The German People

The Reichstag photo by G. Wilson

Reichstag in Ruins

Renovated Reichstag

Brandenburg Gate Unter den Linden, Berlin photo by G. Wilson

Brandenburg Gate Unter den Linden, Berlin

Bombed Gestapo Headquarters

No. 8 Prinz Albrecht-Stra?e, "the most feared address in the Third Reich."

A grisly reminder of Nazi tyranny in Berlin is the remains of Gestapo headquarters. This wall and gate remain at one end of the courtyard and prison cells in the excavated basement on the other end are now used for the "Topography of Terror" exhibit.

The neo-renaissance building was designed by Paul Wallot. Constructed between 1884 and 1894, the structure was funded largely with wartime reparation money from France. The famous inscription of the imperial German parliament, 'Dem Deutschen Volke' The German People, was added in 1916.

On the night of 27 February, 1933, the Reichstag burned down as a result of an act of arson. Historians disagree as to whether a Dutch insurrectionist named van der Lubbe, who was found by police in the burning building, acted alone or if the Nazis burned the building in order to create a phony crisis which would permit them to implement a police state. The responsibility for the Reichstag Fire remains an ongoing topic of debate and research. This pivotal event in Third Reich history fostered state protection laws which gave the Nazis a pretext to arrest political opponents.

Rebuilt, the building was damaged badly by bombing in 1945. Graffiti of victorious Russian soldiers still marks some of the walls of the hallways. The last meeting took place in 1933 and the Bundestag, Germany's federal parliament, did not resume sitting here again until 1999.

British architect Sir Norman Foster brightened up the gray monolith with a glass dome, which made it one of the city's popular attractions. At the base of the dome is an exhibit of the Reighstag's history.

Brandenburg Gate photo by G. Wilson

Siegessaule - Victory Column photo by G. Wilson

The Victory Column was designed after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War. The column is 8.3 meters high and weighs 35 tonnes, Built on a base of polished red granite, the column sits on a hall of pillars with a glass mosaic. The column itself consists of four solid blocks of sandstone, three of which are decorated by cannon barrels captured from the enemies of the aforementioned wars. The fourth ring is decorated with golden garlands and was added in 1938-39, when the column was moved to its present location. The relief decoration had to be removed at the request of the French forces in 1945, probably to prevent Germans from being reminded of former victories, especially the defeat of the French in 1871. It was restored for the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987 by the French president François Mitterrand.

Canadian Embassy 17 Leipziger Platz, Berlin

Inaugurated in 2001, Canada's new embassy in Berlin was born in contention and built in controversy. The manner in which the decision was made to award the project to an architectural firm, has been castigated with the comment, 'politics as usual'. [*] A jury of prominent architects from Canada and Germany was formed by the government to examine all submissions and recommend the winning architectural firm. However, when the jury's decision was ultimately submitted to the government, it was promptly disregarded and the commission awarded to different firm.

Controversy continued to plague the place, this time in connection with the site selected. In the 1930s with its prominent address, the Nazi party wanted the property for its highest regional body. Nearby was Hitler's huge, new chancellery designed by Albert Speer. The land in question was originally owned by Wertheim's large, Jewish-owned department store chain. Founded by Georg Wertheim, the chain's most famous store on Leipziger Platz in Berlin, was constructed in 1896. It featured 83 elevators and a glass-roofed atrium, and was one of the three largest department stores in Berlin,

Goebbels was determined to make the business subject to the Nazi Aryanization policies of the 1930s. The Wertheim family attempted to avoid losing control of the company by making Georg's wife, Ursula, the principal shareholder, since she was considered "Aryan" under Nazi law. Ursula subsequently divorced Wertheim, who died shortly thereafter. When the land was eventually sold to the Nazis, the company's lawyer was a member of the Nazi party with whom Mrs.Wertheim had had an intimate relationship during her marriage. She eventully married him.

Fast-forward to 1997 when the site was subject to two land claims. One was launched by the Jewish Claims Conference, which files claims on properties it believes once had Jewish owners. The other came from the Wertheim department store chain, now controlled by Karstadt AG., one of Germany's largest retailers. It is maintained that the family was forced to sell the site to the Nazis, a claim discounted by the present German finance ministry, which says its sale was voluntarily made. Karstadt welcomes Canada's plan to buy the property from the German government, but said it should get the proceeds. The total cost of the building was $35 million. Details regarding the subsequent settlement are unknown at present.

Goebbels' Egregious Propaganda Ministry

Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry Mangled

Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry Site

The stain and stench of Nazism at one time permeated many plots of land in Berlin and this site is no exception. The Canadian government maintains it handled the question properly. Canada acquired the site according to German laws and no court could overturn the sale. "It can only determine who gets the proceeds." It was declared that whatever happened, Canada did not intend to bury Leipziber Platz 17's unpleasant past. "We will make sure that this slice of German history will be recognized in the building that will stand here," said a Canadian official." I am attempting to find out from our ambassador in Berlin how they did that.

Berlin Public Library

On May 10, 1933 a book burning ceremony with flames and much fanfare was held at Bebelplatz on the instigation of the Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels. With this symbolic act of ominous significance, the German Students' Association led by Goebbels, burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of what they called, 'un-German' books, Books they ravaged from the library, included works by Thomas Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx and many other famous authors.

"You are doing," screeched Goebbels, "the right thing at this midnight hour: to consign to the flames the unclean spirit of the past. This is a great, powerful and symbolic act. Out of these ashes the phoenix of a new age will arise."

Goebbels started a fire the Nazis could not put out and twelve years later, little remained but ashes of the Germany whose soul, declared the president of Germany, they scared forever.

Site of Goebbels' Book Burning

Today a glass plate set into the Bebelplatz, giving a view of empty bookcases, commemorates this sad, sordid event.

Book Burning Memorial by Micha Ullman

Today a glass plate set into the Bebelplatz, giving a view of empty bookcases, commemorates this sad, sordid event.

Herman Goering's Air Ministry Building

The giant Nazi eagle, a swastika between its claws and a quotation inscribed beneath its outstretched wings embossed the air ministry building constructed in 1934-35 under the personal supervision of Hermann Goering

Eagle.

The same building today.

Some how this structure survived Berlin bombing and was restored and used as the East German Communist party headquarters and office of the hardline leader Erich Honecker. It serves now as Germany's finance ministry. It has 6.8 kilometres of corridors, 17 staircases and 4,000 windows. Everyone of its 2000 separate offices is entered through a doorway lined with traverine marble. The endless corridors were built wide enough to accommodate three soldiers marching abreast. There is a huge reception room where Goering showed newsreel clips of tthe Luftwaffe's latest exploits.

Around midnight on Saturday, 12 August, 1961, convoys of trucks carrying rolls of barbed wire, steel and concrete posts, pneumatic drills and other tools, arrived to start construction of a fence just a few feet inside East Berlin territory. In front of the Brandenburg Gate, a row of steel posts were sunk into the ground and secured with concrete. Throughout the autumn the fence grew into a wall of concrete slabs, 4 metres high and 155 kilometres long, completely encircling Berlin. Before the wall there had been 81 crossing points; after it just eight, one of which was preserved for western diplomats, troops and foreigners in cars. It became the infamous, Checkpoint Charlie. For nearly 30 years this obscene scar on the landscape, with its 300 watchtowers, guard dogs, trip alarms and concrete bunkers, became the dominant feature in lives of Berliners. It was built, not to keep foreigners out, but to keep its own citizens in.

Wall Separating West and East Berlin photo by G. Wilson

Check-Point Charlie photo by G. Wilson

Memorial Crosses . photo by G. Wilson

Crosses have been erected bearing the names of 80 of those who dared death and lost in order to flee to freedom. The final fatality occurred as late as February 1989. More than 5000 were caught attempting to escape to the West, but some 5043 "wall runners" were successful. Five hundred and sixty-five were serving members of the East German armed forces.

The date 9 November, 1999, witnessed a triumph for cold war opponents. The East German government announced the destruction of the Berlin Wall. The twentieth anniversary of that momentous event has just been celebrated by millions of people, not the least of which were the following three leaders who rejoiced together at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin; German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish leader Lech Walesa and the one-time Russian Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, who made it all possible. With good reason, the name Gorby resounded throughout the ceremony.

Berlin Wall-Fall Celebrations

Olympic Stadium, 1936 photo by G. Wilson

A stadium was built for the games in Berlin in 1919, but because of World War I, Germany was barred from international competition. The bar was not lifted until 1928. Following the games in Los Angeles in 1932, they were assigned to Berlin in 1936. Hitler wanted a grander structure to impress the world built for the 11th Olympiad in 1936. This new complex was capable of seating 100,000. Its cost was estimated to be 28 million marks; but it was finally finished for 77 million. Some 2600 unemployed Germans were put to work building the structure and they had to work round the clock to finish it on time.

The Protestant Kaiser William Memorial Church is located in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm. The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in November, 1943, with only the broken west tower still standing. In 1961 it was decided to build a new church on the site, but the Berliners, who called it, "the Hole in the Tooth," [and still do], wanted to keep the old one. Local opposition saved the structure from demolition.

Kaiser William Memorial Church photo by G. Wilson

Yesterday

After the War

The architect designed a very special scheme whereby everybody would be happy. He incorporated the old ruined tower into a unique octagonal church and a free-standing hexagonal tower. The church is a reinforced concrete structure, with blue glass blocks which are not apparent from the outside, but from the inside they are extremely beautiful as the sunlight streams through. The marker flares that the bombers dropped and which the Berliners called 'Christmas Trees', are depicted in coloured glass, as are the terrible fires that followed them.

Cavernous inside, it is very quiet considering that it is in the heart of Berlin. It is a working church although it might not look like one. It is a major landmark of Berlin now and a war memorial too. Its message to all is simple: - "Look what you've done to me."

Today photo by G.Wilson

The old German chancellery, said Hitler, is only fit for a soap company. I need grand halls and salons, which will make an impression on people." When Hitler spoke, Speer sprang into action. Seventy years ago this month, in January, 1939, the grand opening of the new Reich chancellery occurred. For the previous twelve months, 4500 men had laboured in double shifts to perform the seemingly impossible task of constructing this massive building in one year. They made it with 48 hours to spare. Everything about the structure was mammoth in order to awe and intimidate. Its Marble Gallery at 146 metres was twice as long as the Hall of Mirriors in Versailles, a fact that the lunatic loved.

Entrance to Hitler's Chancellery

Marble Hall in Hitler's Chancellery

On July 16, 1945, seventy-eight months after its dedication, Winston Churchill was shown through the wreckage that was Hitler's chancellery, that included an upturned, marble-topped desk and a litter of Iron Crosses in the Fuhrer's office. There was a considerable crowd in front of the devasted building. Churchill later recalled the scene. "When I got out of the car and walked among them, except for one old man who shook his head disapprovingly, they all began to cheer. My hate died with their surrender and I was much moved by their demonstration." He never forgot, however, that "if they had won the war, we would have been in the bunker." Surprise and doubtless satisfaction must have moved him to be so saluted by the very people whose pathetic plight resulted to a very significant degree, from his courage, dedication and determination. In the minds of many, it is the magnificent contribution of this soft and simple-looking man, that did so much to save the world from the madness of the German monster and his minions.

Today a lone sign marks the site of Hitler's massive Chancellory

This sign at the corner of Vossstrasse and Wilhelmstrasse, marks the spot where Hitler's Chancellery once stood. It was part of a gigantic complex, designed by Albert Speer, which included the bunker where Hitler went out with a wimper. The complex was between Wilhelmstrasse and Ebertstrasse, only a short distance south of where the Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe now stands.

Location of Hitler's bunker East Berlin photo by G. Wilson

One-time Site of SS Headquarters in Berlin photo by G. Wilson

Stone and marble remants from the Hitler's wrecked chancellery, were used in the construction of various Russian war memorials in East Berlin.

Russian War Memorial Guarded by Two East German Communist Troopss photo by G. Wilson

Memorial to Fallen Soviet Heroes, East Berlin photo by G. Wilson

Monument of Mother Grieving Fallen Soldiers & East German Soldiers photo by G. Wilson

Museum of German History photo by G. Wilson

A legendary theatre director of the Deutsches Theatre was Max Reinhardt. One of the stars he directed here was Marlene Dietrich. Under Reinhardt's leadership, the theatre acquired a reputation as one of the most significant theatres in the world. Reinhardt remained the artistic director of the theatre until he fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and quickly established his reputation in the America.

Deutsches Theatre photo by G. Wilson

[*]National PostArticle by Adele Weber

[**]Globe and Mail, 26 December, 1996

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