The Ghosts of Berlin

Monuments are an integral part of the Berlin urban fabric and have been a hot topic issue for Germans since the inception of the merger of Berlin and Colln. The most interesting and controversial monument we saw in Berlin was the Soviet war memorial in Treptow Park. This memorial was based on an extremely axial condition with two large pink granite gates flanking each size at Star Wars proportions as one enters the memorial. As one enters the memorial, the Soviet soldier at the end cannot be missed as it rises 30 feet into the air holding a sword in one hand and a child in the other. This memorial is a decry to the Germans of World War II showing the Soviets defeat over the Germans and how the Russians are a more superior people than the Germans. After all the Germans saw the Russians, like the Serbs, as an inferior race and felt they needed to be exterminated. Today the memorial stands in a peaceful park in the former East Berlin, previously owned by the Soviets. The memorial is a statue of a Russian soldier stepping on a swastika humiliated the Germans, almost in a sign of German inferiority. The question though that many Germans had to struggle with is should this memorial be kept on the soil of a newly unified Germany. This was answered in the unification of the two Germans states in a treaty where Germany promised to keep the Soviet memorials. In my opinion, it is important to keep the memorial as a reminder to the German people about what happened during such a tumultuous time in the world’s history. Keeping this memorial, and other Soviet and communist memorials of the former GDR, is a way for the Germans to stop ignoring their past and embrace who they are and where they come from, something many Germans have had to struggle with. At the time of the reunification, and even true today, the memorial was seen as an open wound in the painful history. Over time these memorials, like the Soviet Memorial in Treptow Park, will “become invisible, or they may, like the Victory Column, become Berlin landmarks”, adding another layer to the complex German history.

Another memorial important within the Berlin urban fabric are the Nazi sites scattered about the city. Nothing upsets Germans about their history more than the awful acts of the Third Reich, Hitler and the followers of the Nazi regime. Within Berlin, there are only a few Nazi sites that were left after the British and American bombing of Berlin and the Soviet occupation in the Battle of Berlin. One of the most important sites in the history of the Nazi’s is the Topography of Terror. Originally a temporary exhibit when it opened in 1985, it has grown to be a permanent museum dedicated to the research and display of the SS actions and Gestapo headquarters that was initiated by Hitler through his secret police. The site exists on a former SS underground bunker and is located on the former site of the Gestapo headquarters. The permanent exhibit space pays homage to the site with a simple glass box with a tube steel framed lattice work that wraps the building acting as a sun screen. The whole site is empty except for part of the Wall that was saved on the edge of the property, the bunkers that line the site, and gravel that covers the entire area. I felt that this minimalism in the site was very well done showing an empty “hole” in the urban fabric, and also referring to the hole that the Nazi’s left in the history of Germany. It feels like a barren wasteland and an unfriendly place to be, but holds a bold and important statement in the city that cannot be missed by the casual visitor.