Berlin - Berliner Mauer und Checkpoint Charlie

Despite the fact that it has been 20 years since the Berlin wall came down, the memory of two Germanys remains fresh in Berlin. Throughout the city, chunks of the wall remain and across streets and sidewalks stretch lines of brick, marking where it once stood.

Throughout my stay in Berlin, the wall managed to creep up whether I was looking for it or not. Here are the pictures I took relating to it:

Our tour on Thursday morning let us off briefly at Checkpoint Charlie to look around and take some pictures. The area was pretty touristed up but nonetheless interesting.

The building on the left is the Checkpoint Charlie Museum

on the opposite side of the American soldier picture

A reproduction of the famous sign (the real one is in the museum)

...and the other side

The guy in the fake American MP uniform was charging a Euro to take a picture with him.

The line marking where the wall stood at Checkpoint Charlie

A chunk of the wall in Potsdamer Platz

Ampelmann

Ampelmann, the East German crosswalk guy, has become a symbol of DDR nostalgia. Not all East Germans were escstatic about reunification and the difficulties that come with entering a capitalist society without any capital, having to start back at the bottom, working your way back up again and sometimes falling through the cracks. For many, there is a longing for the structue and stability of the DDR*. Ampelmann was the crosswalk light used in the DDR, and upon reunification, there was a strong push to preserve this symbol of the DDR. After quite a bit of fuss, Ampelmann and the West German crosswalk lights coexist in Berlin, often with both lights appearing at the same crossing.

To show you just how big of a deal this is to some people, here you can see the Ampelmann store, featuring all kinds of Ampelmann merchandise.

And finally another piece of the Berlin Wall in Mauerpark. This place is interesting since it is legal to spraypaint on the wall here so all of the work you see is very recent


Finally, this is Susie, one of our German student assistants, attempting to commit Republikflucht (illegally fleeing the Republic). Unfortunately, she's going the wrong way.

* If this sort of thing interests you, I recommend that you check out the film "Goodbye Lenin" which addresses this frustration, albeit indirectly.