Berlin; Monday, 20 February, 2006

A day spent exploring Berlin's civilian life in both W.W. II and the cold war that followed. First stop of the morning was a metro station to the north of the city centre.

Gesundbrunnen is one of the deepest metro stations on the network and when it was built, there was a lot of spare space. At the time, it was used for storage, but in the early 1930's the German government decided to convert the space into a bunker for use by the civilian population. Of the over 200 bunkers built in the city this is one of the very few that still exist, let alone are open. The only reason this is one can be visited (on guided tours only, two on Monday and two on Saturday in English) is because it was for the civilian population. Any bunkers linked to the Nazi party have either been destroyed or sealed and their locations hidden to prevent them becoming shrines to the less desirable elements of society.

The tour, which lasted almost 2 hours, showed the kind of environment that the increasingly desperate citizens of Berlin would have lived in. By the end of the war Berlin was the most bombed German city (many others have titles for the most destruction - Dresden - or the most killed, but Berlin had the greatest physical number of bombs dropped on it.) Some of the descriptions of what life would have been like are horrifying, and at one point, the tour guide explains that with bad planning cubicles, rather than curtains had been fitted in the toilets. At the end of the war, with the Russians advancing, and fears (some justified) that the average Berliner would be raped, murdered or taken as slave labour, many hundreds of people committed suicide in them where they could not be seen.

The tour concludes with a look at some artefacts that have been found not only in this bunker, but at some of the others, including a very rusted, very broken, but still instantly recognisable enigma machine.

With a quick stop en-route for a bite to eat, I headed to Anhalter Bahnhof. Once a major station all that now remains is a small part of the front facade. Even the railway line has gone. Next to where the tracks should have been, is another of the Berlin civilian bunkers. This one has three stories above ground and several more below. Once again, in German style it has no sympathy for the people who lived through the war in Germany. German thinking on the subject appears to be that as they were the initial aggressors, no non-persecuted Germans should get any sympathy. The fact the Hitler only came to power with less than 42% of the vote; orchestrated an elaborate coup with the Reichstag fire; brought destruction on a massive scale to large parts of 'his country' (nobody has ever been able to explain to me how an Austrian managed to become the most powerful man in Germany!); and at the end turned on his own people persecuting them for 'failing him' by wanting it all to end, doesn’t appear to affect the thinking. Consequently, very few of the bunkers are open and all the museums ignore the last few weeks of the war and leap straight to the Armistice and rebuilding

The top two floors have been turned into a Chamber of Horrors type attraction with people that jump out at you. Only the first basement floor has some information on artefacts found in the bunker and aerial views of the area from pre war to post wall.

I caught the bus back into the central area of the city and visited the site of the city palace. Although badly bombed, and burnt out the building was still in good shape at the end of the war, and could have been repaired. However, it lay in exactly the place where the East German government wanted to build their „Palast der Republik" (Palace of the Republic) and parade ground. The palace was the seat of power of East Germany. The parade ground was for glorifying the wondrous leaders (Imagine lots of troops marching, people with candles, and senior members of the communist party standing on a balcony looking down benevolently on their admiring subjects - whilst ensuring that the secret police were keeping tabs on anyone who might pose a threat to them or not share the same ideals.) Today the Palace faces the same fate after considerably less life than the 200+ year old palace it replaced. 16 years after the wall fell and with all the asbestos that was in it removed it is now being pulled down to be replaced, most likely, by a rebuild of the original royal palace!

From here, I walked the short distance to Alexanderplatz and went up the TV tower in daylight - without a queue. Whilst there I stopped for a very late lunch/very early dinner in the revolving café taking in the views of east and west. After lunchinner (as I am calling it!) I went back to the area around Zoo to visit the Story of Berlin. When I originally visited it in 2004, I had done so late in the evening and missed the tour that comes with the entrance price. This time, as it fitted in so well with the day I was not going to miss it. After all, it is not everyday you get to look around a nuclear bunker! The tour takes you around the Kurfüstendam bunker. The bunker is still maintained so, should the worse ever happen, it can be brought back into use within a couple of minutes! In a very small place over 3,000 people would cram - almost certainly living for their last few days as their is only enough air, food and water for 14 days, not long enough for the radiation to have decreased to a level that won’t kill you!

After the tour, and a quick look again around the museum, I headed back to Zoo to catch the 200 bus. The 100 bus takes in all the historic sights of Berlin, the 200 takes in the modern including the area around Potsdamer Platz that I wanted to look at, but couldn't today because the viewing platform was closed! After taking in all the sights, I got off the bus at Alexanderplatz and made my way back to the hotel to pack.