Day 9 – “Germany Today”, the Colorful Neighborhood of Kreuzberg and A Few Must See Stops

For our first full day in Berlin, my TOP group and I took the train to the Charlottenburg district. Here we were warmly greeted by Professor Wolf Wagner, a German political scientist and author of several publications on the topics of the German university system, East and West Germans, poverty and culture. To provide us with a real insight into German culture Professor Wagner gave us a tour around his neighborhood and even invited us inside his home for coffee, cake and a Q&A session about Germany today. During our vibrant discussion, Professor Wagner shared that the graffiti throughout the city was originally influenced in the 1970’s by the graffiti in Philadelphia. Graffitti, while illegal, is still viewed as a piece of art and culture in Germany. In addition, from Professor Wagner we learned that only 14.2% of people in Berlin own their own homes due to the high transfer taxes that occur when buying homes. We also learned that many of the issues in Germany are similar to issues in the United States, such as topics surrounding peace, democracy, the economy and climate change.

After touring his home and learning about the common structure of Berlin homes, as well as how to tell which buildings are prewar and which were rebuilt after the war, we had a short lunch before heading to the neighborhood of Kreuzberg. Our first stop when arriving was to visit the Kreuzberg Museum. Here we enjoyed a sit down conversation with one of the museum guides, who is also a resident of the neighborhood. During our conversation, our group analyzed the differences between immigrants and migrants and learned how a German Turkish neighborhood such as Kreuzberg came into existence. Here is a little history for you, in 1945 42% of the buildings in this neighborhood were destroyed from Allied bombings. By 1950 many tenants began to take on repairs themselves, but lacked the key supplies they needed. Many residents of the neighborhood continued to work in the West, but live in the East. However, in August 1961, the border was closed and West Berlin lost 60,000 employees who lived in the East and could no longer get to work. This had detrimental impacts on the economy of both areas. In 1962 guest workers came to fill the void of the West workers, many of whom were from Turkey.

We wrapped up our session with the museum guide by brainstorming the various integration steps that must be taken for an individual to truly become a part of their neighborhood and new culture. Areas included language acquisition, job training, music, social behaviors, knowing unwritten rules, accents and traditions. To give us a true insight into this Kreuzberg neighborhood we then went on a walking tour. During our tour we were able to learn about the different backgrounds of the people in this urban setting, the X-Berg-Tag project, we also visited a local cultural center and a mosque. We also learned about the famous Kreuzberg rap group, the 36 Boys. Graffiti symbolizing this group is everywhere in the neighborhood. Another feature of this neighborhood that makes it unique is that there are no large companies or businesses, everything is locally owned. Our tour guide even shared with us that the community has a five step process for kicking capitalism out of their neighborhood. It was quite a lively tour.

With free time on our own a few of my TOP teachers took the advice of our exceptional local guide Jörg and took the train to the Charlottenburg district. Here we were able to visit the Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was nearly destroyed during WWII. The only surviving part of the church was the Old Tower, which now serves as the Hall of Remembrance.

The construction of the original church began on March 22nd, 1891 and the church was officially opened in 1895. On December 23rd, 1943 the church was first damage and then during the final air raids in April 1945 lasting blows were made to the church. The only part saviagable was the Old Tower, which is now open to the public from 10-6 Monday through Saturday.

Stepping inside the old tower is like stepping back in time. The ceiling still has well-preserved mosaics that tell the story of the church and reconciliation. The Old Tower was 113 meters high prior to destruction, but now stands only 71 meter high and is an eerie reminder of the cost of war. What is fascinating is that through all of that damage the chime in the Old Tower can still be heard every hour. I was told that typically you can take a tour up to the top of the bell tour, but that was unfortunately under construction during our visit.

The Charlottenburg District also had a variety of large department stores, shops, restaurants and places to visit. If you find yourself in Germany and the temperatures are hot, as we did, this area is great because many of the business actually have air conditioning. After some retail therapy, we headed to the Neni Berlin, which is a restaurant at the top of the 25Hour Hotel, where you not only can find fusion cuisine, but guests also get panoramic views of the city and if you are lucky you may find yourself in one of the seats overlooking the monkeys at the Berlin zoo. With so much to explore, make sure you head to the Charlottenburg District the next time you find yourself in Berlin, you won’t be disappointed.

On our way home, we chose to take the double decker bus, rather than the train. Our public transportation tickets worked for both and we wanted to take advantage of soaking in the city sights before the sun set. This by the way usually doesn’t happen in June till nearly 10 pm and the sun is out bright and early just before 5 am. I was shocked by this, but when looking at Germany’s place globally, it is really equivalent geographically to the middle of Canada! We hopped off the bus at the Alexanderplatz and explored around the Berlin City Centre. Since it was around 9:30 pm we were able to see various tourist attractions at a time of day when not many others were around. Here is what we saw…

(The Church of Saint Mary)