This past weekend (long weekend) I visited friends at Potsdam University just
outside Berlin Germany.
Watching the building of the Ravenel Bridge and now the unbuilding of the
Grace and Pearman Bridges has been a delight but also has opened my
eyes to building and unbuilding in other political settings.
With my curious eyes open, I spent Saturday with my friend touching
a part of history that I had only read about or seen on television.
It turned out that coming to Berlin for the first time was difficult - and
brought back memories from 15 years ago.
In November of 1989,
a German colleague was visiting me at Duke and he I were talking and
discussing the impact of trainloads
of East Europeans migrating through Hungary into Germany.
I asked if he thought the Berlin wall would ever come down and his
immediate answer was "not in my life".
That evening, on the 6:30 news, we watched the impossible - the first
cracks on the Berlin wall.
So within this context,
I asked my friends to take me to the wall - as this was
quite personal given my conversation 15 years ago. On our way to the wall, we
passed this church - the result, I suppose, of Allied bombing raids. Its
state is a reminder of a rather destructive type of unbuilding.
The original Reichstag is totally reconstructed
The development of a new unified Berlin is nothing short of
dramatic. Look at the reflections of the new cultural center. In Berlin,
lakes, parks, bicycle paths - everywhere. A big city designed for
people, comfort and a quiet spirit.
Soon we arrived at the Brandenburg Gate -
otherwise known as Checkpoint Charlie during those dark days - and filled
with intrigue from not only the reality of Soviet-West uncertainties, but
from John le Carre's spy novels.
and next to this were reminders of the deaths of those trying to escape.
As you look from the northern side of the Brandenburg gate, rebuilding
is everywhere.
Looking from the south, the reconstruction was less obvious - though
there was rebuilding everywhere.
Walking from the new Parliment building, there is a plaque
on the granite walkway - a reminder of the path of the Berlin Wall
and for some distance, a strip of granite marks the path of the wall.
Now to find the wall. The Berlin public transport system is designed
for people and convience. We had no difficulty locating the path
from the Brandenberg Gate to the Wall.
We took the subway to where we thought a segment of the wall
still existed - and after asking a few folks, we found a short (50 m)
segment (right). (By the way, the red segment of the sidewalk is for
bicycles - and is part of most streets in Berlin.)
A closer view
and another view of the wall segment. What a contrast - the dark,
dingy wall and the perfectly blue sky with puffs of clouds. The temperature
was about 18 or 20 C - perfect for simply enjoying the day
Hidden behind the wall was a collection of wall segments - reminding me
of the stack of 7 foot wide roadway segments removed by Testa from the
Pearman bridge.
Across the street was a berlin_small museum that described many of the events
surrounding the building of this wall. The photo tells the story.
