Revisiting Berlin: City of History, Beacon of Modernity

Without the World Championships, I doubt if Berlin would have made it onto my itinerary for this trip to Europe. When asked about it, people would tell me something to the effect of "don't go there, Berlin was completely bombed out during WW2 so it's all really new." I would like to publicly that this is a ridiculous reason not to go to Berlin. I believe that this kind of statement, which I heard from several people, belies an improper attitude that Americans have about travel and reflecting on my time in Berlin really helped me think through why I am travelling in the first place and why I want to travel in the future.

I think that the issue of "history" is largely behind why people said what they did. A main reason to go to Europe is to experience history in a way that we can't back in the United States. After all, Western Civilization has only been in contact with America for 500 years and its real hallmarks, especially architecture and the arts, have only been on a level comparable to Europe for 300 years, at the most. European culture, however, is incredibly old by comparison and thus one must go to Europe to experience this history. However, Berlin is not worth going to, since the physical vestiges of its history have been largely destroyed thus inhibiting our ability to experience said history. I find a problem with this, because it assumes that 1) nothing important to history has happened in Berlin since 1945 and on a deeper level, 2) we should go to Europe only to experience that which we do not have access to back in the Unites States. Obviously assumption 1 is ludicrous; the two most important issues of the 20th century were intimately tied to Berlin . But in America our understanding of World War Two is too often limited to Pearl Harbor, D-Day, and the Holocaust, and I would be most people have little understanding about how the Nazis came to power in the first place, which is tied heavily to the history of Berlin. Also, concerning the little thing called the Cold War, it wasn't until I came to Prague and Berlin that I truly began to grasp what it meant. For example, throughout my elementary school days, I always wondered why the atlases and pull-down maps in my classrooms always boasted that they were up to date, as of 1993 or something. For me, Russia and Krygystan and even the Czech Repulic had always been their own countries, but of course only a few years earlier the maps looked totally different. Although I was alive in 1989 when the Wall fell, I don't think that I or many others my age truly understand what it meant; the transition to Capitalism seems so swift, our memories don't let us realize what the world was like at the time we were born. Regarding assumption 2, I think it comes at odds with my own personal reasons for travelling. Sure, I admit that I can go to New York, or LA, or even Milwaukee to see modern buildings, but that I can't see a renaissance villa there. But this assumes that Berlin as it exists today is not by itself worth visiting, which I now think is entirely untrue. I believe that travel is worth doing because it not only shows us how the World was, but what it is and what it can be.

Berlin is a modern, global city and for that reason it deserves visiting for the same reason one visits Tokyo, Dubai or Sydney. Berlin, to me, was a great example of how Europeans are living modern life. The architecture and transportation in particular seem to be a prescription for how we should live urban life in the 21st century: there are places like Potsdamer Platz, a bustling hub in the middle of Berlin where people live, work, and play; the S-Bahn and U-Bahn provide an efficient way to get around the entire Berlin area in sleek, clean trains. Designated bike lanes on the sidewalks make owning a car almost an outdated idea (but make walking in them to avoid the pedestrian traffic a dangerous one). There are people who clearly have ties to places all around the globe, but have chosen to live in Berlin. On one of the nights I went out, we went to a club that had a Latin-Mexican band playing, and much of the crowd was singing along in Spanish. The global influence on Berlin is perhaps best shown in the two most popular street-food items, Currywurst and Doner Kebab, both which got started in Berlin. Currywurst is almost exactly what it sounds like, bratwurst with Curry powder, usually served with ketchup and a roll (and even french fries). Doner kebab is a bit harder to describe, but I like to think of it as a deep-dish version of a pita sandwich; clearly different from gyros, clearly something that could happen only in Berlin.

There does exist a tension between history and modernity in Berlin. You can see it at the Jewish Museum, where the uneasy history of Germany's Jews is presented in one of the most talked about buildings in Modern Architecture. You can see it at Checkpoint Charlie, the U.S. Army checkpoint along the Berlin wall where huge illuminated billboard type portraits of American and Soviet soldiers look out on their enemies' former domains. Perhaps my favorite example of this tension exists at Tacheles, which is possibly the coolest place in Germany. Tacheles used to be an old shopping center, originally built in the very early 1900s. it survived two wars and communism, but not without a little cosmetic damage (apparently bullet holes are visible places. Since 1990 it has been home to artists, a busy club scene (where I saw the Mexican band, there are at least three other clubs on site) and probably a squre mile of graffiti, all of them squatters. The owners of the building have an tenuous peace with the residents, but at the beginning of 2009, the building's future as a playground was put back in jeopardy; making money is still the name of the game, in the end. But the parties were still going on the Tuesday night I was there, so go while you still can.

Some cities manage to display both modern living and the glory of the past - London and Paris come to mind - but since this is my first trip to Europe afterall, I will probably concentrate on the History there. Therefore, I'm glad I got to experience what I did in Berlin. So go to Berlin, grab a beer and a rostbraten, and sit back and enjoy the eurotrash music. But seriously, it's everywhere.