Wednesday 18 June 2014

Reflections on Berlin

I've been home from Berlin for a few days - time to let ideas simmer. Even so I still don't have a coherent view of the city - but I'm not sure there is one.

A disclaimer to begin with - the weather was lovely; and so, given a choice between learned museums and sitting in the sunshine with a beer, well, I'm sorry but the beer won. I also spent hours walking in streets, generally poking my nose into corners. I did the open-top bus thing, and the river trip - but passed on the ancient-ruin museums, even though I know they have precious collections. (I did go to a couple of art galleries, which were wonderful).

And I did some thinking. Freud told us that are all shaped by our histories - both personal and collective. Reflections on my travels suggest cities fit into the same construct. Berlin is no exception.

Berlin's recent history (by recent I mean the last hundred years) is well known and terrible. There is no hiding from the terrors. The city was devastated by the war: rebuilding has been slow, and without avoiding taking responsibility for the bloodshed. The Memorial to the Holocaust is respectful but still shocking even though no secret any more. The years of division echo in the concrete apartment blocks on what was the East Side - though many have been repainted and balconies added so they don't have the run-down, mildewed look of their counterparts in Havana.

The Wall came down in 1989. The city has had twenty-five years to knit itself back together - and continue to acknowledge its past. There are still differences between West and East (there are trams in the East), but they are blurred now. Restaurants proliferate on both sides. Museums cover the history of the whole city.

I searched for evidence of Berlin's piecing together. Someone told me that, just as the Wall had gone up brick by brick, then that's how it had to come down - and how Berliners had to step into their future. Tentatively, curiously, and now with enthusiasm and energy, the city wonders if it dares be proud of itself. Or would that upset those still traumatised by the Holocaust?

It's vibrant, and gusty, and wondering if it is time to be celebrate its recovering or should still be hanging its head in shame for the past.

Maybe it will take much longer for Berlin to get that 'right.' There will always be those who need, for reasons of their own, to see the city self-flagellate. While there are others who are eager to cheer her modernity.

What I took away is a conviction that great divisions can only mend if we listen and talk to each other. There have been ups and downs but Germany has come together without fisticuffs. Which is why it seems important to learn from them. How have they done it? And what can they teach other countries that seem intent on tearing themselves apart?

Answers on a postcard to those struggling with the mayhem in Iraq ...

10 comments:

  1. It sounds like an interesting city. We will never forget what happened but I think we as a world need to allow people to move on and not continually have to apologise for the sins of their fathers. As for Iraq? I don't think we'll ever get it right there because we are not living their lives.

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    1. I agree with you, Anne - I loved exploring the ways the city has moved on, but I suspect there are many who can never let go of the past - and I'm not sure if my family had died that I'd be so forgiving.

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  2. I truly admire how your travels have opened your mind to so many other cultures and ideas, and have consequently led to introspection about what it all means. As I was reading your post, I was thinking about places like Iraq, too, and wondering if unity would ever be a possibility there. The bitter rivalry between Sunnis and Shiites has gone on for so many years, and the whole Arab world seems to hinge on which sect has the upper hand... and how the other side can cut off that hand. It's horrid. Since I don't have much understanding of the underlying differences between the sides that's caused so much hatred and killing, it's difficult to get a grasp on whether they will ever be able to live in peace without an iron-fisted dictator in charge. Sad, isn't it?

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    1. The Sunni - Shiite thing goes back to whether they follow Mohammed or his cousin, which seems a crazy reason to beat each other up.

      And the open-mind thing - I think the more I travel the more I realise I have to learn. Which feels exciting to me!!

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  3. I have never wanted to go to Berlin. There's still too much past to get over. It is sad that they too appear to be struggling to get over their past. Sounds like you had a relaxing time though. Beer and sunshine! Good for you :-)

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    1. I get why you wouldn't want to go, Ros - as a city they are treading the balance between acknowledging the past and looking forward, and I suspect it's impossible to get that right for everyone.

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  4. Wonderful reflections. I feel a lot of respect in your post when you write about other countries and I really appreciate that. As a student of the German language (did a minor whilst doing my major in English in uni) I came across the differences between East and West. Given that I began to learn German in 1991 the scars from the Cold War were still very recent. It was not until I was fully fluent in German that I noticed the prejudices against East Germans from their Western counterparts. Once, whilst working as a freelancer for a delegation of German studenst, I came upon a mixed group from both East and West. The ones from the West "wished me luck with the accent". Yet, as any Germanic scholar will know the accent in Berlin is unique and quite difficult to understand. I hope those differences have gone now somewhat. I'm not as exposed to the German culture as I used to be, although I do try to read Der Spiegel online and an Austrian mag called Der Profil which is quite leftwing.

    Thanks for your reflections. I'm dying to go to Berlin, or to Germany for that matter. Maybe my old, rusty German will come back. :-)

    Greetings from London.

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    1. The language was no problem - as almost everyone I met spoke enough English. My lack of languages is shameful.

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  5. I visited Berlin two years ago. My impression was that, while moving on, it has not forgotten and will not forget its past. I don't think, in the circumstances, they could have done any better. I still wouldn't want to live there, but the visit was all right. But then, no one from my family was involved in the Holocaust.

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    1. I think you've nailed it, Miriam - for those who lost family in the Holocaust a visit to Berlin may be one step too far. But I think the city is doing its best to be honest about its terrible history and still rebuilt a city for those who live there now to be proud of.

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