Criss Crossing Berlin Part 2

Reichstag

       Following German reunification on October 3, 1990 the Bundestag decided, one year later, to make the Reichstag the seat of Parliament in Berlin, the restored capital of reunited Germany. After a complete restoration of Paul Wallot’s original 1894 building, the Bundestag reconvened here in Sir Norman Foster’s spectacularly restored Reichstag building on April 19, 1999.

John:  “I really liked how there was only about two policemen lightly armed guarding this building. It reassured me that parliamentary democracy is indeed not paranoid, a view I developed after seeing the U. S. Capitol building guarded by about 20 guards each wearing bulletproof vests and packing assault rifles…”

Alexanderplatz = TV Tower, St Mariekirche

Everyone is supposed to remember that Berlin’s Fernsehturm (TV Tower) is 368m high and is the tallest building in Berlin. Construction for the GDR transmitter started in the 1950s and the tower erected between 1965-69 was intended as the tallest tower in Europe second only to Moscow’s own TV tower.

An extremely popular sight for tourists and Berliners alike, it currently receives over 1 million visitors a year. The lift reaches an altitude of 200m in 40 seconds; the observation deck is at a height of 203m and the Telecafé at 207m. The Telecafé, designed with an outer ring of revolving tables, serves coffee, snacks and reasonably priced meals while revolving once around its axis every 30 minutes. On a bright day, this is the way to take in Berlin and surrounding Brandenburg from an eagle-eyed view.

One million people congregated here, on 4 November 1989 to demonstrate against the GDR regime shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was the largest anti-government demonstration in its history.

John:  “A really big plaza. And a big tower. But the St. Mariekirche was absolutely beautiful, with a gilded organ that was so beautifully crafted and looked like an absolute joy to play. Simply stunning.  I wish that our church looked like that…”

Topography of Terror

The site known since 1987 as the "Topography of Terror" was the central location from which the Nazis planned and managed most of their crimes. Here, between 1933 and 1945, the most important institutions of the Nazi terror apparatus of the SS and police. Partially destroyed during the war, rendered unrecognizable after the war by demolition and conversion, and eventually forgotten, this historic site was rediscovered in the early 1980s and gradually reestablished in the historical memory of Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. What had been a partial wasteland in the shadow of the Berlin Wall was ultimately transformed into a center for the documentation of Nazi crimes, and now attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

John:  “I found the short biographies of some notable Germans killed by the Nazi party to be most interesting and depressing. So sad that so many intelligent and hard-working people should die. Yet once again, it is very extraordinary how the Germans own up to their nation’s mistakes.”