagrant inflation, otherwise known as hyperinflation. Money lost its value and the people lost the modicum of stability they had retained since the First World War. With it, they had also lost their hope. Eventually, the Republic was to face the same fate as its predecessor, the Empire, and disintegrated a few years later when a charismatic demagogue caught the fancy of the desperate crowd.

III.2 The Significance
            Indeed, on hindsight, the German Empire and the German Republic had the nation and the people at their best interests. Their progressive reforms, made even more significant by the short time both governments were in power, are largely unmatched by policies made in any other era. Nonetheless, the two governments' failure to maintain peace and order prevented either the German Empire or the German Republic from being held in good light, both then and now. The buildings of the late 19th and early 20th century, too, as a direct consequence of their association with the governments of their period, could not escape the cold indifference of the German people. Despite the fact that much of the modernist movements had shaped the buildings in a way that would benefit the people, the buildings themselves, regardless of their function or plan, became symbols of defeat and ineffective rule and were regarded as unsuitable to decorate the landscape of a capital city.
            Fortunately, however, the few surviving buildings help to illustrate the general luster of the age when avant-garde artists advocated the practical expression of human will and intellectuals took advantage of the Industrial Revolution to develop new materials, tools and techniques for effective construction. The combinations of such factors resulted in buildings that may not be particularly pleasant to behold, but those that were built for and by the people who sought modernism as a means to grasp at hopes for a better future to come.

III.3 Architectural Modernism
            Although the German Empire was established as early as 1871, its imperial parliament, the Reichstag, did not have a permanent building of its own until 1894. Considered both an integral yet an insignificant part of the Empire, the Reichstag building confronted much controversy regarding its structure and location. To satisfy both the loyalists and the liberals, it had to be placed somehow far yet near the palace grounds, and thus could not be settled on one site for nearly a decade. Only the second architect to be chosen through a competition, Paul Wallot, then had to design a structure that represented the "German spirit" and the "German parliament," both of which had no precedents to copy and no concrete meaning of their own to formulate a new form. Thus, among unsettled disputes, the Reichstag building, with its semi-ornate Renaissance design and semi-modern cupola, came to being on Königsplatz, today known as Platz der Republik, slightly off-center of Berlin.
            In 1916, an inscription, "Dem Deutschen Volke," or "To the German People," was added to the building in the midst of the First World War, an adequate harbinger of the role the Reichstag was about to adopt in the Weimar Republic. In fact, the German Republic had actually been proclaimed from the very building. However, as already stated before, the Weimar Republic hardly thrived before it disappeared into the thicket of Nazi outbreak. Minus the Reichstag fire incident in December 1933, in which the Nazis blamed the communists for setting the building on fire and, consequently, prohibited the press and support of other political parties, the building suffered very little through the Nazi era. Despite Hitler's fondness for the ornate structure, an association with the monarchy or the democracy was much too risque for the Nazis to go beyond preserving the building and holding speeches nearby.
            But the Second World War rendered the building, with its destroyed cupola and blackened fa?ade, barely recognizable. The only assurance for the building was that it ended on the British sector of occupied Berlin. Yet, in face of practicality, the building, like the Stadtschloss mentioned in the previous chapter, appeared to have no clear purpose. The Reichstag was replaced by the Bundestag, the federal parliament, and the monarchist building only proved to be an eyesore of extravagance. Nonetheless, because the first sparks of the German parliament had been kindled from its very halls, the Reichstag building was to be restored in 1961 to a simpler design and a modern interior. With the seat of West Germany's government in Bonn, however, the building only held exhibitions of German history and hopes to one day house again a political institution.
            Ten years later, the artist Christo turned his attention towards the largely abandoned Reichstag building. Famous for expressing his ideas about postwar division through wrapping numerous objects, Christo petitioned to borrow the Reichstag building for his inspiration. Although the building was not currently in use, its symbolic and political embodiments prevented a swift agreement. Only by 1994, through a close vote that ruled 292 for the project and 223 against it, Christo was allowed to drape an aluminum-colored cloth over the entire structure from June to July 1995. A well-voiced concern at this period was that after the second reunification of Germany and the firmly planned installation of a new democratic parliament in the Reichstag building to follow soon afterwards, the project to draw attention to the building seemed to have no practical reason. Yet, somehow, the "Wrapped Reichstag" was to be reborn into something more trustworthy and promising once the cloth was pulled down after spending a month in its gargantuan cocoon. Without much ado, Germany's new political history was to begin anew in 1995.

            Better known as the KaDeWe, the Kaufhaus des Westens still adheres to the motto, "in our shop a customer is king, and the king is a customer," a promise that definitely contributes to its ongoing popularity since its construction in 1907. Extended several times to accommodate an expanding collection from all over the world, the KaDeWe has become one of the largest department stores in Europe. Especially known for its gourmet section, the KaDeWe boasts a variety of exotic foods that may not be found anywhere else in Europe. Successful to this day, the KaDeWe after World War II had been the ultimate symbol of West Berlin's economic success.
            Anhalter Bahnhof and Flughafen Tempelhof, a train station and an airport, show the impact of the Industrial Revolution on Berlin. Although the Industrial Revolution began in the 19th century in Great Britain, it did not have manifest effects on mainland Europe until late into the century, when Germany retained a lead on the chemical and the steel industries. Otherwise known as the "Hitchhiker Station," Anhalter Bahnhof was opened in 1880 with Kaiser Wilhelm I and Bismarck presiding the ceremony. As the largest station in Berlin and the second largest in Europe, the station was to impart an impressive image of Berlin on the foreign dignitaries when they arrived through the station. Unfortunately, in 1943, Anhalter Bahnhof's roof caved in during Allied bombing of the city and the station has been largely abandoned since. Today, only a central façade remains with its famous ornamental clock. Similarly, Flughafen Tempelhof was built in 1923 as then Germany's largest airport, again, to impress. However, more significant than the modernist values it represents, the influence it received from both the Nazis and the communists is to be elaborated in the following chapters.

III.4 Artistic Attempts
            Attempting to deviate from the old-fashioned standards set by the well-known Bauakademie, Schinkel's institution of art, the 20th century sought to build art schools of its own. The Bauhaus-Archiv, located in the Tiergarten, is home to a group started by the famous architect, Walter Gropius, in 1919. Established upon the idea that modern technology should be incorporated into the arts in order to create a more practical art from, Gropius's school was originally based in Weimar but moved to Berlin in 1932. However, the Nazis closed the innovative institution in 1933. Nevertheless, the school survived through the wars and autocracies. As early as the 1960s, Gropius meant to raise a building to exhibit the works of his school. But as a consequence of his death, the building's construction was delayed to 1971, when the collection was gathered in Berlin and 1979, when an archive, which includes exhibition halls as well as a library, was finally founded.
            Originally established as an arts and crafts museum in 1881, the Martin-Gropius-Bau was designed by Martin Gropius, the great uncle of the renowned Walter Gropius. However, in 1922, the building was forced to accommodate a museum of ethnology; after the Second World War, it suffered extensive damage that caused it to be abandoned in ruins. In the 1970s, plans for a new highway even threatened the building's complete removal. Nonetheless, the Martin-Gropius-Bau, like Walter Gropius's school, also survived the years. In 1981, a reconstruction program was applied to the building by numerous architects, and as of 1999, the building is used as an exhibition hall, displaying art, photography and architecture.
            The Universität der Künste, the University of the Arts, and the Technische Universität, the Technical University, although different in spirit to the institutions founded by architects, still represent the spirit of the revolving art world in the early 20th century. Established in 1696 as the Preussische Akademie der Künste, the school adopted significant reforms in the 1870s and the 1880s: new divisions were made and new buildings were raised. However, only two buildings survived World War II. Called the Hochschule fur Bildende Künste, the College of Fine Arts, and the Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Künste, the College of Music and the Performing Arts, the two colleges together constitute the University of the Arts today. The Technische Universität was founded in 1879 as the Royal Technical College of Charlottenburg when the Bauakademie was united with another academy that focused on vocational activities. Closed following World War II due to the damage on its buildings, many of its wings were rebuilt, and the school was reopened in 1946 under the current name of the Technical University of Berlin.
            A fine example of architecture produced by the institutions above, all of which attempted to create a modern style of art, is the Shell-Haus. Catering to the need for more office complexes, the Shell-Haus was designed in 1931 as one of the first buildings in Berlin to use a steel-frame construction. Mainly noted for its exotic structure, the Shell-Haus has a series of zig-zags for its fa?ade: the building starts with a five-story elevation on its first zig-zagging step and increases floor-by-floor until it reaches a ten-story elevation on its last step. Through the Second World War, the building was restored once as the headquarters of the German navy and a second time as a military hospital. Eventually, however, after much of the war damage had swept through its rooms, the Shell-Haus entered a period of dormancy in the 1980s and the 1990s, when necessary agreement and funds for renovation work could not be amassed. Only by 1997, serious work began on the building, and by 2000, the new owner of the building, GASAG, Berlin's energy supplier, occupied its premises.
            Other than the Shell-Haus, 20th century architects also left their marks on Museumsinsel in the form of two installations, the Bodemuseum and the Pergamonmuseum. Constructed by 1904, the Bodemuseum snuggles well into the wedge-shaped northern end of the island. Initially named the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, the structure received its current name after the Second World War to honor an art historian, Wilhelm von Bode, the director of Berlin’s museums at the time of its construction as well as its first curator. Moreover, while it held a mixed collection of artwork before the War, its paintings were later moved to the Kulfurforum, to be discussed in a later chapter, and its Egyptian art, to the Ägyptisches Museum at Charlottenburg Palace. The museum has specialized in coins while most of its rooms were being refurbished since 1997. Reopened in 2003, it now holds a collection of sculptures and Byzantine art in addition to its original collection of coins and medals. The Pergamonmuseum was constructed by 1930 and has never been subject to destruction or dispute. The building, as it was always done, holds an impressive collection of Greek, Roman as well as Islamic artwork.

IV. Propaganda and Megalomania

IV.1 The Background
            Perhaps what is the one of the better known sections of German history began on January 30th, 1933, when Adolf Hitler, the leader of the National Socialist Party of German Workers, otherwise known as the Nazis, was made chancellor of the German Republic. The dice was cast, and the Republic was doomed to be overtaken by Hitler's infamous Third Reich within a month.
            Although Hitler had come to power with other members of the government, especially those related to the revered ex-general and president, Paul von Hindenburg, to check his power, he soon assumed complete dictatorship by February. However, in order to achieve such condition, Hitler had used every means possible, ranging from the unethical to the outrageous. Through the Reichstag fire incident, most likely staged by the Nazis, Hitler eliminated the competing communist party by heaping the blame upon the party's members and supporters; through the burning of "degenerate" and "un-German" library books at Bebelplatz, he eradicated beliefs that were contradictory to his own and suppressed the dissent of the intellectuals. Through the Olympic Games held in Berlin in 1936, Hitler had the perfect opportunity to display Nazi "grandeur" to the outside world; through the implementation of the Nürnberg, or Nuremberg, Laws, which deprived the Jewish people their rights as German citizens, Hitler found a means to exploit his favorite scapegoats. The man's immovable resolve surely must have been appealing to the German people at a time they could find no firm ground, and their need must have overlooked the man's vitriolic nature.
            Hitler's policy to decimate the Jewish people and to establish German supremacy over the entire world had thus been put forth at an unbelievably opportunistic moment, when such nonsense could be executed for the sake of stability. The Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935, the Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, a mob attack against the Jewish population, of 1938, and the Wannsee Conference of 1942 are dates marking the escalation of a policy since known as the Holocaust, the planned mass genocide of the Jews, but other minorities such as the Gypsies, the homosexuals and other such "undesirables," were also subjected. Nonetheless, more important than exact dates, it is clear from Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampt, or My Struggle, that he had long planned to "purify" the German people from the influences of what he believed to be the "inferior races." Anti-Semitic sentiments were free to run to the extremes once the Nazis seized power.
            The Nazi interference world wide cumulated in to the Second World War when Hitler pushed beyond his limits and attacked Poland, an act that not be excused even by the appeasement policies of his main opponents, France and Great Britain. Yet the Second World War resulted not because of incompetence, as the First World War had begun, but rather as a result of calculated measures. Before the outbreak of the War, Hitler had already made a pact, the "Axis Powers," consisting of Italy, Russia and Japan, to aid him in what he had obviously planned to be a full-scale world war.

IV.2 The Significance
            Besides the frenetic oratories, race hunts and conquests, Hitler added fuel to his campaigns by establishing a solid image of German "supremacy." A significant part of the plan included modifying the city of Berlin into "Germania," the capital of a new German empire called the Third Reich. The rationale behind the appellation maintained that Hitler's rule was a continuation of the glories of the Prussian and the unified German rule of 1871. The German Republic of 1918 was not recognized.
            Under the guidance of Albert Speer, the Third Reich's head architect, Hitler began to expand boulevards and embellish façades to suit his taste, which ran to the extreme, the imposing and the extravagant, otherwise known as "megalomaniac," or having an obsession with size. More problematic than the pretentious appearance, however, the crimes committed within the walls of the Third Reich buildings made them absolutely controversial. However, for these reasons, the buildings were mowed down almost immediately after the Second World War. Today, the Nazi remnants remain more in the sites that were lost and have to be either renovated or commemorated rather than the sites that were created by Hitler's ambitions.

IV.3 War Losses
            Innocent lives and ideologies were not the only victims to World War II. As a direct result of the needlessly enthusiastic air raids on both sides, buildings, too, have suffered in their own silent ways. But a mental note must first be made previous to listing the architectural war damages from 1939 to 1945: many of the buildings that appeared to have been lost during the shelling, shooting and razing, had actually been destroyed by the Nazis. Hitler, hand in hand with Speer, hoped to create an intimidating city of "true" and "supreme" rulers, which was to include wide boulevards and gargantuan victory gates, stations, palaces and domed buildings. Nevertheless, many other structures that had survived the Nazi influence could not escape the mass bombings. One site and one building, especially, never recovered from the ruins the Second World War had rendered them.
            Monbijoupark, located on the Spree River, originally held the Monbijou Palais, an only scantly known palace. Destroyed by the war and left on the Soviet sector of Berlin, the palace ruins were completely taken down in 1960. Today, it is a picturesque place to seek relaxation in the crowded city. The children’s swimming pool most definitely adds a certain relief. Unable to return to its condition before World War II, the place still remains as park grounds, almost oblivious of its past.
            More important than ravaged sites, among the countless architecture that were lost either by the Nazis reveling down their own buildings or the Allies accidentally destroying valuable monuments, the most noticeable building in contemporary Berlin is probably the half-ruined Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche, a church named after the emperor of the time. Constructed and consecrated during the early part of the German Empire, the World War II bombers damaged it by 1943. After the War, the rubble was removed, leaving behind only the tall front tower, the roof of which was permanently left in its uncovered state since it caved in. In 1961, an octagonal hall made of blue glass was added for the sake of accommodating large crowds. The church represents many of its fellow buildings that no longer exist today.

IV.4 Vestige of "Germania"
            Although the Second World War partly destroyed Berlin, it nonetheless saved the city from other destructions Hitler and Speer had designed for the near future. Speer, after his survival from the Nazi trials and service in jail, wrote in his memoir that Hitler had established a sort of an academy of the arts nearby his "temporal" residence at the Chancellery building and frequently visited him working on the designs for a new city. Fortunately, the final plans, mostly based on Hitler's preliminary sketches, were confirmed only by 1937. With two years left before the Second World War, Hitler barely had enough resources, never mind the time, to see the city of his dreams become a reality. Only individual buildings remain scattered and incomplete today.

            Contrary to popular beliefs, however, the few remnants of Hitler's plans did not suffer much controversy. After the War, the choice was either to tear down the buildings that were already destroyed or to reuse the salvageable buildings.
            Two famous examples of the former choice are the underground bunker in which Hitler had spent his last days, the Führerbunker, and the Chancellery building. Careful not to associate himself with either the monarchy or the weak democracy and adamant not to bend to the modest standards of either government, Hitler was determined to create a grand "Führer's Palace." He could not bear to limit himself to the old palaces as the contemporary rulers of other countries had done. To grasp the man's sense of scale, his official residence was to be surrounded by a dome sixteen times larger than that of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and a triumph arch twice as high as that in Paris. Before any such monuments could be built, however, Hitler had to satisfy himself with the newly constructed Chancellery building, which boasted an austere façade and a succession of reception halls clustered about the entrance to impress guests. The Führerbunker was dug nearby the temporary residence, as a protective measure against total warfare. When, after the War, both structures were left in the hands of the Nazi's greatest enemy, the communists, their fate was set to dissolve into history. As a matter of fact, the communists demolished both and used the rubble to create their own Soviet-honoring monuments. The site of the Führerbunker is still, to this day, largely unrecognized by tourists and guides alike because it stands covered by grass, a playground and parking spaces.
            The latter choice, that is, to reuse the infamous buildings, was possible only because the Allied bombings had left almost a bare minimum of buildings standing by the end of the air raids. The utter lack of even the most basic apartment houses ruled over symbolism, ideology and sentimentality. Two office grounds stand as ideal examples of such necessary practicality. The Reichsluftfahrtministerium, or the Ministry of Aviation, was specifically designed in 1936 to suit the needs of Hermann Göring and his management of air travel, especially that of the military. Almost miraculously, the heavy-set building survived the air raids, unlike other structures that occupied one of the most central streets in Berlin, the Wilhelmstrasse. Although formerly occupied by head members of the Nazis, as an intact and spacious building, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium was dubbed the "House of Ministries" by the East German government after it leased the building to many of its ministries. The official establishment of the German Democratic Republic was even announced behind its stolid façade in 1949. The building's significance in East Berlin was further emphasized when the German worker's strike against the communist government in June 17, 1953, the day the Strasse des 17, Juni is named after, began in front of the building. After reunification, a special government agency, the Treuhand, which dealt with East Germany's previously state-owned finances, filled its rooms. Still used as an office building, bureaucrats have never left the former Reichsluftfahrtministerium.
            Similarly, a collection of office buildings, the Bendlerblock served as an extension of the Third Reich's military offices. Housing the headquarters of the Wehrmacht, the German Army, during the Second World War, the complex, despite its off-central location in Tiergarten, held a strategic importance for Hitler. The most famous assassination attempt made on the man had actually been conducted in the building in July 20, 1944, when a group led by Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg planted bombs around its rooms. Unable to kill Hitler and even to seize significant government positions in midst of the chaos, however, the "conspirators" were arrested. Many were executed on the Bendlerblock grounds. A monument to commemorate the event has been raised in 1953, and an exhibition detailing the anti-Nazi movements in Berlin occupies a permanent spot among the office buildings.

            A main component of "Germania" had been its excellent modern transportation network. Already built during the Weimar Republic to impress both Berliners and foreign visitors with the state-of-the-art condition of Germany's capital city, the Flughafen Tempelhof airport gained strong approval from Hitler. He promptly ordered mass refurbishments for the airport, ones that would extend the structure as a whole and add propagandist emblems, such as the Nazi eagle. Despite its identity as the largest Nazi structure to survive the Third Reich and the Second World War, however, Flughafen Tempelhof also served a practical purpose of civilian air travel throughout its existence. That reason alone was enough to "de-Nazify" the building. Later, it was further associated with the Americans, who crowded the place with their air force, and the famous Berlin Airlift, to be discussed in the next chapter.

            Perhaps the most important trace the Nazis left in Berlin is maintained in the form of an exhibition called the Topographie des Terrors. The Niederkirchnerstrasse, which runs south of the Potsdamer Platz, was formerly called the Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, an address that invoked much fear to the citizens of the Third Reich. Located afar from the royal center around the Unter den Linden as well as the democratic center around the Pariser Platz, the Prinz-Albrecht-Strass was an ideal place as the center of Nazi activities, in which warfare and genocides were planned and carried out. As an illustration, where there used to be a palace built by Schinkel, a hotel and an art academy, the Geheime Staatspolizei, the Schutzstaffel, and the Sicherheitsdienst moved in. Better known as the Gestapo, the Geheime Staatspolizei was the secret police whose headquarters were, ironically, not so secret, and both the Schutzstaffel, or the SS, and the Sicherheitsdienst, or the SD, were private guard force of the Nazi party. As linked as their activities in interrogating, imprisoning and torturing people, both German and foreign, the three institutions were close neighbors.
            As expected, the three buildings, despite their valuable architecture from the 18th century, were mowed down after World War II. They indeed had suffered damage from the air raids, but more so, even for the salvageable parts, there was simply no desire to re-erect what had once been some of the most hated buildings in Berlin's history. After almost having been used as a helicopter landing ground or a highway, the Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, by then renamed after a communist leader killed in the concentration camps, Niederkirchner, became a boundary of West Berlin when the Berlin Wall ran right alongside it. Bordering the no-man's land on its east and dotted with various mounds of rubble yet to be removed, the Niederkirchnerstrasse drew much controversy over what might be done with it. Plans for a memorial, however, have been rejected for its incongruence in an otherwise normal neighborhood, and those for either a museum of German history or of Jewish commemoration were also rejected because they would attempt to purify the grounds by not confronting the past in its full impact. A site of perpetrators had to be acknowledged for what it had been.
            As an answer to this problem, during the 1980s, an organization named the Active Museum of Fascism and Resistance in Berlin came into being and laid its own plans for the much abandoned street. It proposed that the site had to be embraced in totality, including the surviving Nazi cells excavated in 1985 and the mounds of ruins that indicated the negligence of the successive generations. Only certain signs with informational texts and pictures would be displaced to indicate where and how the Nazi structures had once been. Thus in 1987, the Topographie des Terrors, or the Topography of Terror, which linked the land directly with history in a way no plain museum or monument could have done, was opened. Although initially planned as a temporary exhibition, by 1989, further plans had been laid to make it permanent. When the Berlin Wall was torn down in the following year, a small segment had been saved to incorporate it as part of the exhibition according to the spirit of its original purpose, that is, to show history as starkly as it was and is.

IV.5 Lingering Victims
            While, like the Topographie des Terrors, Berlin had to unearth its crimes and admit the perpetrators who had once trodden its grounds to cope with its past, it also had to commemorate the victims to cope with the present. Especially, among the many groups of people who were discriminated and killed, the Jewish community, both inside and outside Berlin, voiced its concerns for remembering its previous generation's pains. However, unlike the concentration camps, where the victims had visibly suffered, a city full of government buildings that had housed the secret police and plazas that had held rallies of anti-Semitic crowds hardly seemed to have an appropriate spot to honor the some nine to eleven million innocent lives, persecuted, tortured and lost. In the 1990s in particular, the will to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust resounded through Berlin. Many of the ideas, however, such as the ones that proposed a gigantic slab of stone material to be stationed in the middle of Berlin, were unfeasible and inadequate in a functioning and bustling modern city. Fortunately, Berlin today appears to have found small yet noticeable, and most importantly, significant, places to contemplate the horrors man may commit against his fellow human beings.
            The Neue Synagoge, the new synagogue, and the Jüdisches Gemeinehaus, the Jewish community center, stand as restored versions of their previous forms, which had been destroyed by the Third Reich. First built in 1866 as Berlin's largest synagogue with a capacity of 3,000 worshippers, the Neue Synagoge was first damaged in November 9, 1938 during Kristallnacht and a second time, by Allied bombings during World War II. In 1958, the building was demolished according to the communist government's wish. But the Jewish community in Berlin did not lay low and watch their cherished synagogue go. Reconstruction lasted from 1988 to 1995. The building now serves as an ancillary exhibition hall to the Centrum Judaicum, another Jewish center, erected next door for the preservation of history and cultural heritage through its extensive archives and research programs.
            The Jüdisches Gemeindehaus saw a less turbulent history. Although a relatively new synagogue built in 1912, it was burnt down in the Kristallnacht. However, the building was soon rebuilt by 1959 as the headquarters of the Jewish community. Beyond the elaborate portal at the entrance, the only remainder of the lost synagogue, a school, offices, restaurants, prayer rooms and a courtyard of remembrance are safely tucked into the bluish gray building.
            Unlike the two buildings mentioned above, two sites could not, or rather, did not return to their old conditions and were instead refurbished into monumental parks. The Gedenkstätte Grosse Hamburger Strasse is an entire street of memorials dedicated to the Jewish community. Although it had been one of the main Jewish quarters since the 17th century, the Grosse Hamburger Strasse, specifically, a rehabilitation center devoted to caring for the elderly, was used as a deporting ground for Berlin Jews to be rounded up and sent to concentration camps. The building has been torn down, and today, a display of several statues of Jewish people waiting to be sent to the death camps occupies the empty spot. Another exhibition lies on the empty space that once beheld residential houses. Titled "The Missing House," the eloquent piece includes signs that indicate who had once occupied these grounds and what the Third Reich had done to them.
            Similarly, the Alter Jüdisches Friedhof, translated as the old Jewish cemetery, can be dated from 1672 to 1827, for some two hundred years it took to be filled with over 12,000 Berliners. Newer Jewish cemeteries were fenced off later, but as the most prominent one, the Alter Jüdisches Friedhof had been deliberately unearthed and trampled by the Nazis in 1943. By the end of the War, in 1945, the old cemetery was transformed into a park. Only tombstones embedded in the original cemetery wall, including the one of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, serve as a reminder of the haunting past.
            Perhaps the last form of commemoration to the Jewish community can be seen in the Holocaust Denkmal, the Holocaust Memorial, which was constructed in 2003 near Berlin’s most prominent symbol, the Brandenburger Tor. Providing a hands-on experience, the memorial is composed of concrete slabs standing vertically, in between which visitors are supposed to walk and read the inscriptions on the ground detailing information about the genocide. The Jüdisches Museum, too, is a contemporary structure. The zigzag pattern of the building's overall plan is meant to represent the Star of David, a stigmatization the Jewish people were forced to wear throughout the Third Reich. With is aggrandizement of various Jewish artifacts, such as books, photographs and personal trinkets, the museum still attracts many tourists who come to learn more about the unforgettable event and to honor those who have passed away as well as those who have had the courage to teach the future generation through such exhibitions.

V. Unwelcome Dedications to "the People"

V.1 The Background
            After Hitler attacked Poland in 1939, the Second World War ravaged over Germany until 1945, when the Nazi forces surrendered unconditionally and the man largely responsible for the chaos committed suicide. The Allies would not have had their victory, however, without the Soviets, who stormed into Berlin with a force of nearly 1.5 million men. Besides the quantity-over-quality tactics, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR, provided a strategic position on the "other side" of Germany. With France and Britain on the west and the USSR on the east, Germany was immediately placed in a precarious situation once Stalin cut his ties with Hitler, and instead joined hands with Churchill and Roosevelt after Hitler had betrayed him by venturing into Russian soil in series of battles called the Blitzkrieg. Previously marked as a great enemy by the Allies and a threat to democracy itself, Stalin was now greeted and considered part of the "Big Three" rulers who drew plans for the future of the world after the Second World War.
            Although the War was ultimately to be won, the Allies faced a crucial problem exactly because of the dangerous alliances they had sought during desperate times. Already somewhat apparent through the plans made during the Teheran and Potsdam Conferences, the completely different ideologies of the USSR and the United States, the latter of which was the main force behind the Allies, would set the next stage of conflict, later known as the Cold War. Located in the middle of the two world powers and held responsible for the past wars, Germany ineluctably became the center of the brawl.
            Eventually, after the famous surrender on April 1945, Germany was divided into four sectors. Besides the winners of the war, the Americans, the British and the Soviets, the French, a member of the Allies that lost relatively early in the war, was included. Berlin, too, was divided into four sectors. Although the four was to cooperate in making decisions concerning Germany and Europe as a whole, they also retained separate claims to each sector. The Allies were careful not to use the term "spheres of influence,' but the concept was applicable.
            The tension therefore extended and finally exploded when the old members of the Allies refused to cooperate with the Soviets, mostly due to the stubborn inflexibility the Soviets had brought to previous dealings with the Allies. The western powers explicitly adopted another currency after the Soviets had already offered one. The act was a deliberate show that the western powers were united against the Soviets. With such conflict as an outward excuse, the communist authorities then answered with a blockade to the entire city of Berlin. Such measure was possible because Berlin, closer on the eastern edge of the country, was located in the Soviet sector of Germany. Simply put, the western segment of Berlin was an enclosed island in midst of a sea of Red. Thus, the Berlin Airlift took place from June 1948 to May 1949, when the Allied powers delivered planes every three to four minutes to the Flughafen Tempelhof airport, carrying loads of foodstuff and other essentials.
            Soon after the Berlin blockade, the western powers united their segments to form the Federal Republic of Germany. As a response, the Soviets formed the German Democratic Republic. Commonly referred to as West Germany and East Germany, the two countries are called the Bundesrepublik Deutschland and Deutsche Demokratische Republik, respectively, in German. Later, as a physical embodiment of the separation, the Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to prevent people, mostly from East Germany, to cross into the opposite side, to West Germany, through Berlin, the only open connecting point between the two Germanys. Now Germany was literally split in two with jungles, concrete, mines, watch towers, guard dogs, border patrols and graffiti drawing a line across the middle. With the "Iron Curtain" in place, the Cold War came to a full swing and gave birth to organizations such as the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization, the NATO, and the European Economic Commune, the EEC, the latter of which is the precursor to the European Union, and the Warsaw Pact. West Germany joined the NATO and the EEC; East Germany joined the Warsaw Pact. Until November 9th, 1989, when the Berlin Wall was freed of official restrictions, and the early 1990s, when the Cold War, as well as East Germany, came to a halting stop with the demise of the Soviet Union, the German people were to remain fragmented once again.

V.2 The Significance
            Compared to its predecessor totalitarian regime, the communist rule in the Soviet sector of Germany and later East Germany, did not cause much harm to the German people or the world in general. Nevertheless, after its fall alongside the Soviet Union, the remnants of East Germany entered controversies even worse than those related to the Nazis. No physical warfare had half-destroyed the buildings and naturally subjected them to demolition. No unbearable taint forced the moderately damaged ones to meet the dynamite. Moreover, erected only ten to twenty years before, no threat of the long years risked the buildings to collapse any time soon. The communist buildings were bound to last for another decade or so. In other words, whereas the Nazi buildings were demolished without a second thought, both due to the heinous crimes related to them and the damage already inflicted upon them, most of the communist buildings were to be preserved and de-Communized in a way that would be suitable for future use.
            Therefore, how to go about stripping the old buildings and monuments of their original intent presented the question of the decade. Numerous extremist monuments were bound to be destroyed. But beyond them, many historians and artists voiced their concerns about preserving the vestiges of the division instead of white-washing them and denying their existence as history had once done with many Nazi remnants not mentioned in this paper. The competition between East and West Germany to claim the title of the "better side" had actually added some notable as well as useful structures to Berlin; manny citizens of East Germany, the "Ossis," were bound to experience discomfort in their new country if it continuously threatened to erase their country of origin from memory. In one way or another, mere destruction did not seem to present an option. Thus, a main component of Berlin's architectural controversy today still concerns the communist buildings.

V.3 Presence of Division
            Although the Berlin Mauer, the Berlin Wall, is probably the ultimate symbol of Germany's post-war division, the Mauer will not be dealt in extensive detail because it is not only well-known but also non-existent today. Construction of the Berlin Mauer began in August 13, 1961 by the East German government. Dissatisfied with the fact that many of its citizens aspired, and even dared, to seek new lives in its enemy country, West Germany, East Germany placed a concrete wall to close off West Berlin to the East Germans. It further stripped an entire field behind its part of the Berlin Mauer and stationed various guarding facilities similar to those of a prison. The watch towers and patrols became a striking contrast to the free land on the western side of the wall, where graffiti about love, peace and unity began to amass. According to the official statistics made by the East German government, 125 people were killed attempting to cross the so-called "death strip." However, considering the fact that the East German government rejected all claims to building the wall until the day of its construction, there are naturally suspicious regarding the exact numbers. Although arguments as to preserve certain segments of the wall or to destroy it completely were definitely raised at one point or another, Berliners' deep rooted hatred for the structure as well as tourists' incessant chipping of the parts have solved the problem on its own accord.
            Another famous remnant of the division between the east and west is the Checkpoint Charlie. Between 1961 and 1990, it was the most prominent crossing-point for foreigners to travel back and forth East and West Berlin. Although the checkpoint gates do not remain today, there is a replica of the booth that used to guard the site and a famous sign that reads, "you are leaving the American sector," in English, German and French, purposely placed there as a display. Perhaps more interesting than the former checkpoint itself is a museum nearby, the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, which not only details information about the Berlin Mauer but also has a chronicle of ingenious escape attempts from the east to the west, including long dig underground and suitcases with secrete compartments.
            While most foreigners used Checkpoint Charlie, the Berliners used the S-Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse. Located slightly in the eastern part of Berlin, the underground station nonetheless served as a transit point between West Berlin's S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines. While all other stations in East Berlin became Geisterbahnhöfe, or ghost stations, in which trains were forbidden to stop and therefore would only pass by, the S-Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse allowed the West Germans to come on East German land, albeit underground and under heavy surveillance. Also used a waiting room for the emigration process as well as a place to exchange goodbyes after a visit across the other side, the underground station gained a moniker, the Tränenpalast, or the palace of tears.

V.4 The Race
            As each part of divided Germany, particularly divided between two contrasting ideals, communism and democracy, both East and West Germany must have felt the urge to "show off." Trying to convey which side did better economically, socially and ultimately, politically, the two Germany claimed Berlin, the divided capital city, as their show case. The communists started with the most flagrant monuments. The Sowjetisches Ehrenmal, the monument to Soviet soldiers, was raised in 1945 to commemorate Russia's October Revolution. Built from the rubble of the Chancellery building and composed of a thick and high marble column with a bronze statue of a solider on top, the monument eventually ended on the British sector of Berlin. However, as the country that had suffered the most losses, over 300,000 soldiers, the USSR requested for the preservation of the structure among other similar monuments. An enclave was thus set for East Berliners to gain access to their government's monument.
            The Marx-Engels Forum, which must be distinguished from the Marx-Engels Platz, the name of the Schlossplatz during the communist era, and the Russische Botschaft are other examples of the communist government's unrestrained display. More prominent than the Marx- Engels Platz, which is simply an empty plot of land, is the statue of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Added in 1986, the statue stands unadorned and rather awkward with now meaningless phrases, such as "world revolution" and "dignity and beauty of free men" written across its base. Built on the site of the original Russian embassy from 1837, the Russische Botschaft was the first post-war building erected on Unter den Linden. Stylized after Stalin's elaborate taste, the Neo-Classical building is ornamented with various statues of workers in places where, in a normal palace, Greek and Roman gods would have stood.
            Better architecture can be found in the Nikolaiviertel, a quarter full of restored buildings that can be dated to the Middle Ages. Named after St. Nikolai, whose 11th century church was restored after its destruction from air raids, the quaint quarter is full of narrow alleys, small cafes, shops and museums. The redevelopment of this part of the city was carried out between 1979 and 1987 under direct orders from the East German government, which probably meant to seek both a way to reestablish Berlin's roots as well as to set an example of a certain respect for and encouragement of cultural development in the communist sector. Although often criticized because of its plasticity in place of authenticity and the disordered amalgamate of historic buildings, the Nikolaiviertel is nonetheless a must-see site for tourists and an ideal relaxation place for Berliners.
            The best displays East Germany has left are most likely the Fernsehturm, the television tower, and the Friedrichstadt Palast, the entertainment center. Nicknamed the telespargel, (literally tele asparagus) or the toothpick, the Fernsehturm is, to this day, the tallest structure in Berlin. Raised in 1969 with the help of Swedish engineering experts, the tower represented a sort of a proclamation of communist pride. The East German government boasted their technology in the form of a structure that would be well noticeable, not only to its citizens but also to the people on the other side. Access to an observation floor and a cafe can be made by using an elevator. Unlike the Fernsehturm, the Friedrichstadt Palast had already existed before the communist rule. Initially built as a market place, the building was transformed into a theatre, the Gross Schauspielhaus, in 1918. Destroyed in World War II, it was rebuilt in the early 1980s with a theatre as well as an interesting podium that can be turned into a circus arena, a swimming pool and an ice rink. Glossy on the outside with its neon signs, the Friedrichstadt Palast was to serve as a near equivalent of the Roman amphitheatre to the East Germans.

            As a response to the East German show, the West Germans answered with quarters of their own called the Kulturforum and the Hansaviertel. The plans for building Germany's cultural center were fully promoted in 1956, and thus the Kulturforum was built between 1961 and 1987. The first building to be erected on the site, the Philharmonie und Kammermusiksaal, translated as the philharmonic and chamber music hall, the building may first appear as an aberration of a circus tent. However, within, the structure boasts amazing acoustic effects and is associated with one of the most renowned orchestras in Europe, the Berlin orchestra, founded in 1882. The Kammermusiksaal was later added to the Philharmonie in 1987.
            Art was promoted even more than music at the Kulturforum. Four important museums are the Neue Nationalgalerie, the Kunstgewerbemuseum, the Kupferstichkabinett and the Gemäldegalerie. As the first museum to be stationed at the Kulturforum, the Neue Nationalgalerie was stripped of its collection during the Nazi era. Later, however, the collection was restored, with an inclusion of 20th century artworks as well. The two next museums are more specialized in their specific fields. The Kunstgewerbemuseum deals the arts and crafts; the Kupferstichkabinett houses prints and sketches. The art collection at the Gemäldegalerie has been systematically aggregated to include a near comprehensive display of some of the best European schools of art. Initially gathered at the Altes Museum on Museumsinsel, the collection was moved a few blocks to the Bodemuseum until it found its current home. Other than the museums, a library of the arts, the Kunstbibliothek, further helps to foster culture in this unique setting.
            Consisting of thirty-six buildings out of the original forty-five designed during the Internationale Bauausstellung, the International Architectural Exhibition, held in 1957, the Hansaviertel is located within Tiergarten District. Home to some of the most modern buildings in Berlin, such as the oyster shaped Haus der Kulturen der Welt, or the House of World Culture (constructed in 1956, partial collapse in 1980, reopened in 2007), the Hansaviertel is largely a residential quarter. Nevertheless, it incorporated designs by prominent architects of the period, such as Walter Gropius, and also includes a school and a new headquarter of the Akademie der Künste, the Academy of the Arts.

V.5 In the Name of Communism
            As clear-cut as the race between the East and the West Germanys may seem to be, Berlin has more structures that are less blatant, and thus more controversial, than the buildings and monuments less previously. As a matter of fact, as already mentioned, new problems confronted by reunited Berlin were ever more serious than those faced by both East and West Berlin after the Nazi era. In order to cope effectively with the situation at hand, that is, not to repeat the confusion caused by the indiscreet destruction of and severed ties with Nazi influences, an organization, the Initiative Politische Denkmäler der Deutsche Demokratischen Republik, was formed by a group of art students in 1990. Similar but perhaps more public and extensive to the Active Museum, the Initiative Politische Denkmäler was soon joined by the Active Museum in its pursuit to preserve historical facts and to stir discussions and studies about the remnants of communist East Germany.
            An example of a building saved despite its communist connections is the Rotes Rathaus, the red town hall. Originally built as a modest town hall, the Rotes Rathaus underwent major restoration in the 1860s. Made with red bricks, the building retained its name since then, and not necessarily from the political leanings of its future occupants. Seriously damaged during World War II, the Rotes Rathaus was reconstructed in the 1950s by the communist government to be reused as East Berlin's authoritative center. Even after reunification, the new federal government chose to have Berlin's town hall at Rotes Rathaus instead of its West Berlin counterpart, the Schöneberg town hall. Watching many authorities come and go, the building has never lost its namesake through the turbulent years.
            Contrary to the clean closure met by the Rotes Rathaus, the Schlossplatz and the phantoms that lurk about the plaza still hang in limbo today. Built in place of the Stadtschloss, the Palast der Republik is still remembered by many as a utilitarian and, ironically, democratic building that incorporated cafes, theatres and other facilities open to all its citizens. However, aside from the miserably modernistic eyesore it once provided the city landscape, the Palast der Republik could not escape controversy regarding communist monuments after Germany was reunified in 1990. The question was whether to preserve or to destroy, and if the latter choice, whether to reconstruct the Stadtschloss or to start anew.
            Despite the contemporary structure's usefulness, the public sentiment was strong for a restoration of the old palace. The Stadtschloss not only represented the glorious period before the World Wars but also had been untainted by both Nazism and communism. To add fuel to the controversy, already in 1990, the Palast der Republik left no choice but to be shut down when the building was discovered to have been infested with dangerously high amounts of asbestos. Destruction seemed necessary. Moreover, with pervasive disagreement about the type and form of architecture that would replace the Palast der Republik, new designs for the grounds have never been met with positive appeal. Starting anew appeared almost impossible as well. In 1993, perhaps anticipating a final turn for reconstruction, a privately funded project took place in which art students painted the old palace's façade in full scale on cloth and draped it over where the Stadtschloss had once stood. Nonetheless, hardly enough justifications exist to rebuild a monarchist palace in present day Berlin, and the controversy continues.
            Meanwhile, demolition of the Palast der Republik began in 2006, three years after the decision to tear down the building had finally been laid. With the completion of the final razing of palaces set for 2008, ever new plans for the Schlossplatz remain undecided to this day.

VI. Convergences and Choices
            After three hundred years of architectural dilemma, Berlin seems to face limited choices in its modern context. Many buildings have already been lost or restored, yet disputed structures remain abandoned in many cases, both physically and spiritually. The process towards defining the city's identity and its attitude toward its past is still an ongoing process that appears to have no set termination. Thus, Berlin is a metropolis that bustles with ideas and plans as well as ruins and emptied grounds in midst of historical and recent buildings. Two choices, however, seem to have emerged as the trend to solving Berlin's architectural controversy. One is to reuse the disputed buildings, and the second is to redevelop the ruins, or the to-be ruins, to major centers.

            Initially meant to be a new arsenal and guardhouse to represent the military strength of the Prussian monarchy, the Neue Wache was constructed in 1818 by Schinkel. Largely ignored immediately after the end of the monarchy, however, the building caught the Third Reich's fancy in 1931, most likely due to its enormous Neo-Classical columns, and was turned into a monument to honor the soldiers killed in the First World War. Later, after the Second World War, the building was restored, albeit with some interior changes, because the communists also wanted to use the building as a war memorial. However, instead of glorifying the soldiers only, the memorial was dedicated to all victims of Fascism and militarism, thus including any anti-Nazi people. The ashes of an unknown soldier and a resistance fighter, and the earth taken from a concentration camp were stationed beside the eternal flame.
            The controversy began when the new democratic government expressed its will to use the Neue Wache one more time as a memorial to the victims of war and tyranny. The government proposed to keep the ashes, the earth and the eternal flame and to add another feature, an enlarged sculpture of a pieta by Käthe Kollwitz, an artist and mother who had lost her son during the World Wars. Despite protests about recycling a place that had once been honored by the Nazis and the communists alike, Berlin was in desperate need of a single spot at which politicians and foreign dignitaries may come to pay their tributes. Moreover, the city also needed a definitive memorial that would sum up the horrors the land had once seen and relate to the people’s current response to their history. In terms of pure practicality, the Neue Wache seemed ideal as a memorial as it already had most of the main features and a certain claim to the role. Eventually, the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny was opened in 1993.

            The Potsdamer Platz had once been known as the busiest place in Europe due to the multiple cross roads, bars and crowds of people that had filled it in the early 20th century. But, after the destruction caused by the World Wars and the negligence it suffered as a useless strip of bare land besides the Berlin Mauer, the Potsdamer Platz was reduced to an empty field, covered only by an overgrowth wild grass. As an allusion, in a 1987 film called the Wings of Desire, a character wanders in to the current Potsdamer Platz and exclaims that he cannot find the Potsdamer Platz.
            Recently, however, the Potsdamer Platz has been redeveloped into a major commercial center, full of some of the most daring and beautiful architecture Berlin is famous for. Started around 1992, the redevelopment program has cost Daimler Chrysler, the producers of the Mercedes-Benz, and Sony, among the most famous building owners, a total of twenty-five billion dollars. Yet, the money has certainly been worth investing. Other than the Haus Huth, the only building that has survived through the years, many buildings, including office complexes, shopping malls and theatres, have largely been built during the twenty-first century.
            The Sony Center, in particular, is hard to miss due to the tent-like roof perched on top of the glass and steel structure. As the European headquarters of Sony, the building incorporates residential and entertainment facilities into its office rooms for its staff as well as visitors. Another interesting segment of the Sony Center is the Kaisersaal, which is fenced off from the rest of the building by glass walls. Once a dining hall of the Grand Hotel Esplanade, one of the most luxurious hotels in the early 20th century, the Kaisersaal has been incorporated into the Sony Center’s interior after it was moved some forty meters from its original location, complete with portraits of its namesake, Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Bibliography Note : Websites listed below were consulted in November 2007
1.      Eyewitness Travel Guides: Berlin. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2000.
2.      Ladd, Brian. The Ghosts of Berlin. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997
3.      Schulze, Hagen. Kleine Deutsche Geschichte (Germany: A New History). 1996, translated by Deborah Schneider. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998
4.      Wise, Michael. Capital Dilemma. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998
5.      Article Berlin, from Wikipedia, last modified Nov. 12th 2007, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Berlin
6.      Donath, Matthias. Bunker, Banken, Reichskanzlei: Architekturfuhrer Berlin 1933-1945 (Architecture in Berlin 1933-1945: A Guide through Nazi Berlin). 2005. Translated by Miriamme Fields. Germany: Elbe Druckerei Wittenberg, 2006.
7.      Germany Year Zero (movie). Director. Roberto Rossellini. With Edmund Moeschke, Ingetraud Hinze, and Franz-Otto Kruger. G. D. B. Film, 1948.
8.      Holborn, Hajo. A History of Modern Germany 1840-1945. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.
9.      Kaldor, Andras. Berlin: Masterpieces of Architecture. England: Antique Collectors’ Club Limited, 2002.

Appendix : List of Buildings and Monuments

Buildings, Monuments, Sites mentioned in Chapter II. Promotion of National Strength and Unity

Name / "Nickname"

English Translation

Year

St.Hedwigs Kathedrale

St. Hedwig's Cathedral

1747

Friedrichswerdersche Kirche / "Schinkel-Museum"

Friedrichswerder Church

1831

Berliner Dom

Berlin's Cathedral

1750

Staatsoper unter den Linden

State Opera House

1742

Konzerthaus

Concert House

1821

Neues Museum

New Museum

1855

Alte Nationalgalerie

Old National Gallery (Museum)

1876

Schloss Bellevue

Bellevue Palace

1786

Humboldt Universität

Humboldt University

1753

Altes Museum

Old Museum

1828

Alte Bibliothek / "Kommode" ("Chest of Drawers")

Old Library

1780

Lustgarten

Pleasure Garden

Siegessäule

Triumph Column

1864

Stadtschloss

City Palace

1451

Brandenburger Tor & Quadriga

Brandenburg Gate & Sculpture

1795

Buildings, Monuments, Sites mentioned in Chapter III. Turn towards Practical Use

Name / "Nickname"

English Translation

Year

Reichstag building

1894

Kaufhaus des Westens / "KaDeWe"

Department Store of the West

1907

Anhalter Bahnhof / "Hitchhiker Station"

Anhalt Station

1880

Flughafen Tempelhof

Tempelhof Airport

1923

Bauhaus-Archiv

Bauhaus-Archive

1979

Martin-Gropius-Bau

Martin Gropius Building

1881

Universität der Künste

University of the Arts

1696

Technische Universität

Technical University

1879

Shell-Haus

Shell House

1931

Bodemuseum

Bode Museum

1904

Pergamonmuseum

Pergamon Museum

1930

Buildings, Monuments, Sites mentioned in Chapter IV. Propaganda and Megalomania

Name / "Nickname"

English Translation

Year

Monbijoupark

Monbijou Park (My Jewel Park)

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche

Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church

1895

Führerbunker

Führer's Bunker

1895

Reichskanzlei

Chancellery building

1938

Reichsluftfahrtministerium

Ministry of Aviation building

1936

Bendlerblock

Bendler Block

Topographie des Terrors

Topography of Terror

1987

Neue Synagoge

New Synagogue

1866

Jüdisches Gemeindehaus

Jewish community center

1912

Gedenkstätte Grosse Hamburger Strasse

Memorial on Grosse Hamburger Strasse

Alter J?disches Friedhof

Old Jewish Cemetery

Holocaust Denkmal

Holocaust Memorial

2003

Jüdisches Museum

Jewish Museum

2001

Buildings, Monuments, Sites mentioned in Chapter V. Unwelcome Dedications to "the People."

Name / "Nickname"

English Translation

Year

Berlin Mauer

Berlin Wall

1961

Checkpoint Charlie

1961

S-Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse / “Tränenpalast”

Underground Station on Friedrichstrasse

Sowjetisches Ehrenmal

Monument to Soviet soldiers

1945

Marx-Engels Forum

Russische Botschaft

Russian Embassy

1952

Nikolaiviertel

Nikolai's Quarter

(1987)

Fernsehturm / "Toothpick"

Television Tower

1969

Friedrichstadt Palast

Friedrichstadt Palace

1984

Kulturforum

Culture Forum

1987

Philharmonie und Kammermusiksaal

Philharmonic and chamber music hall

1987

Neue Nationalgalerie

New National Gallery (Museum)

1987

Kunstgewerbemuseum

Arts and Crafts Museum or Museum of Decorative Arts

1987

Kupferstichkabinett

Cabinet of Copper Engravings

1987

Gemäldegalerie

Paintings Gallery

1987

Kunstbibliothek

Art Library

1987

Hansaviertel

Hansa Quarter

1957

Rotes Rathaus

Red town hall

1869

Palast der Republik

Palace of the Republic

1976

Buildings, Monuments, Sites mentioned in Chapter VI. Convergences and Choices

Name / "Nickname"

English Translation

Year

Neue Wache

Royal guardhouse / New Arsenal

1818

Potsdamer Platz

Potsdam Plaza

Sony Center

2000

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