Traces of Berlin’s division are visible today not only at the former crossing points and memorials. Sections of the Berlin Wall have been preserved on the grounds of the foundation Topography of Terror, for instance, and at the East Side Gallery on Mühlenstrasse, famous all over the world, where a long section of the former inner wall was painted by artists after the Wall had fallen.
Other places in Berlin, such as Brandenburg Gate or Potsdamer Platz, show less evidence of the city’s division than one might expect. Here the city was more interested in effecting visible reunification of its two halves by reconstructing Pariser Platz and laying out a modern business and shopping district at Potsdamer Platz.
The section of the former border strip running from Behmstrasse to Bernauer Strasse has been remade into a park. Visitors can also take an interesting walk past many traces of the Wall from Behmstrasse along Norwegerstrasse in the direction of Bornholmer Strasse or from Eberswalder Strasse along Bernauer Strasse to the Berlin Wall Memorial. Bus M10, 245 to the Eberswalder Strasse stop … more »
Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s main landmark and former gate to the city, was located right behind the border inside the Soviet sector during the years of division. Pariser Platz was part of the border strip and thus inaccessible to the public. … more »
Around 1930, Potsdamer Platz was known as Europe’s busiest intersection and was surrounded by hotels, restaurants, and stores. After Berlin was occupied by the Second World War’s victorious powers, the British, American, and Soviet sectors came together at the ruins of Potsdamer Platz. … more »
From 1933 to 1945, the headquarters of the Gestapo, the Gestapo “house prison,” and, after 1939, the Reich Security Main Office, as well as the SS High Command and the Security Service of the SS High Command, were located on the grounds of what is now the Topography of Terror documentation center. An open-air exhibition documents the history of this site as the control center of the National Socialist program of persecution and annihilation. … more »
A section of the inner wall on Mühlenstrasse in Friedrichshain, painted in 1990 by 118 artists from 21 countries, is now known as the East Side Gallery. With brushes and spray paint and in a joyous celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, these artists transformed the wall in a way that had once been possible only in West Berlin. … more »
At Schlesischer Busch the GDR’s border fortifications ran parallel to the Flutgraben (flood channel). The walls, floodlights, and border patrol road have been removed and built over. One watchtower was preserved and now stands as a reminder of the city’s division. … more »
