Article Number: 0041E
Available: 26.06.1996
Category: CultureNumber of characters: 1121
Translation title: Berlin for Tourists (2)
Berlin Walls
Translator: Kim Rose
Translation Copyright: Kim Rose
Author: David Ingrim
Written: 08.06.1996
Abbreviation (when applicable): DI
Title: Berlin für Touristen (2)
Berliner Mauern
Pending publication by/on:
Previous publication by/on:
Copyright: David Ingrim
Diskussion/Letters to the Editor:

David Ingrim

Berlin for Tourists (2)

Berlin Walls

Tourists shouldn't believe there are no walls in Berlin
any longer. This rumor is solely the creation of tourism
opponents. Berlin is filled with walls. An up-to-date
travel guide should point out that the usual subway
stations are not the only starting points for wall
tours anymore. Now almost every station leads to the
destination. 
Construction is visible almost everywhere in the German
capital, which means demolition is visible everywhere
as well. And because most projects are in between the
tearing down phase and building back up phase, tourists
have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see certain walls
in their entirety. 
The fireproof walls, for example. Some onlookers ask
how it is possible that one unsecured stone stays atop
another. Dont be deceived - it holds strong. Attempting
to bring the wall crashing down in order to get one
of the loose stones at the bottom is futile.
But tourists not so interested in lugging home souvenirs
of the stone variety can visit walls filled with old
advertisements and graffiti. These walls, filled with
messages of all kinds, make it evident that all the
construction serves — in the end — to expose Berlin's own
history. 
In the face of such walls the tourist suspects that
the renovation of the Stadtschloss
in Berlin-Mitte is not even necessary, for example.
And how could the tourist learn more about a city than
by staring at the word "drugs," with its typographically
strange and fading "r" missing from the rotten plaster?
For those who find such rebuses too morbid, there
are still other visions of the past and present entrenched
in Berlin walls. Leave the Gesundbrunnen subway station,
direction Wittenau exit, and look around. Right: The
building of the U-Bahn-Station is preserved as a historical
monument.