I was told that Berlin is unique among major European cities in that it does not have a single central core. It has an eastern city and a more upscale western city, although that distinction is diminishing every year. Between the two is an area about four blocks wide and twelve blocks long that was “No Man’s Land” before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and has since become a modern business district.
The unifying feature of Berlin today — its existential core — is not a place, but a pall. It’s the city’s horrifying twentieth century history….the persecution and then extermination of Jews by Nazis, followed by the arbitrary and then brutal division of the city by Soviets. Berlin has rebuilt, but reminders of a terrible past — a recent past, really — are all around.
We talked in hushed tones during much of the days we toured Berlin. It was reverence. It was sadness. It was worry it could happen again.
JER
ALL OVER THE MAP 