The Wall Jumper

The Wall Jumper, written by Peter Schneider, is a book with a collection of stories about the struggle of friends and families on each side of the wall and their firsthand accounts living in these separate, yet German, states. But through these stories and experience in Berlin, one can conclude that both governments control their people as the German government does today.

The East German government gets a very bad rap as the socialist neighbor who controls every thought and dictates citizens' lives to the point that these comrades couldn't think for themselves. Although not entirely false, the government did read their citizen's letters; the government in the West was not entirely different than the East. In the West, the West Germans were told they were the better German state since the free market ruled and the West Mark was worth more than the East Mark. But unemployment was higher and every aspect of life was ruled by money. The west German government did everything in their power to ignore and essentially forget that the East German state was next to them. The government didn't recognize the East German border on their maps.

Today's German government is not to far off from its former divided states. They still try to control their people in what clothes they wear and certain symbols of national pride. Up until recently, it was really looked down upon to wave the German flag at football matches in fear of too much German nationalism. Although never an official ban, the government looked down upon this due to its touchy past of the former Nazi party and its basis on German nationalism. Also, the government has banned the swastika and other Nazi symbols on clothing. Although I find it a completely legitimate reason for this ban, it still shows the German government and the German people's need to hide from their past. Much of German history is based on this fact of hiding from their past.

Nurnberg and Dachau

Nuremberg is the site of the Nazi rally grounds. the Nazi rally grounds are located just south of town and covers a considerable area. The only officially completed building is the Zeppelin Fields which consist of the stands, road, field and bathrooms. The Kongresshalle, a large horseshoe shaped building, is the largest structure on site. The original plans called for 50,000 seats and a flat, self-supporting roof. Today it holds the Documentation center and museum for Nazi history.
Dachau was the first concentration camp set up by the Nazis to hold political and ethnic prisoners. This was one of the largest camps in Nazi Germany's concentration camp system.
In my opinion, these were the two most depressing days of the trip. And I think most everybody on the trip can agree with this. At the documentation center, to see and learn about the history of the Nazis, how they took control of Germany and how they were able to control their own people through propaganda was nauseating to me. I literally felt sick after leaving Nuremberg. It was such a dark time in Germany's history and the documentation center did an excellent job of recording this experience throughout the museum. And the depressing feeling didn't leave us at Dachau. The cold grey skies loomed over us, as the cold wind swept through the site. It was truly a moving experience for me.

Leipzig

Leipzig, home to the Zaha Hadid designed BMW plant and next on our stop of architectural adventures. The plant has the assembly line going right through the offices and design spaces so the designers can see their end product. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures, so I was only able to the get the outside, although I can promise you, the inside in spectacular. The highlight of this trip was seeing the cars actually being built right in front of our eyes as we saw cars going to Europe, China and the US.

Here, we stayed the night in Leipzig in a hotel located north of the main part of town. Leipzig, a quaint, old, factory town, possessed all the qualities of an old auto town: rundown buildings, overgrown weeds and windows boarded up everywhere. Not a picture perfect town. But I was hungry, and so set out on a mission to find food in the town. But rather than go across the street to the simple Doner stand, we walked all the way down to the Hauptbahnhof, the central station, just to find a pizza.
The night ended back at the hotel bar where we watched the world cup continue between USA and Slovenia.

Bauhaus

We started off our Southern Germany Excursion way to early in the morning and drove to Dessau to the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus is one of the most famous movements in architecture that shaped modern architecture into what it is today. It is a school started in Germany that wanted to strip all ornamentation and decoration off so the true essence of a building can be shown. With this lack of ornamentation, light is able to showcase a place and become the main aesthetic quality. The end product is amazing. Despite this lack of ornamentation, the rooms still feel warm and inviting as the light fills the spaces.

Embassies and Berlin Dome, June 17

Today we saw three embassies; the Mexican Embassy, the Nordic Embassies, and the Saudi Arabian Embassy. Embassies are some of the best ways to represents a country's architecture in a nutshell - like an architectural spark notes. Designed to reflect the landscape of Mexico, the concrete facade evoked a sense of a heavy material connected to the land.

Next on the list was the Nordic Embassy for the five Nordic countries; Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. This embassy is the only embassy to contain five countries as one embassy since the countries have many similarities. The complex is wrapped in a copper-plate skin that is angled to control the amount of light that comes in. Each country's embassy is designed by a national architect, giving each building a distinct design of each country. The highlight of the trip was the Norwegian embassy which was designed by the firm Snohetta, who came to lecture at our school earlier in the school year. A massive 120 ton piece of granite anchors the south corner giving a large presence within the courtyard.Norwegian Embassy

Danish EmbassyFinnish Embassy lattice
IKEA furniture boxes next to the Swedish embassy

I guess IKEA now makes embassies too

Saudi Arabia Embassy

Next on our list was the most prominent Protestant church in Berlin, the Berliner Dom. Built in 1905 under the Hohenzollern ruling, it was meant to be the foremost protestant church in the western world - a Protestant version of the Vatican City. This church had a beautiful interior that was luxuriously decorated on the inside and a dome so big, it nearly knocked me off my feet. At the top of the church, you could walk around the dome and get a 360 panorama of Berlin. I was in awe the whole time.

Monday, June 14

Unfortunately, I haven't written in my blog in a while and much has happened over the weekend and the last two days. The weekend started out with a simple excursion to Northern Germany to be outdoors in the woods. We went to Rugen island to a national park on the northern tip of the island with Lindsay, Trey, Melissa, Lea, and Kyle. We had an eventful weekend as we hopped several different trains around the island, saw a children's concert, and almost slid down a cliff. We ended up tired and bruised on the train ride back to Berlin. The next day was our first official day of class. Dr. Etheridge, the history teacher, started us off at the beginning of Berlin history, at the Nikolai Quarter, the old Medieval town of Berlin. Although, old is a relative term since the site was bombed in WWII and rebuilt later, none of the buildings are the original construction. Much of what visitors see today is a replica of what used to be there except for the Nikolaikirsche (church). Although the place is a "Disneyland" of a Medieval town, the place feels believable to the untrained eye.

First few days in Berlin

Unfortunately, no, I did not get fish and chips in Heathrow. 11 pounds is way to much for something that used to live in the sea.
But enough about Britain, this is about Berlin. The capital of the motherland of my people. Do you feel the pride of German nationalism yet? I sure do. I must have seen my dad 3 or 4 times. Immediately, I could feel the cold hand of a former fascist state that terrorized the continent of Europe being replaced by the hand with a reach for the future. And there was no better way to descibe this other than the architecture built after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Our first day took us through many of the government buildings along the River Spree. One of the first buildings we stumbled upon was the Government Chancellory. This building housed the Chancelor's Office and other government officials. Along axis with it were other government buildings that connected East and West Berlin and bridged the gap over the river. The majority of it looked very similar to a white version of the National Assembly Center designed by Louis Kahn in Bangladesh.
Another government building we saw was the Reichstag. Originally built in 1894, burned in 1933, and finally returned to the active seat of the German Parliament in 1999, it was redesigned by Norman Foster to restore the dome. It is an elegantly designed piece that serves as a beacon in the city. Norman Foster has done an excellent job with the renovation of the Reichstag.