Berlin III. Berlin Wall

The third article about Berlin will talk about the Berlin Wall, one of the most famous elements of the city. The wall was built in 1961 during the worst moments of the Cold War, to separate the areas occuppied from Soviets from the areas occuppied by the Western powers at the time. Besides, it cut the city in two areas, breaking appart families, friendships... It is without any doubt one of the most infamous creations of the human being. Anyway, since it fell in 1989, it is still there to tell us what should not be done. The wall surrounds all Western Berlin and passed by the Bradenburg Gate. It was not a wall, but two with a contention zone in the middle. The Bradenburg Gate, the symbol of Berlin and Germany, stayed in that contention area for 28 years! Nobody from Berlin could see it for all that time...

Now, there are remainings of the walls in several areas of the city. These are the most important (or at least i think so...):

- Downtown, between the Holocaust Memorial and CheckPoint Charlie:



- Postdammer Platz. There are still a several pieces of the wall in the middle of the street. This square is the symbol of modern Berlin and it was in the contention zone until 1989!



- East Side Gallery. This is the longest remaining part of the wall. It extends for several kilometers and has been painted by artists, some of them famous. We walked along it for a while and these are some of the most interesting paintings we saw.





The last two pictures are courtesy of Jorjaibjes.