This is my third and last post about Hanburg's Miniatur Wunderland. If you missed part 1 and 2, you can find them here and here.
After having thoroughly enjoyed Patagonia and Antarctica, we climbed the stairs to the third floor to find out what we can discover there. It was very different from all the theme worlds we had experienced so far. First I need to tell you that this is a post heavy with historical information that not everybody might be interested in. I am not offended if you prefer to skip this post.
There were several dioramas depicting one street corner in Berlin and following its development throughout recent history, starting with the end of World War II in 1945. The first diorama covers the years 1945 to 1949.
There is so much to see in these dioramas - I took photos from only one side, so not everything that is actually "happening" is visible.
Berlin was in ruins at the end of the war. Four powers - UK, France, USA, and Soviet Union - occupied the city. Women worked in the ruins, the so-called Trümmerfrauen (rubble women). They were the first to clean up the rubble and by doing so they received a bigger food ration. It was also mainly women who searched the missing persons wall for their loved ones. There was no water since plumbing was destroyed and water had to be brought in by harnessed horse teams. In 1948 the Soviet Union blocked all access routes to Berlin, so the US initiated an airlift to ensure the supply of the population.
In 1949, the two independent states of West Germany (BRD) and East Germany (DDR) were founded, cementing the division of Germany.
1950 - 1954
Look closely: Do you see a man painting a white line on the street at the left side of the intersection? In 1952 the GDR started to draw lines of demarcation between East and West Berlin. This was their first try to curtail human movement between the sectors (there were four sectors in Berlin according to the occupying powers). In the background you can see that the S-Bahn (suburban railway) was still running between East and West. While many buildings were rebuilt, there was still a lot of destruction to see. On June 17, 1953 a popular uprising took place in East Germany, fueled by an increase in prices for food and consumer goods while increasing the work norm. The uprising was brutally suppresed. In West Germany, June 17 had been a national holiday, our "Day of German Unity" (Tag der deutschen Einheit) until 1990 when October 3, the official date of the re-unification of Germany, became Tag der deutschen Einheit.
1955 - 1960
During these years, West and East Germany drifted further and further apart. Concerning economic growth in particular, West Germany was leaving East Germany behind. Since the borders were still open, people were able to see for themselves the differences in development between the two systems. More and more people were leaving the GDR which prompted the East German government to seal off the sector borders with a barrier - unfortunately you can't see the barrier in this picture since it is on the left side of the intersection, behind the tall building. The group of people you can see in the street represents the student protests that popped up all over West Germany and West Berlin after the establishment of the Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces) in 1955. Left to the lower end of the protest march you see a white figure at the wall of the cemetery - he was helping academics escaping from the GDR. In particular, many doctors were leaving the country which led to bottlenecks in the East German healthcare system.
1961
This was the year that the Berlin Wall was built, beginning on August 13, a Sunday. This has been such an important date in my country's history that it deserves two photos.
Right after midnight, East German construction workers - under the supervision of Nationale Volksarmee ("National People's Army") and Volkspolizei (East German National Police) started to seal off the Eastern sector of Berlin with barbed wire and roadblocks. The windows and entrances to buildings on Bernauer Straße, near the border, were bricked up. Look at the top section of the upper of the two photos, close to the tracks - do you see people holding a rescue net? Desperate people were jumping out of the windows before they were bricked up. Three of them died. The subway and S-Bahn services between the two parts of the city were suspended. Two days later the first concrete elements and hollow blocks are erected and over the following month a wall was constructed, dividing the city with the first generation of the Berlin Wall.
One of the most famous photos shot was of Conrad Schumann, leaping over the barbed wire. The photo was taken by Peter Leibing. This photo was later called Leap to Freedom.
Here is a short video about the photo - worth to watch it.
On August 24, 1961 the first person was shot at the wall while trying to flee East Berlin. Günter Litfin, just 24 years old, was the first one, but by far not the last. Many would follow.
1962 - 1964
In June of 1962 a second wall was erected, the so-called Hinterlandmauer, in order to make escape attempts more difficult. At the same time, the first wall was further expanded. Another important element in securing the border was the Grenzhunde (border dogs), primarily German shepherds. If a refugee managed to get past the fence, one of those dogs would usually stop the escape attempt. It demonstrates how horrible this border had been.
1965 - 1988
This was already the fourth generation of the wall. The walls were further enforced with concrete, and Tschechenigel (Czech hedgehog), a static anti-tank obstacle, had been added. Between the walls was the Todesstreifen (death strip), littered with landmines. There were watch towers and during the night the length of the border was lit up. In the upper left corner - on the East side - you see a line of people. They were waiting in line at the shops because of the shortages of food and consumer goods. I remember that we regularly sent care packages to a family in East Germany - coffee and chocolate were in high demand. Near the brown bus in the photo you can see a raised platform where people are standing. These were for the Mauertouristen (wall tourists) who wanted to look over the wall. However, it was also used by people who had relatives and friends in East Berlin - they could still wave at each other across the border. This was especially used in the years immediately after construction of the wall had begun. I remember standing on one of them as a child and being really shocked by what I saw. It left a deep impression in me. I also remember the profound sadness of my mom who had grown up in Berlin in the 1920s and 1930s. Through her, our family has always had a close connection to this city.
1989/1990
This, of course, was the fall of the wall. I will never forget November 9, 1989, a Thursday.
Starting in September 1989, people in the GDR were demonstrating for their departure from that country. Especially the demonstrations at Nikolaikirche (Nikolai church) in Leipzig were well known, with slogans like "wir sind das Volk" (we are the people). They were called Montagsdemonstrationen (Monday demonstrations) because they happened every Monday after the Friedensgebet (peace prayer). More and more Montagsdemonstrationen also happened in other East German cities with several hundred thousand people participating. At the end of September, more than 4000 East German citizens occupied the West German embassy in Prague to force their departure. On September 30, the GDR relented and allowed the refugees to leave the country. Federal Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher announced the news from the balcony of the embassy in Prague. This was a moment I will never forget - just a couple moments ago I listened to his announcement again and the cheering of the people after his words "Ihre Ausreise" (your departure) made me cry - every single time. On November 9, 1989, Günter Schabowski, a member of the SED Politburo, announced at an international press conference that, with immediate effect, every East German citizen was now free to leave the GDR via designated border crossing points. We all know what happened right afterwards - several thousand East Berliners marched to the border crossings and demanded that they be opened immediately. The first East German was allowed to travel to West Berlin at the Bornholmer Straße border crossing at 9:20 p.m. Ten minutes later the radio station RIAS reported of open border crossings. People were gathering at border crossings and even stormed the wall to reach West Berlin. At home we were glued to the TV and I still remember this one young guy saying "Wer jetzt schläft, der ist tot" (who is sleeping now is dead).
What a day!
1990 - 1999
The wall disappeared almost completely. There are still some remaining parts - one is the famous East Side Gallery, an open-air gallery on the longest surviving section of the wall. Others are part of the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Straße (a must-see if you ever visit Berlin). A lot of construction was going on (and still is), the S-Bahn tracks were re-built. Berlin became the capital of Germany again and the government moved from Bonn to Berlin. Western companies were expanding to the East. Not everything that happened was good and certainly many things were done the wrong way. But this would go beyond the scope of this post.
2000 - 2009
You almost can't recognize the street corner anymore. But you can see in the back that the S-Bahn is running again and is an important means of transportion. Some parts that were rebuilt - like Potsdamer Platz (Potsdam Square) which was lovely before the war (according to my mom) and a desert during the 40 years of division (the wall was running right through it) - are very modern and, to be honest, not necessarily well done. Nothing is perfect - but the city is no longer divided and that in itself is something very positive. Let's leave it at that.
Thank you for bearing with me - it took me two days to write this. This has been a very long post with probably more information than you care to know. And since there are faces to see, I'm linking to Nicole's
Friday Face Off.
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