Once-upon-a-time, in the not distant past, Berlin was a divided city – free West vs. Communist East. We know how the story ended, who was on the right side of history.
But what about the back-story, the history of how Berlin became a riven city? That’s the story expert scholars will unfold for you in Context Travel’s About the Divided City, Berlin in the Cold War Walk.
The trek starts on the east side of this now united metropolis, at Frankfurter Tor on Karl-Marx Allee. This wide river of a boulevard once bore the name Stalinallee, and was the epicenter of the Communists’ effort to develop Berlin after World War II.
Context says you’ll spend considerable time on Stalinallee, talking about the “Soviet-influenced classicism was intended to provide everyday workers with the comforts and luxuries of the old bourgeoisie.” The operant word here is ‘intended.’
From there, you’ll take an elevated S-Bahn train to the West, to Berlin’s new government center. Here the discussion turns to how the West responded to the Communists’ move to transform their part of the city. What resulted was a massive re-build of West Berlin’s Hansa Quarter, an area that remained essentially in ruins after the war. A legion of the planet’s best architects descended on the area – Le Corbusier, Gropius and Niemeyer among them. From the rubble rose modern structures, surrounded by a green, park-like area. The effort embodied the move to freedom that would eventually swallow the East whole.
By the time you’ve completed this journey through 20th Century history you’ll better understand why the Berlin Wall came tumbling down.
Context Travel’s raison d’etre is the expert, intimate exploration of our planet’s great cities – what made them, and what makes them tick. No mere tour guides here. The people who lead the treks are legitimate experts in their field.
(Featured image: BadSwan)
