Berlin Histories

21/04/2021

It has the representative flair common to a court building of the early 1900s but at first sight there is nothing out of the ordinary about what today is the highest state court of Berlin. Rather far away from it a sign addresses the events which unfolded behind its doors in the last year of the N**i regime. But its possibly even more relevant history is only indicated above its entrance: By four empty flag poles. So what is the story?

At the end of the N**i era the infamous „People's Court“ (Volksgerichtshof) moved in when its former home at Potsdamer Platz had been destroyed. The "People's Court" was a special court the N**is set up for prosecuting acts of treason – treason being an offense which this court interpreted more than widely. Most of it was a bad travesty of the justice system Berlin had once had. The trials against the conspirators of July 20th, 1944, in this courthouse were hardly anything else than showtrials.

But the four empty flag poles are the only sign that the building was home to the Allied Control Council. The American, Soviet, British and French flags flew above the entrance from 1945 to 1990. The Allied Council's decisions and directives would pave the way for Germany's future. In order to prosecute the crimes committed by the N**i regime together, the very first time in history ever, an International Military Tribunal was opened here - even though its proceedings would eventually take place in Nuremberg. And three German historical heavyweights were knocked out here, too. Two of them for good, one of them never to get back into the ring the same: right here, the Allied Council dissolved the N**i party, struck the state of Prussia from the map forever and dissolved the German army.

But the Council became inactive after 1948. Famously, on March 20th, 1948, the Soviet delegate left in protest. Not only against the maneuvers of his British and American peers who planned the independent establishment of a Bizone. He was particularly offended by their plans for introducing an equally independent currency, the Deutschmark. He considered that a violation of their Potsdam Agreement of 1945 which was the basis of their collaboration. His abrupt departure was the ouverture to what would become known as the Berlin Air Lift. It also was the very last time – apart from a formal meeting in 1990 – that the council would ever come together. Large sections of the building were not used after.

But it remained heavily guarded and the four national flags of the occupying powers still flew above the entrance doors every day up until 1990. They rotated regularly as the one on the left indicated which power was in charge. In charge of what? The Berlin Air Safety Center. That was, with Spandau Prison, the only institution which remained under the control of the four Allied powers all through to 1990. It coordinated air traffic in and out of Berlin and was responsible for air safety in the three air corridors between the Western Zones and West Berlin and within a 40 mile radius around the Allied Council itself.

Even during the air lift it had remained in operation. Imagine that. After all, the air lift was in many ways a power game between Stalin and the Western Allies which lasted nearly a year. With the stakes being incredibly high, the 'playing field' of this power game were the very air spaces this Center controlled. But inside the walls of this building each team's players, from either side of that confrontation, somehow worked together. Imagine the atmosphere and conversations in that control room. Potentially Hollywood gold. Just saying.

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30/03/2021

One of Berlin‘s most legendary districts, Kreuzberg, turns 100 years old today! At least in name. Here is why: On March 30th, 1821, another 100 years earlier, Karl Friedrich Schinkel‘s „Monument for the Fallen of the Napoleonic Wars“ had been inaugurated. Just outside the city gates. On top of a natural hill. The Prussian King and his ally, the Russian Tsar, marked the occasion. Berliners started to call the hill Kreuzberg (Cross Mountain) soon after, using the Iron Cross on top of the monument as cue for the first half and, particularly boldly, the 66 meters (215feet) above sealevel for the second half of the name.

A century later, in 1921, the city had spread out far beyond the hill. But for the 100th anniversary of Schinkel's monument the city chose to rename the similarly poorly named district „Hallesches Tor“ (Halle Gate) in its honor. Ever since, the district bearing the name Kreuzberg spreads two miles north and more than three miles East from the hill in question. Its reputation, 200 years in, at complete odds with the original Kreuzberg‘s message.

In form, the monument was reminiscent of a Gothic‘s cathedral tip. Don't forget that Germans of the 1810s and 1820s were dispersed across a multitude of kingdoms, free cities and duchies. And were united by little more than a shared language yet full of claims what was "German". So they certainly did not acknowledge Gothic as a mostly French invention. Schinkel picked Neogothic for the monument not as a tip of the hat to its French early masters but rather as it was believed to be profoundly "German" architecture.

Twelve statues decorate all of its sides, all representing one of the big battles of the Napoleonic Wars. Walking up towards it, the first statue and location spelled out in golden letters is Leipzig, site of the „Battle of the Nations“ in October 1913. More tucked away is the name Großbeeren, a battle site in August 1813, located just south of Berlin. The battle underway, Berliners, if for support, concern or just gawking, had been able to spot it from this very hill.

Opposite to Leipzig, it reads in big golden letters: „Belle Alliance“. A beautiful name, yet unlikely to ring a bell for anyone who is not obsessed with everything remotely Napoleonic. „Belle Alliance“ was the name of the tavern Napoleon used for his headquarters in June 1815. And Prussian General Blücher had decided to use that location for the battle‘s name. Today it is rather known, in his British counterpart Duke Wellington‘s words, as the „Battle of Waterloo“.

Nearly 60years after the monument's inauguration, a united German state had become a political reality and Berlin the Imperial Capital. But the 19m or 60 feet high monument, testament to early nationalist sentiments, was in danger of disapparing behind trees. Its surroundings were about to be swept under by the city‘s industry and city sprawl. Instead, authorities lifted the monument another 8 meters (26 feet) onto a pedestal and its surroundings were bought up and designed into a people‘s park.

Named Viktoriapark after Empress Viktoria (1888), many small paths lead the visitors up the rather steep hill, either to the monument or to the meadows with a view of the city. In summer little ponds fill with water and most famously an artificial waterfall is cascading down the 'gorge' created underneath the monument. Reminiscent of the Czech-Polish Karkonosze Mountains / Riesengebirge, the landscaping seems like sprung from a dream of German romanticism. Yet again, with its mix of beauty and dark wildness, this was allegedly a specifically „German“ landscape.

The Viktoriapark and the monument it was designed around tell a story of victory, militarism, German nationalism and Anti-French sentiments. Its message is at complete odds with the leftist, once downright rebellious and still liberal and diverse reputation Kreuzberg has today. But noone seems to bother much, not even in politicized Kreuzberg. There is no contention about either the history behind it or the monument‘s message. There is no sustained inequality it represents like some victory monuments discussed around the world. While there might be everything from friendly banter to venomous satire vis-à-vis the German or French counterpart, the German-French relationship rests on equal footing and has been sound and stable for decades. So, for locals like me, Viktoriapark or what used to be the original Kreuzberg is just a welcome escape from the city‘s bustle, a nice place for a walk, a picknick or a great view of the city, either direction you look.

08/03/2021

The Women of Berlin, a playlist in honor of International Women‘s Day and specifically Berlin‘s female singers, song-writers, rappers, producers and djanes through the ages. Trailblazers who suceeded where most still failed or fail. (link below)

Berliners are still getting used to this holiday, a state holiday only for the third year in a row. Unlike other nation-states across the globe, the federal state of Berlin does not celebrate the holiday as part of the socialist tradition. Passing the legislation for this new Berlin holiday in 2019 was less a kudos to Berlin‘s socialist past than an affirmation of Berlin‘s religiously diverse and largely agnostic and atheist population.
In most respects, Berlin is a middling student in the endeavor of removing obstacles for women‘s success. If Berlin scores in this arena at all, then its strength lies in its reputation for non-conformism, in questioning the status quo, sometimes shining a light on what‘s shushed elsewhere, sometimes embracing a mere fun-loving rebellion against anything average or expectable. It seems to have started with the lascivious, ironic, critical or combattant songs of women in the 1920s - the most famous of which usually were written by men. But ever since Berlin has often been seen as a playground or laboratory for all different kinds of womanhood, female sexuality and gender roles, even if the reality for most girls or women in Berlin did not look particularly liberal at all.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1VmoRypEahezJxkWhONtjJ?si=CvdeeJyBQMq687jvytiLGQ

27/01/2021

Every year, on , marking the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated in 1945, there is a commemorative walk along the in my neighborhood, Schoeneberg. The bronze stones in the pavement commemorate locals who were deported, imprisoned or institutionalized and eventually murdered by the N**i regime.The "stumbling stones" are always placed in front of these women's and men's last known freely chosen addresses. Due to the pandemic this year, individual stones were assigned and chosen instead. So instead of a walk I found myself kneeling down, cleaning and decorating some of them today. And by so doing commemorating the millions who shared their fate.
The Stolpersteine project, initiated by artist Günter Demnig in Cologne, then Berlin in the 1990s, has since spread to many places across Germany and Europe.

18/01/2021

150 years ago, German unification and therefore the first ever German nation-state came to pass. At least the state formation process reached its most symbolic pinnacle as Prussian King Wilhelm I. was proclaimed German Kaiser in the Hall of Mirror in Versailles. One of chancellor and chief strategist Bismarck's main political goals, German unification under Prussian leadership, had been achieved.While the city of Paris was under siege. Quite a telling start, some would say. There is no celebration for the 150th birthday of the German nation-state. And historian Eckart Conze insists that there is also nothing to celebrate. Because its birth is too steeped in nationalist arrogance, militarism, authoritarianism and imperialist ambitions. All of which would plague Germany's steps forward for so long. If there is any monument representative of this day's events it is Berlin's victory column which celebrates the "unification wars" of 1864, 1866 and 1870/71 against the neighbors Danmark, Austria and France. Today, thankfully, partners and enemies no more. And while the war-ridden context in which Germany was born warrants hesitation, the German Kaiserreich was of course still more than just the cliché eternal war mongerer As some other historians such as Hedwig Richter or Christoph Nonn point out at the occasion of the anniversary: The first German nation-state still was also one of the most modern states of its time with an immense capability for industrial, scientific and cultural innovation. Much of it more than just the outcome of nationalist and imperialist politics. Some of it due to Bismarck's stewardship, some of it the top-to-bottom attempts to shape the nation notwithstanding. All of it now within a German nation-state though. For better and worse.

17/12/2020

Open now (more or less): The Humboldt Forum in the reconstructed city palace. Controversial forever, it now is finished: an architectural pastiche and in terms of content and users also a rather incoherent mix of this and that. It is highly idealistic and ambitious in aiming to be a forum for discussing global issues yet is criticized for a self-interested approach to Germany's colonial past.

14/11/2020

Happy 215th birthday, F***y! F***y Hensel, born November 14th 1805, was a composer and a member of Berlin‘s high society. She was a famous salon hostess, a celebrated pianist and mother of one son. She was of prominent Jewish descent but was baptised at the age of 11 in the hope of shedding any related stigma. She was born into a rich family of illustrious scholars, philosophers, bankers and artists and happily married to a successful painter. She was highly educated, charming, beautiful and funny .
A woman of the early 19th century, she never rose to national or international prominence nor is she widely known today. But quite many people in the Prussian capital knew about her in her time. And being a gifted woman of immense privilege, at least she has had the fortune of being rediscovered in classical music circles as a brilliant composer in our day.
If mostly defined via the men in her life - which is the most common approach to her life -, she is the talented granddaughter of the spiritus rector of Berlin‘s Jewish enlightenment, Moses Mendelssohn, the unusually capable daughter of one of the most influential and successful bankers of Prussia, Abraham Mendelssohn, the widely versed wife of successful painter Wilhelm Hensel and the fascinating older sister of one of the most celebrated composers of the Romantic era, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.
Both F***y and Felix were considered prodigies at a young age and equally talented. But famously her father once had said: „“Music will perhaps become Felix’s profession. For you it can and must be only an ornament.” A brutal distinction but also a completely standard assumption at the time. She constantly conversed and collaborated with her brother who published some of her compositions under his name. Not malignantly, but often, when the topic arose, freely admitting to it and seemingly with her consent.
It was particularly her husband who supported her independent musical ambitions. Wilhelm Hensel allegedly left a blank sheet of paper on the music stand when he left the house, inviting her to pen down her musical ideas. When her brother left for his career in Leipzig, F***y had the opportunity to host the musical salon in her family home close to today‘s Potsdamer Platz. Some describe the salon as the beating heart of Berlin‘s music scene at the time. To this salon, alongside the works of the family‘s musical „house gods“ Beethoven and Bach, her and her brother‘s compositions were key. As a consequence, perfectly adept for the semi-public, intimate atmosphere of the salon, about three quarters of her musical oeuvre are songs.
How she ironically commented on one of her husband's portraits of hers nicely captures her spirit: „He has painted me with a flower wreath in my hair. Again. People will think I was born with one of those. Or believe it is attached to me like a piece of furniture.“
If the salons she hosted are any indication, I'd also expect her birthday party to be an intimate, illustrious and immensely creative affair.
Music: June Serenade from her piano cycle "The Year", performed by Sarah Rothenberg (2006).

Getting to know F***Y HENSEL (1805 - 1847) German composer, pianist, and salon hostess. F***y Hensel was one of the most prolific female composers of the 19t...

08/05/2020

It is the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. While the celebrations and festivities in Berlin and elsewhere have been widely restricted due to the Corona crisis, I am starting a weekly series called "Memories of 1945". It explores different memories and different ways to remember across the generations and, eventually, borders and former enemy lines.
In today's episode I am talking to Steffen Rudolph, a former German diplomat, about his experiences on that day, the years after and how his generation got to learn about the N**is' crimes. Only 5 at the time, we will learn about how he grew up during the war in Chemnitz and how his family escaped from the Soviet occupation zone. How do individuals experience the years following that day and how does the country rise from everyday struggles to a more conscientious look at its past. After all, the atmosphere in which he and my parents grew up differs profoundly from the one I was born into 35 years after the war.

28/04/2020

Corona has hit and while this means that I will find more time to post little snippets of insight online, some might wonder how this affects me and my colleagues. My dear friend and colleague Wouter Bernhardt, already a podcast pro for a long time, has started a great new format chatting with lots of my wonderful and diverse set of colleagues and how this affects us as individuals and as guides. This is the chat we had some weeks ago, give it a listen or sift through all the different episodes and make your pick which story you wanna get into.
See you around here with some more posts on the grand narratives and small stories of Berlin's history. It seems that in the coming months I will have a bit more time than usual. Here you find the podcast to listen to without a specific app: https://t.co/IZFfIMslpr?amp=1

I want to be a tour guide when I grow up. Said no one ever. We’re talking to a seasoned pro about the professional identity crisis faced by tour guides and the surprising gift presented by our novel new situation. Conversation from April 7th 2020. -- Caroline's podcast 'Dispatches from Berlin' and...

26/04/2020

This „little Taj Mahal“ is the oldest still surviving mosque in Berlin, turning 95 years old today. It is hidden away in a well-to-do neighborhood of Berlin-Wilmersdorf. The building‘s construction and inauguration on April 26th drew everyone‘s attention in the Berlin of 1925. It is still known widely as „THE Berlin mosque“ among any Pakistani belonging to the Lahore Ahmaddiya congregration today. But outside of the quiet streets surrounding it, among most Berliners, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, it is widely forgotten today.
Back in 1925 though, built by local architect K.A. Hermann, this jewel satisfied the Berliners' taste for the exotic and foreign. While that loving welcome was not devoid of colonial overtones, the city‘s widely known atmosphere of tolerance in the 1920s was the perfect backdrop for a celebrated new addition to the religious and architectural landscape of Berlin. For some years, the mosque was, as it was the only of its kind, the gathering ground not only of all different kind of Muslims, German, non-German, Sunnites and Shiites but also kept relationships with German scholars of Islam Studies, among them German Jews. Some of the „Kurfürstendamm Jews“ would be , so the N**is recorded it in the 1930s, given refuge and shelter by the community. The repercussions of colonialism vs. anti-colonial resistance in exile, eventually the N**i regime and World War II brought disruption to what had looked like promising and peaceful beginnings. Badly damaged during the war, it reopened in 1947 with three dozens of congregation members and a German Imam. It has been living a niche existence ever since, the community within Islam(from which it is excluded in Pakistan) and the building within the city. Yet, it has an active community it caters to and is under renvovation since 2017, the year this photo was taken on one of my Berlin excursions. Rather small, elegant and light it is meant to be a real jewel of religious architecture soon again.