Berlin rebuilds parts of Cold War wall for tourists
Source: Agencies |
August 10, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A HALF century after it was built and two decades after its demise, a few bits of the wall that once split Berlin into east and west are being reinstated for posterity to the delight of tourists seeking a glimpse of the city's Cold War history.
Almost all the 160 kilometers of Berlin Wall that encircled West Berlin in the heart of East Germany was hastily torn down or chiseled away in the euphoria after it was breached in 1989.
There were only a few withered remnants of the wall by the time the two Germanys reunited less than a year later on October 3, 1990. Only three of the 302 East German guard towers still stood.
"There is a general complaint that the demolition of the wall was a bit too extensive," said Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit.
"That is understandable from today's point of view, and it would have probably been better for tourists if more of it could have been preserved. But at that time, we were all just so happy to see it gone."
There was a powerful rush to obliterate all traces of the 3.6-meter-high concrete and barbed-wire barrier, building of which started in August 1961.
But in 1989, "Mauerspechte" (wall-peckers) armed with hammers and chisels claimed souvenir chips, and bulldozers did the rest, turning the wall into gravel and developing previously embargoed prime real estate.
Many wall slabs were sold, raising some 2 million deutsche marks (about US$1 million at the time) for the government. Some 300 East German border guards and 600 West German soldiers worked together to tear the rest down.
But now, as growing numbers of tourists come to Berlin each year searching largely in vain for traces of the wall, the city has re-erected and restored parts while monument preservation experts are working to conserve other vestigial sections.
Jochen Staadt, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University, said: "At first no one gave a second thought to the idea of preserving any of the wall for future generations. But there was always interest from foreigners who asked, 'Where is the wall?' It took about a decade until the late 1990s before people in Berlin, especially those under 30, started taking an interest in what the wall was actually like."
New buildings have gone up on many parts of the former "death strip" that separated east and west, and it is sometimes hard to tell where the barrier once stood.
In the last few years a piece of the wall complex running for about six city blocks, or some 800 meters, has been rebuilt and restored on Bernauer Strasse, scene of some of the most dramatic escapes after the wall was built.
Almost all the 160 kilometers of Berlin Wall that encircled West Berlin in the heart of East Germany was hastily torn down or chiseled away in the euphoria after it was breached in 1989.
There were only a few withered remnants of the wall by the time the two Germanys reunited less than a year later on October 3, 1990. Only three of the 302 East German guard towers still stood.
"There is a general complaint that the demolition of the wall was a bit too extensive," said Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit.
"That is understandable from today's point of view, and it would have probably been better for tourists if more of it could have been preserved. But at that time, we were all just so happy to see it gone."
There was a powerful rush to obliterate all traces of the 3.6-meter-high concrete and barbed-wire barrier, building of which started in August 1961.
But in 1989, "Mauerspechte" (wall-peckers) armed with hammers and chisels claimed souvenir chips, and bulldozers did the rest, turning the wall into gravel and developing previously embargoed prime real estate.
Many wall slabs were sold, raising some 2 million deutsche marks (about US$1 million at the time) for the government. Some 300 East German border guards and 600 West German soldiers worked together to tear the rest down.
But now, as growing numbers of tourists come to Berlin each year searching largely in vain for traces of the wall, the city has re-erected and restored parts while monument preservation experts are working to conserve other vestigial sections.
Jochen Staadt, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University, said: "At first no one gave a second thought to the idea of preserving any of the wall for future generations. But there was always interest from foreigners who asked, 'Where is the wall?' It took about a decade until the late 1990s before people in Berlin, especially those under 30, started taking an interest in what the wall was actually like."
New buildings have gone up on many parts of the former "death strip" that separated east and west, and it is sometimes hard to tell where the barrier once stood.
In the last few years a piece of the wall complex running for about six city blocks, or some 800 meters, has been rebuilt and restored on Bernauer Strasse, scene of some of the most dramatic escapes after the wall was built.
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