Sitting at home in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's......you get the idea. The Berlin Wall, the Cold War, while a reality and a concern in our lives, it takes on a new meaning when you can see the effects in person. Being newcomers to Berlin, we wanted to orient ourselves to the city proper. So we did as many thousands of tourist before us, we got on the "Hop on, Hop off" and learned about the East and the West. The yellow route was primarily in West Berlin and the purple route was in East Berlin. While there have been many strides forward since the wall came down and the unification took place, there is the difference like night and day between the two sectors. The West, while under the supervision of the Allies (the U.S., Great Britain, and France), moved forward and the East was stagnant under the Russian supervision.
1945 was a dreadful period of time for the Berliners, refugees from the East, released prisoners, returning soldiers. Everything was destroyed, no job, no money, no place to live. I've seen the pictures and it is hard to comprehend. I like Berlin, new construction is everywhere and the Americans are welcome here. They were our enemies at one time. That was then, this is now. It will be interesting to watch the development of both the East and the West as they move forward together, rather than apart.
 |
| The Berlin Wall |
 |
| Be careful |
 |
| Brandenburg Gate 2015 |
 |
| Brandenburg Gate 1941 |
 |
| Reichstag 2015 |
 |
| Ruins of a 18th century church...now a monument to WWII |
 |
| At the Brandenburg gate |
 |
| Brandenburg Gate, also |
 |
| After the Russians 2015 |
 |
Russians 1945
|
No comments:
Post a Comment