Part 2: Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪
Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, and all the wiener schnitzel
Checkpoint Charlie
The former border crossing between East and West Berlin was absolutely worth visiting. Beyond being the backdrop for many novels and films, the site carries a tremendous amount of Cold War history.
Checkpoint Charlie was the location of the famous 1961 tank standoff between American and Soviet forces, and it also became the setting for numerous escape attempts from East Berlin, some successful, others tragically not.
Today, it’s largely a tourist stop where visitors line up to take photos, which of course we did. The guard booth standing there now is actually a smaller replica, as the original is displayed in the Allied Museum, but it’s still worth seeing.
One thing I didn’t realize before visiting was that the name “Checkpoint Charlie” came from the NATO phonetic alphabet. Since it was the third Allied checkpoint in Berlin, after Alpha and Bravo, this crossing became Charlie.
The Empty Library
Most people are familiar with the mass book burnings carried out under Nazi Germany, which targeted works by Jewish, Marxist, Socialist, liberal, and other authors deemed “anti-German” or “anti-family.”
For Nicholas and me, the infamous book-burning scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade immediately comes to mind.
Book burning scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
One afternoon, we hopped on scooters and made our way to Humboldt University. In the square outside the university sits a memorial by Israeli sculptor Micha Ullman titled Bibliothek (The Empty Library), dedicated to the Nazi book burnings that took place there on May 10, 1933.
The memorial itself is simple - an underground room lined with empty white bookshelves visible only through a glass panel beneath your feet. It speaks for itself.
On the night of the book burning, roughly 40,000 people gathered in the square while German students marched in carrying torches to ignite piles of books. More than 20,000 works were destroyed, many written by Jewish, communist, liberal, and other targeted authors.
Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, spoke at the event and stated “the era of exaggerated Jewish intellectualism is now at an end…”
The Berlin Wall
Our walking tour ended at a preserved section of the Berlin Wall located beside the Topography of Terror museum, so we decided to explore both the museum itself and the outdoor exhibits along the wall.
The level of detail was astounding. The exhibits documented not only Hitler’s rise to power, but also the systematic terror, persecution, and murder carried out under the Nazi regime.
Even though the museum was exceptionally well done, it was honestly overwhelming to absorb in a single visit. I would strongly recommend splitting it into at least two visits, which is easy enough to do since admission is free.
East Side Gallery
The East Side Gallery is probably the most iconic remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall thanks to its incredible murals and street art.
The gallery extends for quite a distance, so Nicholas and I walked part of it to take in the artwork up close before hopping back on scooters to explore the rest.
Actually, the final filming location for a dance-on-film work I created for Atelier Dance Company was at the East Side Gallery.
My piece, An American Abroad, explores the dissonance between the beauty of the places we are traveling through and the weight of what we read about is happening back home in the United States.
While traveling, my incredible Assistant Artistic Director ran the company and successfully completed the season, which meant I was especially grateful to still be part of our Season 6 show, even if only on film, by submitting this work.
A huge shoutout to Nicholas, who learned how to use my gimbal, listened patiently to my filming direction, and often spent long stretches helping me capture shots across our travels until I got exactly what I wanted.
For your viewing pleasure: a clip of Nicholas standing in as the “dancer” so I could map out the shot. 🤣
Food and Drink
Germany definitely delivers when it comes to food and drink.
During our time in Berlin, Nicholas and I sampled a wide variety of German staples including currywurst, Berliner donuts, plenty of local brewskis, and quite possibly the best wiener schnitzel I’ve ever had. An honorable mention goes to the döner kebabs we kept coming back to, because they were just that good.
On our first evening in the city, Marit took us to her local grocery store so we could pick out different German meats, cheeses, and breads to try. Everything was delicious.
That said, Marit and I convinced Nick to try a suspiciously unappetizing slab of “jelly meat” that, unfortunately for him, contained pig tongue. To his credit, he said it wasn’t terrible.
But one of the coolest things about Germany, though, might be the ability to casually walk around the city with a beer while exploring.
Friends
As much as we loved the history, culture, and sights of Berlin, the best part of the trip was the time spent with friends.
A huge thank you to Marit, Haba, and Moritz for taking time out of their holiday weekend to show us around and share the best of Berlin with us.
From the delightfully unrushed,
—Arye
If you’re interested in following along in this journey, click subscribe below.
Or follow along on Instagram and YouTube at The Unrushed Year!
So much to contemplate in this post.