Departure: Munich Hauptbahnhof
Site of Hitler's Bunker and New Reich Chancellery
Site of the bunker and as it appears today during my 2021 class trip with my Bavarian International School students. On
April 29, 1945 Hitler wrote his political and personal testament in the
bunker thereafter, he and Eva Braun married. The next day
they took their lives in Hitler's living and working space in the
bunker. Their corpses were poured over with gasoline and burned in front
of the emergency exit of the bunker in the garden of the New
Reichskanzlei. The following day on May 1, both Joseph and Magda
Goebbels took killed themselves just outside the bunkers' emergency exit after their
children had probably been killed in their sleeping room in the Vorbunker
by the hand of Magda Goebbels with Zyankali. Hans Krebs, last chief of
the General Staff of the Army, and the last military commander-in-chief,
Wilhelm Burgdorf, were shot in the bunkers' card room. Franz Schädle,
chief of the commando commando, also took refuge in the bunker. In the
night from the 1st to the 2nd of May the remaining inmates left the
bunker. On May 2, General Helmuth Weidling declared the capitulation of
Berlin, whereupon the Red Army discovered and took possession of the now
abandoned bunker.
War
correspondents shown the grave where Hitler's charred
body was alleged to be buried and the site today with my students from
the Bavarian International School. Linda
Strausbaugh, a professor of molecular and cell biology, determined that
the DNA came from a 20- to 40-year-old woman. The skull fragment could
have come from Braun, but to know that, the lab would need samples of
her DNA. Also, the DNA samples were very degraded, making identification
unlikely. Witnesses never reported Braun being shot in the head,
Bellantoni said, and she is thought to have died of cyanide poisoning.
"This person, with a bullet hole coming out the back of the head, would
have been shot in the face, in the mouth or underneath the chin," he
said. "It would have been hard for them to miss that."
The view of the site of the Chancellery from the subway station into Vossstrasse taken during my 2018 trip.
Taxis
lined up in front of the legendary Hotel Kaiserhof in 1938 and the same
site today with my students during our Bavarian International School
class trip in 2020. On November 22, 1943 the hotel was badly damaged by
the RAF during an air-raid on Berlin. The ruins ended up in East Berlin
after the division of the city and were later completely torn down and
in 1974 the North Korean embassy to East Germany was constructed on the
site. When in 2001 its successor state, the Federal Republic of Germany,
re-established diplomatic relations with North Korea, the latter's
embassy returned to the building. Since 2004, the annex on the south
half of the site has been leased to Cityhostel Berlin, which currently
pays the North Korean regime an estimated €38,000 per month. It was here
on February 26, 1932 in a ceremony that Hitler had himself appointed a
Regierungsrat in Brunswick for the period of a week, thus acquiring
German citizenship. Fest
writes how this was "for years his Berlin headquarters;" Irving adds
that "[t]his was where Hitler made his command post whenever he was in
Berlin." After having lunch "Hitler read newspapers, brought by an aide
each day from a kiosk at the nearby Kaiserhof Hotel. In earlier years he
had taken tea in the Kaiserhof: as he entered, the little orchestra
would strike up the ‘Donkey Serenade,’ his favourite Hollywood movie
tune." 
The bronze statue of Leopold I shown with my students during my 2016 Bavarian International School trip was moved in 2005
to its current location on Wilhelmplatz on the initative of the Berlin
Schadow Society which planned to re-erect the statues of the Prussian
military near their historical locations. The bronze copies of the
Zieten and Anhalt-Dessau monuments were rebuilt in 2003 and 2005 on the
subway island on the transverse axis of the former Wilhelmplatz. The
remaining four bronze statues were moved to a new location on the
neighboring Zietenplatz in September 2009 after its reconstruction,
which began in 2005, was completed. Since 2011, the statues as a whole
have been a listed building.
Pariser Platz:
Brandenburg Gate
Monday June 18
Second Walking Tour
Topography of Terror
Checkpoint Charlie
Tuesday June 19
Berliner Unterwelten (09.00)
Berlin Wall
Tour of former Stasi Headquarters
Tour of Bundestag (17.00)
Wednesday June 20
Working visit to Wannsee Conference (11.00)
Visit site of Potsdam Conference
Thursday June 21
Olympic Stadium
Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery
Friday June 22
Karlshorst
Depart Munich Hbf 09.55 Arrive Berlin 14.30
Shortly after midnight of August 13, 1961 construction began on a barrier
that would divide Berlin for 28 years. The Berlin Wall was a desperate
measure by an East German government on the verge of economic and political
collapse to stem the exodus of its own people: 2.6 million of them had
left for the West since 1949.
Euphemistically called ‘Anti-Fascist
Protection Barrier’, this grim symbol of oppression stretched for 160 kilometres,
turning West Berlin into an island of democracy within a sea of
socialism. Continually reinforced and refined over time, its cold
concrete slabs backed up against a ‘death zone’ of barbed wire, mines,
attack dogs and watchtowers staffed by trigger-happy border guards.
More
than 5000 people attempted an escape, but only about 1600 made it
across; most were captured and 191 were killed. The full extent of the
system’s cruelty became blatantly clear on August 17, 1962 when
18 year old Peter Fechtner was shot during his attempt to flee and was
then left to bleed to death whilst the East German guards looked on.
At
the end of the Cold War this potent symbol was eagerly dismantled.
Memento seekers chiselled away much of it and entire sections ended up
in museums around the world. Most of it, though, was unceremoniously
recycled for use in road construction. Today little more than a mile of
the Wall is left, but throughout Berlin segments, memorial sites,
museums and signs commemorate this horrifying but important chapter in
German history. Besides the places mentioned below, the Haus am
Checkpoint Charlie also chronicles this period.
My 2020 Bavarian International School senior history cohort beside
the wall on Bergstraße. The church shown in the period photo was the
Church of Reconciliation, completed in 1894 as an imposing brick-built
building by the architect Gotthilf Ludwig Möckel, in the Gothic revival
style. It received minor damage during the war, and still had a
deactivated American bomb found during its reconstruction in 1999, but
the church survived the war. With the Berlin's division in 1945, the
church building found itself within the Soviet sector, with most of the
parishioners in the neighbouring French sector resulting in the Berlin
Wall, constructed in 1961, running directly in front of the church on
its western side and behind it on the eastern side, preventing access to
everyone except the border guards, who used its tower as an observation
post. The church building was destroyed in 1985 in order ‘to increase
the security, order and cleanliness on the state border with West
Berlin’ according to the official justification by the East German regime. Four
years later in 1989, the Wall fell. 
My students attempting to scale the wall compared to members of the
border guard testing out the latest iteration of the wall in May 1974.
During its 28-year existence, the wall was modernised several times, but
only in sections for cost reasons. In the beginning it consisted mainly
of simple stone blocks and barbed wire, later prefabricated concrete
parts were lined up. In 1988, twenty of the most modern concrete wall
segments, each 1.20 metres wide, cost 19,000 East German marks, about
the same as a single Trabi. In
Bernauer Strasse, like everywhere else the wall bisected, the complete
sealing off of the sector boundary from August 13, 1961 had a
particularly violent impact on the everyday life of the residents. From
one day to the next, they could no longer go their usual ways.
Neighbours, friends and relatives were separated as the house opposite
belonged to a different political system. 
Even
without their involvement and against their will, the residents of
Bernauer Strasse became eyewitnesses and actors in post-war German
history in Berlin which is why walking down this stretch of road is such
a powerful, instructive experience. There were desperate people who
jumped out of their apartment windows into West Berlin and paid for it
with their lives. But successful escapes also took place on Bernauer
Strasse. Between Schwedter and Strelitzer Strasse, the walker along
Bernauer Strasse will find four panels of the Berlin Wall History Mile
which mark places where escape attempts have taken place: fatal ones,
like that of Ida Siekmann on August 22, 1961, spectacular ones, like
that of the DDR border post Conrad Schumann mentoned below, or
successful escape attempts, like that of 57 people who fell through a
140-metre-long tunnel to West Berlin. world public was there with
cameras and film cameras. Such violent destruction of everyday life
caused by the construction of the Berlin Wall has left clear traces on
Bernauer Strasse to this day. The former death strip between
Brunnenstrasse and Gartenstrasse was not built over and has been
preserved in its entire width. The open-air exhibition of the Berlin
Wall Memorial is currently being built here. The Berlin Wall memorial is
located roughly in the middle of this section of the border, built by
the German government in 1998.
Here
a remnant of the border fortifications has been preserved as part of
the Berlin Wall Memorial. It comprises of a seventy metre-long section
of the border fortifications in the last state of development as it
existed when the wall fell. Seen from the west, behind the concrete wall
made of industrially manufactured L-shaped elements is a sandy area.
This is followed by the column path illuminated with lanterns, a signal
fence and the hinterland wall . Barbed wire elements are not included.
An associated watchtower in its original historical condition was
subsequently erected within the complex. The original watchtower was
removed during dismantling shortly after the fall of the Wall, before
the remains of the Berlin Wall were placed under monument protection by
the East Berlin magistrate on October 2, 1990. The complex cannot be
entered by visitors and has been rededicated as a monument. Both ends
have been closed off with steel walls. The northern wall bears the
inscription: "In memory of the division of the city from August 13, 1961
to November 9, 1989 and in memory of the victims 
of communist tyranny. On the left is the corner of Bernauer Straße and Ackerstraße photographed in 1989 and during my 2020 Bavarian International School
class trip. The wall required closing a section of Ackerstraße at the
corner with that street, which fell within the "death strip." In
commemoration of the Wall and those who died attempting to cross it, a
portion of the main and inner walls and the "death strip" are preserved
on Bernauer Straße at the corner of Ackerstraße as part of the
Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer; 696 feet of the border strip along Bernauer
Straße between Ackerstraße and Bergstraße were made a protected
landmark on October 2, 1990 and this is now the last genuine remnant of
the Wall.
Even
without their involvement and against their will, the residents of
Bernauer Strasse became eyewitnesses and actors in post-war German
history in Berlin which is why walking down this stretch of road is such
a powerful, instructive experience. There were desperate people who
jumped out of their apartment windows into West Berlin and paid for it
with their lives. But successful escapes also took place on Bernauer
Strasse. Between Schwedter and Strelitzer Strasse, the walker along
Bernauer Strasse will find four panels of the Berlin Wall History Mile
which mark places where escape attempts have taken place: fatal ones,
like that of Ida Siekmann on August 22, 1961, spectacular ones, like
that of the DDR border post Conrad Schumann mentoned below, or
successful escape attempts, like that of 57 people who fell through a
140-metre-long tunnel to West Berlin. world public was there with
cameras and film cameras. Such violent destruction of everyday life
caused by the construction of the Berlin Wall has left clear traces on
Bernauer Strasse to this day. The former death strip between
Brunnenstrasse and Gartenstrasse was not built over and has been
preserved in its entire width. The open-air exhibition of the Berlin
Wall Memorial is currently being built here. The Berlin Wall memorial is
located roughly in the middle of this section of the border, built by
the German government in 1998.
of communist tyranny. On the left is the corner of Bernauer Straße and Ackerstraße photographed in 1989 and during my 2020 Bavarian International School
class trip. The wall required closing a section of Ackerstraße at the
corner with that street, which fell within the "death strip." In
commemoration of the Wall and those who died attempting to cross it, a
portion of the main and inner walls and the "death strip" are preserved
on Bernauer Straße at the corner of Ackerstraße as part of the
Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer; 696 feet of the border strip along Bernauer
Straße between Ackerstraße and Bergstraße were made a protected
landmark on October 2, 1990 and this is now the last genuine remnant of
the Wall.Ackerstraße
had earlier served as the setting for George Grosz's grisly 1916
lithograph "Lustmord in der Ackerstrasse" which depicted a woman
sprawled on her bed, viciously bludgeoned with a meat hacker whilst a
man washes his hands in the background. Indeed, the area was once derogatorily dubbed the "Berlin Sahara" given its pronounced poverty and asociality.
Looking at the site from the memorial towards the current chapel of Reconciliation.
In
front of the chapel of Reconciliation, built in adobe in 2000 on the
foundations of the Church of Reconciliation by 2000. It is part of the
Berlin Wall Memorial. Since August 13, 2005, a fifteen minute prayer
service has been held in the Chapel of Reconciliation every day from
Tuesday to Friday at noon during which time the biography of a person
who died at the Berlin Wall is read as part of a collaborative project
between the Berlin Wall Association and the Centre for Contemporary
History in Potsdam, in which historians research the biographies of Wall
victims. The documentation centre itself is housed in the parish hall,
which was built in 1965 to replace the inaccessible church. The
construction of the Berlin Wall had made the original Church of
Reconciliation, built in 1894, no longer accessible to the community in
the western part of the city because it stood on the "death strip"
between the inner and outer walls. 
My
students on the right show the site then and now. The East German
government finally ordered its demolition in 1985 in order to have a
clear view of the border strip. After the reunification of Germany, the
parish received the property back in 1995 on the condition that it be
used for a religious purpose. Starting in June 1996, architects Peter
Sassenroth and Rudolf Reitermann designed this unusual church building
on behalf of the Evangelical Reconciliation Community. From June 1999,
on the foundations of the chancel, an oval church interior was erected
in rammed earth by tclay artist Martin Rauch, making the structure the
first public earth building in Germany for over a century. As far as
possible, materials from the Church of Reconciliation were reused in the
building. The wall thickness is up to sixty centimeters with a height
of seven metres and a length of 43 metres from which a total of 390
tonne sof rammed earth were processed. The rescued bells, manufactured in 1894,
are hung in a belfry outside the chapel. The largest of them weighs
1300 kilogrammes and has a diametre of 150 centimetres. Two smaller
bells weigh 850 and 500 kilogrammes and 130 and 110 centimetres in
diametre. A walkway with seating connects the interior of the church
with its surroundings. The floor plan of the Church of Reconciliation is
marked around the chapel and serves as the church square. Altogether
the construction costs amounted to 971,454 euros.
Until
the fall of the Wall, the MfS described the incident as a murder by
escape helper Christian Zobel, who died in the 1980s believing he had
shot someone. A memorial plaque was erected in honour of Schultze on the
first anniversary of his death; the photo on the right shows the site
on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the erection of the wall on
August 13th, 1971. In addition, the parents, soldiers and officers of
the border troops as well as the population of Berlin commemorated the
anniversary of Schultz's death and the southern section of the street
was renamed Egon-Schultz-Straße on August 12, 1966. After the fall of
the Wall the street received its old name back on December 1, 1991. The
earlier memorial plaque for Schultz disappeared in the 1990s. A new
plaque was installed in its place in 2004 seen in the photograph. In
addition, commemorative plaques for anti-Nazi resistance fighters Kurt
Klinke at number 18 and Gustav Elfert at number 10 are located on
residential buildings on this street.
My students at the site of Conrad Schumann's famous "leap
into freedom" over a roll of barbed wire on August 15, 1961 when he was
guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall at the intersection
between Ruppiner and Bernauer Strasse, which had begun two days earlier.
Under the pretense of checking the spirals on the sidewalk, Schumann
pressed down a spot with his foot, often walked back and forth between
his actual watch station and the wire, taking a sense of proportion, and
in an unobserved moment took the opportunity to jump over the barbed
wire. Whilst he was still jumping, he grazed the shoulder strap of his
submachine gun (PPSch-41) to drop it and ran on to a West Berlin police
vehicle ten metres away, the crew of which had left the door open for
protection because of his obvious intention to flee, which also
encouraged him to take the risk. The photographer Peter Leibing took the
famous photo at the moment of the jump when, sensing that something
unusual was about to happen, he focused his Exakta camera with its 200mm
lens on the barbed wire fence and pressed the shutter button at just
the right moment when Schumann was over the fence. This image became one
of the most recognisable images of the Cold War. The entire scene, with
Schumann's escape preparations, was recorded from the same perspective
on 16mm film by cameraman Dieter Hoffmann. Some time after the escape,
Schumann moved to Edenhausen near Krumbach in the Günzburg district of
Bavaria, where he met his future wife, Kunigunde. After the fall of the
Wall, Schumann admitted that it was "[o]nly since November 9, 1989 did I
really feel free" as throughout his life he feared revenge from the
Stasi. Schumann last lived in Oberemmendorf in Upper Bavaria and worked
in Ingolstadt at Audi AG as a machine setter. In a bitter irony, on June
20, 1998, he committed suicide.
The site before and after the fall of the wall from the British zone
Tourists posing in front of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg gate in
the British sector on June 6, 1989 and my students in 2013.
My
students at the site where the wall followed along
Niederkirchnerstrasse, named after Käthe Niederkirchner, an anti-Nazi
communist resistance fighter. Before 1951 this street was called
Prinz-Albrecht-Straße under which name, from 1933 to 1945, it became a
synonym for the terror apparatus of the dictatorship during the Nazi
era. The Gestapo headquarters, the Reich Security Main Office and the SS
had their headquarters here. The Berlin Wall ran along the street from
1961 to 1989. After 1933, Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse became the control
centre of the Nazi state, which was characterised by its close proximity
to the government district on Wilhelmstrasse. Whilst most of the
buildings on the northern side of the street remained largely
undestroyed during the Second World War, they were severely damaged on
the southern side, which belongs to the district of Kreuzberg. During
the years of Berlin's division, the border between East and West Berlin
ran along the street from 1948. All of the street land, including the
sidewalks, belonged to East Berlin's Mitte district which is why the
Berlin Wall ran here. 
As
is common practice, this was set back about one and a half metres so
that the East German border troops could carry out construction and
renovation work on their own territory. Here on the left is the Berlin House of Representatives, the seat of the Berlin state parliament. On the right with restored portico is today's Martin-Gropius-Bau, built in
1881 as the Kunstgewerbemuseum. When the burnt-out ruin was transferred
to the state of Berlin by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in
1977, it was reassigned in the land register from
"Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 7" to "Stresemannstrasse 110", the neighbouring
property of the destroyed Ethnological Museum. Today it is registered as
"Niederkirchnerstraße 7" and is the only surviving building on this
side of the street.Students at the corner of Zimmerstraße and Charlottenstraße near Checkpoint Charlie in
front of the former site of the wall. This would be a place of
particular infamy in the early afternoon of August 17, 1962 when
journeyman bricklayer Peter Fechter and concrete worker Helmut Kulbeik,
both just of legal age, were shot whilst attempting to flee a year ofter
the erection of the wall. At 14.10 Fechter and Kulbeik ran out of the
hiding place of a carpenter’s workshop in the direction of the border
system. Witnesses heard someone call out "Come on, jump" and saw a young
man collapse right in front of the wall. Whilst Kulbeik made it to the
West, Fechter paused in the hail of bullets, "apparently he was shocked
that live shots were actually fired," according to Thomas Schmid's book
"Mord an der Mauer"published in 1992 on the occasion of the 50th
anniversary of Fechter's death. Only after fifty minutes of Fechter shouting "help me, help me"did
border guards carry the now-silent man away from the wall, throwing him
onto a covered wagon. Fechter had bled to death between the fronts of
the Cold War with one of the 34 7.62 calibre steel bullets piercing
through his right pelvic wing, tearing the colon and small intestine.
Two witnesses on the east side were taken away and interrogated until 2
am, subjected to a body check "in all body orifices."
East Side Gallery
Painting
25 is one of the best known of the Berlin wall graffiti paintings, a
depiction of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing as painted by
Dmitri Vrubel. On the left is the condition of the painting in 2005 and
at the right is me standing beside it after its restoration. The Russian
words at the top read "God! help me stay alive" and continue at the
bottom "Among this deadly love" ("Господи! Помоги мне выжить среди этой
смертной любви"). Vrubel created the painting in 1990. Along with other
murals in the section, the painting continued in display after the wall
was taken down, but vandalism and atmospheric conditions gradually led
to its deterioration. In March 2009, the painting, along with others,
was erased from the wall to allow the original artists to repaint them
with more durable paints. Vrubel was commissioned to repaint the piece,
donating the €3000 fee he was paid to a social art project in Marzahn.
My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love (sometimes referred to as
the Fraternal Kiss or Bruderkuss) is, according to Anthony Read
and David Fisher, "particularly striking, with a sharp, satirical edge."
However, it was also widely criticized on creation as a straightforward
reproduction of the photograph that inspired it taken on October 7,
1979 when Brezhnev was visiting East Germany at the time to celebrate
the anniversary of its founding as a Communist nation.
A 23-metre section was scheduled to be removed on March 1, 2013, to
make way for luxury apartments. None of the artists whose work will be
destroyed were informed of these plans. The demolition work actually
started on March 1, 2013. According to German news FOCUS, authorities
were not aware of the start of the demolition. Due to the involvement of
protesters, demolition was postponed until at least March 18, 2013.
Nevertheless, two-thirds of the paintings are badly damaged by erosion,
graffiti, and vandalism. One-third has been restored by a non-profit
organisation which started work in 2000 with the stated objective being the eventual restoration and preservation of all the
paintings. However, the restoration
process has been marked by major conflict. Eight of the artists of 1990
refused to paint their own images again after they were completely
destroyed by the renovation. In order to defend the copyright, they
founded "Founder Initiative East Side" with other artists whose images
were simply copied without permission. Bodo Sperling launched a test
case in the Berlin State Court in May 2011, represented by the Munich
art lawyer Hannes Hartung and with the support of the German VG
Bild-Kunst. The outcome of the trial would be a landmark declaration for
European art law.
The memorial to the June 17 uprising, with the DDR-era mural in the background within Göring's former air ministry HQ. The central Monument in memory of the 1953 Uprising in the East German Democratic Republic is represented by a groundfloor relief, surrounded by a low barrier, created by Wolfgang Rüppel. Remarkably, Max Lingner's 18-metre long mural "Aufbau der Republik" (Building the Republic) is allowed to remain in situ.
Photos from my 2014 and 2016 school trips on the anniversary of the uprising.
Checkpoint Charlie
Drake
Winston at the site in 2021. A famous cafe and viewing place for Allied
officials, armed forces and visitors alike, Cafe Adler ("Eagle Café"),
was situated right on the checkpoint.The development of the
infrastructure around the checkpoint was largely asymmetrical,
reflecting the contrary priorities of East German and Western border
authorities. During its 28-year active life, the infrastructure on the
Eastern side was expanded to include not only the wall, watchtower and
zig-zag barriers, but a multi-lane shed where cars and their occupants
were checked. However, the Allied authority never erected any permanent
buildings. A wooden shed was replaced during the 1980s by a larger metal
structure, now displayed at the Allied Museum in western Berlin. Their
reasoning was that they did not consider the inner Berlin sector
boundary an international border and did not treat it as such. On the
East Berlin side, the East German border troops allowed foreigners and
East German officials to pass through, in addition to the Allied
military personnel and diplomats who enjoyed freedom of movement in
Berlin including employees of the Permanent Representation of the
Federal Republic of Germany to the DDR. 
The
director of the Komische Oper Walter Felsenstein, whilst living in West
Berlin, also used this border crossing as an Austrian citizen. It was
one of three Allied checkpoints used by the Americans, who named it
"Charlie" after the third letter in the alphabet, "C", according to the
international spelling alphabet. "Checkpoint Alpha" was the name of the
checkpoint at the Helmstedt-Marienborn border crossing on today's
Bundesautobahn 2, which was in the British zone, but because of the
shortest autobahn connection to West Berlin used almost exclusively by
the three Western Allies and also jointly was managed. Checkpoint Bravo
was the American side of the Dreilinden checkpoint, which was moved to
Drewitz in 1969 and later relocated to today's A 115. The nomenclature
checkpoint for control point results from the fact that the western side
did not recognise the legitimacy under international law as a state
border, in contrast to the eastern term Grenzüberführungsstelle (GÜSt).
In this regard, after the constitutional recognition of the DDR from
1972, there was a change for the inner-German border, but not for the
Berlin sector border. 
The site during the Berlin crisis and me today. As
a result of the SED leadership's attempt to restrict the Allied rights
of the western powers in Berlin, Soviet and American tanks faced each
other, ready for battle, on October 27, 1961 as seen here. Soon after
the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, a stand-off occurred
between US and Soviet tanks on either side of Checkpoint Charlie. It
began on October 22 as a dispute over whether East German border guards
were authorized to examine the travel documents of a US diplomat based
in West Berlin named Allan Lightner heading to East Berlin to watch an
opera show there, since according to the agreement between all four
Allied powers occupying Germany, there was to be free movement for
Allied forces in Berlin and that no German military forces from either
West Germany or East Germany were to be based in the city, and moreover
the Western Allies did not (initially) recognise the East German state
and its right to remain in its self-declared capital of East Berlin.
Instead, Allied forces only recognised the authority of the Soviets over
East Berlin rather than their East German allies. By October 27, ten
Soviet and an equal number of American tanks stood 100 yards apart on
either side of the checkpoint. This stand-off ended peacefully the next
day following an American-Soviet understanding to withdraw tanks and
reduce tensions. Discussions between American Attorney General Robert
Kennedy and KGB spy Georgi Bolshakov played a key role in realising this
tacit agreement. Today
we know that the commanders of both sides had orders to use their tanks
if necessary. 
In November 1961, the United States responded to the more
recent Berlin Crisis with Operation Stair Step. More than 200 fighter
jets were transferred from the United States to France via Canada and
the Azores and did not return to the United States until August 1962. The
checkpoint was the scene of spectacular escapes from what was then East
Berlin. East Berlin refugee Peter Fechter died in the immediate
vicinity . He was hit by several shots from an East Berlin border guard
and bled to death on August 17, 1962 in front of western observers. The
People's Policeman Burkhard Niering took a passport inspector hostage in
1974 and was shot while attempting to escape. On August 29, 1986, three
GDR citizens successfully broke through the border barriers with a
7.5-tonne gravel truck. Hans-Peter Spitzner from Karl-Marx-Stadtwas the
last escapee from Checkpoint Charlie. On August 18, 1989, he crossed the
border with his daughter in the trunk of an Allied vehicle.
A
viewing platform was set up directly at the border wall on the West
Berlin side, from which the death strip and the border crossing point on
the East Berlin side could be seen. Even before German reunification,
the checkpoint was dismantled on June 22, 1990 as part of a
commemoration ceremony. Today it can be seen in the Allied Museum in
Berlin.
Checkpoint Charlie as it appeared in 1961 and during my 2016 Bavarian International School class
trip. The crossing has been partly reconstructed with a US Army
guardhouse and a copy of the famous sign warning ‘You are now leaving
the American sector’. The original is now next door at the private Haus
am Checkpoint Charlie shown behind, a popular if cluttered museum
reporting mostly on the history and horror of the Berlin Wall. The
exhibit is particularly powerful whislt documenting the courage and
ingenuity displayed by some East German subjects in escaping to the West
using hot-air balloons, tunnels, concealed compartments in cars and
even a one-man submarine.
Stasi Museum
With my students from the Bavarian
International School at the entrance of
the research and memorial
site at Building 1 of the former headquarters of the
Ministry for State Security (MfS, Stasi) on Ruschestraße 103,
near
Frankfurter Allee at U-Bahn Station Magdalenenstrasse Line U5, and as it appeared with East German ruler Erich Honecker saluting Stasi head Erich Mielke. Today it serves as a facility for information
about the activities of the State Security , about resistance movements
and opposition in the DDR and about aspects of the political system of
the DDR. A permanent exhibition ( Stasi Museum ) has been set up in the
former, original work rooms of Minister Erich Mielke and his staff.
The organisation is run by the Antistalinist Action
Berlin-Normannenstrasse associatione. V. (ASTAK), which was founded in
the summer of 1990 by civil rights activists in Berlin. Its aim is to
promote the expansion of the memorial as a centre for the collection,
preservation, documentation, processing and exhibition of testimonials
as well as topic-related research on the DDR .
The
building, House 1, was erected in 1960-61 as the offices
of Erich Mielke, who
served as Minister for State Security from 1957 until the end of the
DDR. The entire block is a series of grey labyrinthine buildings, all
hunched catastrophically together. A city within a city, the Stasi
offices came complete with a movie theatre, canteen, a supermarket – and
were surrounded by apartment buildings housing the people the Stasi
liked to keep a close and paranoid eye on. It is home to Mielke's recently opened office and
looks exactly how you'd expect it to look: carved busts of Marx and
Lenin lining the hallways and the foyer, brown marble columns, off-white
almost yellow walls, tacky gold-coloured railings. Whereas the first
and third floors host a series of exhibitions about survivors of the East German
regime, methods of surveillance, propaganda and general history, the
second floor was entirely Mielke's. The abundance of space the man must
have enjoyed on this luxury floor is nauseating to some considering how much the
citizens of East Germany suffered under his watchful eye. According to Funder (57) in Stasiland,
"[i]n Hitler’s Third Reich it is estimated that there was one Gestapo
agent for every 2000 citizens, and in Stalin’s USSR there was one KGB
agent for every 5830 people. In the GDR, there was one Stasi officer or
informant for every sixty-three people. If part-time informers are
included, some estimates have the ratio as high as one informer for
every 6.5 citizens”.
The
facility is located in a large part of the building complex built
between 1930 and 1932 for the Lichtenberg tax office. After the war,
German communists began to establish a dictatorial system of rule in the
Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) of Germany. In 1946, partly through Soviet
pressure, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Social
Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) united in the Soviet Zone to form the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), whose leadership level formed
the centre of power in the DDR until its collapse in 1989. The rulers
created a system of violence and threats, rewards and preference.
Individuals were educated to conform, submit and, where possible, to
cooperate within the SED dictatorship. The SED had unrestricted access
to almost all areas of life - exceptions were the churches, for example -
in order to comprehensively control each individual and, if necessary,
to reward or discipline them. The core of this ruling apparatus was the
Ministry for State Security (MfS), which, as the so-called "shield and
sword of the party" under the leadership of the SED, had to protect the
"workers and peasants' power" and secure the monopoly of the SED
dictatorship. 
At
the end of the 1970s, the Ministry of State Security had extensive
extensions built, for which, among other things, Max Taut's residential
buildings in Normannenstrasse were demolished and the New Apostolic
Church relocated. Inside the site, a canteen was built (a monument since
2015) and further high service buildings facing Ruschestrasse. After
the reunification and peaceful revolution in the DDR, there were
numerous protests by angry DDR citizens in front of the Stasi
headquarters. In the building, employees of the ministry were busy
destroying extensive files. After the head office was stormed on January
15, 1990, many documents were saved. The ASTAK opened the
“Normannenstrasse Research and Memorial Site” on November 7, 1990 with
the exhibition “Against the Sleep of Reason”. House 1 has been open to
the public as a museum since then. The exhibition includes the office
and work rooms of the former Minister for State Security Erich Mielkeand
other rooms. Since January 2015, the permanent exhibition “State
Security in the SED Dictatorship”, which was developed by ASTAK and the
Stasi Records Authority , has been on display. The listed building 1
with the offices of the minister and his closest employees was
energetically renovated by Arnold and Gladisch Architects and opened to
the public again in 2012. The service buildings 7 and 8, which are shown
to interested people during guided tours, are used to store the archive
materials and have been renovated since 2015- it's shown directly
behind me and my 2021 cohort and as it appeared in The Lives of Others:
The permanent
exhibition "State Security in the SED Dictatorship" explains the
structure, development and functioning of the MfS. It informs visitors
about the people who worked for this institution and shows the methods
they used to control and persecute the East German population. The heart of the
museum is the historical office rooms of Erich Mielke, the last minister
for state security in the GDR, which have been largely preserved in
their original condition and can be viewed since 1990. The new permanent
exhibition was developed by the sponsoring association of the Stasi
Museum ASTAK e.V. in cooperation with the authority of the Federal
Commissioner for the Stasi Records (BStU), which has taken on the
content-related development of the 1st floor.
Beside
the statue of (Iron) Felix Dzerzhinsky in the lobby on the three separate visits to
the museum. Dzerzhinsky is best known for establishing and developing
the Soviet secret police forces, serving as their director from 1917 to
1926. Later he was a member of the Soviet government heading several
commissariats, whilst being the chief of the Soviet secret police. The
Cheka soon became notorious for mass summary executions, performed
especially during the Red Terror and the Russian Civil War.
In
the corridor to the office and working
quarters of Mielke. The main hall is dominated by three portraits: a
bronze of Lenin; a portrait of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the
Cheka, the forerunner to the KGB; and a painting of what looks to be
Richard Sorge, a much-lauded Soviet spy executed by the Japanese during
the war. The rooms on this level were designed to meet the needs of
Erich Mielke. Their function and interiors remained largely unchanged
from the time the building was completed in 1961. This area remained
largely intact, even when the building complex was taken over by
demonstrators on January 15, 1990. The many objects on display
throughout the rooms were, however, later removed and archived.This
level is therefore preserved in its original form and visitors can see
it today in the condition that it existed when it served as Erich
Mielke’s offices. On January 15, 1990 demonstrators took over the
Stasi headquarters; the GIF on the right shows the result and with me
instead today, exactly as it was before it was. 
A week later, the Central Round Table, a committee made up of representatives of the SED dictatorship and civil rights groups, decided that a “memorial and research centre on DDR Stalinism” should be established in House 1. When nothing came of this declaration of intent, members of the Berlin citizens’ committee and other civil rights activists took action and began securing the historic site. In August they founded the association “Antistalinistische Aktion e.V.” (ASTAK). On November 7, 1990, it opened the Research Centre and Memorial at Normannenstrasse with an exhibition titled “Against the Sleep of Reason”. House 1, later named the Stasi Museum, has been open to the public ever since. The offices of Erich Mielke are preserved in their original condition and form the centrepiece of the historic site. The museum today serves as a "centre for the collection, preservation, documentation, rehabilitation and exhibition of evidence and research materials relating to East Germany".
Mielke's personal study then and today, almost perfectly preserved as it
was. There's a
bed, a small kitchen and a bathroom, which suggests that Mielke must
have spent the vast amount of his time working, rarely going home to his
wife and son. Mielke served his post until the wall fell. On November
9, when the wall was accidentally declared "open" at that famous press
conference which changed history, the Stasi freaked out and started
destroying files as everyday citizens rushed the Stasi offices and
demanded to see what had been written about them. Mielke was kicked out
of the party on December 3, almost certainly an attempt by the
communists to wash their hands of those who committed unspeakable
crimes. No longer shielded by his fancy role in the corrupt government,
Mielke was arrested for the murder of the two policemen back in 1931. In
1992 he was sentence to six years in prison, and served four of those
six years at the Moabit prison before being released for medical
reasons. Mielke, his lawyers argued, was senile and had forgotten what
he had done. 
the
Stasi HQ to which people are taken for questioning, and where Wiesler
eventually consults the records for ‘Operation Lazlo’, is the real thing
It’s now the Stasi Museum, Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1, in the Lichtenberg
district.
Standing
where the scenes with Ulrich Tukur as Lieutenant Colonel Anton Grubitz
were shot. His office was directly next to that of Stasi boss Mielke.
The patina of the GDR had even been preserved. With their typical wood paneling, these offices have a unique "charm" and can be clearly assigned to a particular time and particular style – a situation that is both exciting and oppressive.In order to ensure the greatest authenticity, the producers wanted to shoot on original locations as much as possible. Yet even though the film relates events that took place only fifteen years ago, much has changed since then. "Ultimately, there is not much difference, as far as costs are concerned, whether you're shooting Berlin in 1930 or Berlin in 1984," says producer Max Wiedemann. In order to recreate the backdrop of the GDR, a great deal of effort went into the sets and decors. Particularly arduous was the painting over of graffiti, which is nowadays found everywhere. No sooner had the "works of art" been painted over than they reappeared the following morning!
The production was also the first and is, to this day, the only feature film that was allowed to shoot in the original file-card archives of the former Stasi headquarters in the Normannenstrasse with the express authorisation of Marianne Birthler, the "Head of the Federal Authority for Documents of the State Security Service of the Former GDR." Scenes bearing a unique eyewitness character arose amidst this gigantic mechanical filing system. The archive was restructured and digitalized after the shooting was completed. The data are preserved, but the location of the files and documents no longer exists in the form shown in the film.
It
was from this office here that Mielke commanded a staff that grew from
2,700 at the time of the organisation’s formation in the 1950s to around
91,000 in 1989. As a consequence of the economic problems of the DDR,
Mielke initiated a hiring freeze in 1983, otherwise the ranks would
surely have swelled further. Here is his desk, which features his phone, a chair,
wood-panelled cupboards (everything is wood-panelled), and a shredder,
an ominous nod to the frantic efforts of the Stasi to shred secret
documents of the citizens they spied on for an entire generation.
On the third floor Erich Mielke's office is preserved as he left it, his calendar turned to December 1989. Mielke's office has blue chairs, red rugs, wood panelings, and white polyester lace curtains. The furniture is the cheap fifties style found all over the East Bloc. On his desk are plastic ashtrays on doilies, a plaster bust of Lenin, a document shredder, and four telephones. But, as Rosenberg acknowledges, appearances are deceptive for this was the centre of 'the most extensive spy organisation in world history'.Dennis, Laporte (51) The Stasi: Myth and Reality
Erich
Mielke's conference room in his Stasi-central in Berlin-Lichtenberg
where he used to meet the sixteen Bezirk-leaders from Stasi-departments all
over East Germany and my 2020 cohort visiting the site. Throughout the complex there are a series of meeting rooms throughout with fancy
worn maps hanging on the
walls, long tables, comfortable bright blue chairs, and a secretary's
desk complete with a telephone switchboard with oversized comical
buttons like the kind one would see in an old James Bond film.
I'm standing beside the 1961 oil painting by Wolfgang Frankenstein-
Mielke's favourite artist- described by Jörg Drieselmann who has headed
the memorial since 1992, as "colour samples of a depressed monkey."
Indeed, after
attempting suicide, Frankenstein had been admitted to the
Berlin-Nikolassee mental hospital until the end of the war. This came
after his Jewish father had been sent to Sachsenhausen concentration
camp in 1943 followed the next year by himself receiving a summons to
the Todt Organisation labour camp. After
the Frankenstein worked as a freelance painter and contributed to
various cultural magazines and co-founded the artists' cabaret The
Bathtub (Die Badewanne). In 1951 openly denounced the remilitarisation
of West Germany, after which he was expelled from various associations
and so in 1953 he moved to the DDR. From 1968 to 1983 he was professor
and head of the art education department at Humboldt University. One can
still see his twenty murals on Meißner tiles in the Magdalenenstraße
subway station with the theme of the history of the German labour
movement dating 1986.
My
students being given a tour of the Stasi's history and means of
controlling the population. The Stasi's ability to control the
population was greatly facilitated by its sophisticated surveillance
methods. The agency employed an extensive network of informants and used
advanced technology to monitor the activities of individuals. According
to Jens Gieseke, a prominent historian of the Stasi, the agency had an
estimated 91,000 full-time employees and over 200,000 informants by the
1980s. These informants were recruited from various segments of society,
including workplaces, universities, and even within families. Their
task was to report any signs of dissent or potential opposition to the
Stasi. The Stasi also utilised a range of surveillance techniques to
gather information on citizens. They intercepted mail, tapped
telephones, and conducted extensive physical and electronic
surveillance. One particularly infamous example of Stasi surveillance
was the use of hidden microphones and cameras in private residences,
workplaces, and public spaces. This invasive surveillance created a
climate of fear and suspicion, as individuals were never sure if they
were being watched or listened to. The mere perception of constant
surveillance served as a powerful deterrent to dissent, effectively
stifling any potential opposition. 
Furthermore,
the Stasi's surveillance methods were bolstered by the comprehensive
use of personal files. Anna Funder, an author and female historian who
extensively researched the Stasi, highlights the existence of extensive
dossiers on individuals that contained personal and private information.
These files were meticulously compiled and included details such as
political affiliations, relationships, and even sexual preferences. The
possession of such intimate knowledge provided the Stasi with
significant leverage over individuals, enabling them to manipulate and
control those who posed a threat to the regime. Despite the
effectiveness of the Stasi's surveillance apparatus, it is important to
acknowledge that not all East Germans actively supported or collaborated
with the regime. Many individuals, although aware of the Stasi's
methods, sought subtle ways to resist or subvert their control. The
popular sentiment of "Lügen haben kurze Beine" (lies have short legs)
emerged, reflecting the skepticism of East Germans towards the
credibility of the Stasi's propaganda and surveillance. This highlights
the inherent limitations of the Stasi's control and the persistence of
individual agency, even in the face of extensive surveillance. 
However,
the Stasi's control over the population extended beyond surveillance
and informants. Another crucial aspect of their strategy was the
manipulation of ideological indoctrination. The ruling SED implemented a
comprehensive propaganda system that aimed to shape the beliefs,
values, and attitudes of the East German population. The Stasi played a
pivotal role in enforcing this ideological conformity and suppressing
dissenting voices. One key method employed by the Stasi was the
dissemination of state-controlled media. The regime tightly controlled
newspapers, radio, television, and other forms of mass communication,
ensuring that only approved information and narratives were presented to
the public. Any content that deviated from the official party line was
swiftly censored or suppressed. This control over the media allowed the
Stasi to shape public opinion and maintain a consistent ideological
narrative that glorified the socialist regime while demonizing its
enemies. Moreover, the Stasi actively targeted cultural institutions,
educational systems, and youth organizations to ensure the
indoctrination of the younger generations. 
The
education system was heavily influenced by the state, with curriculum
content and textbooks carefully curated to promote socialist ideals and
the regime's version of history. Children
were taught from an early age to revere the achievements of the German
Democratic Republic and to view the West as a corrupt and decadent
society. The Stasi closely monitored teachers and professors, ensuring
that they adhered to the approved curriculum and propagated the desired
ideological messages. To reinforce ideological conformity and discourage
dissent, the Stasi utilized a vast network of informants within various
social spheres. They encouraged citizens to spy on each other,
fostering an environment of mutual suspicion and mistrust. The fear of
being reported by a friend, neighbor, or family member stifled open
dialogue and created a climate of self-censorship. This pervasive sense
of surveillance, coupled with the constant ideological messaging,
effectively suppressed any alternative viewpoints and fostered
conformity to the state's ideals. However, it is important to note that
the effectiveness of ideological indoctrination varied among
individuals. 
Historian
Jens Gieseke argues that while the Stasi's control over information and
education was substantial, there were East Germans who remained
skeptical and critical of the regime. Some
individuals managed to maintain their own beliefs and engage in small
acts of resistance, even within the confines of an oppressive regime.
This demonstrates the resilience of human agency and the limits of the
Stasi's control over individual thought and conscience. In
addition to surveillance and ideological indoctrination, the Stasi
employed various tactics to instill fear and control within the
population. One such tactic was the widespread use of psychological and
physical intimidation. The Stasi employed a range of methods, including
harassment, threats, blackmail, and even physical violence, to quell any
opposition and maintain control. The Stasi's psychological tactics
aimed to create a climate of fear and uncertainty. They often targeted
individuals who showed signs of dissent or opposition, subjecting them
to constant surveillance, interrogations, and psychological
manipulation. These methods were intended to break down the individual's
will and force them into submission. The Stasi also utilized
psychological pressure on the families and friends of targeted
individuals, using their loved ones as leverage to ensure cooperation
and silence. Physical violence was another tool employed by the Stasi to
assert control. 
Dissidents,
activists, and those perceived as threats to the regime were subjected
to physical abuse, imprisonment, and torture. The notorious
Hohenschönhausen prison, operated by the Stasi, became a symbol of the
regime's brutality and repression. The Stasi's use of physical violence
served as a stark warning to others, reinforcing the notion that
resistance would be met with severe consequences. It is worth noting
that the Stasi's tactics of intimidation and violence were not without
resistance. While many individuals succumbed to the pressure and
complied with the regime's demands, there were courageous individuals
who defied the Stasi's control. Dissident movements, such as the
Peaceful Revolution and the subversive activities of groups like the
Bürgerkomitees (Citizens' Committees), showcased the resilience and
determination of those who dared to challenge the Stasi's authority.
These acts of resistance played a significant role in undermining the
Stasi's control and ultimately contributed to the fall of the Berlin
Wall and the reunification of Germany.
Dissidents,
activists, and those perceived as threats to the regime were subjected
to physical abuse, imprisonment, and torture. The notorious
Hohenschönhausen prison, operated by the Stasi, became a symbol of the
regime's brutality and repression. The Stasi's use of physical violence
served as a stark warning to others, reinforcing the notion that
resistance would be met with severe consequences. It is worth noting
that the Stasi's tactics of intimidation and violence were not without
resistance. While many individuals succumbed to the pressure and
complied with the regime's demands, there were courageous individuals
who defied the Stasi's control. Dissident movements, such as the
Peaceful Revolution and the subversive activities of groups like the
Bürgerkomitees (Citizens' Committees), showcased the resilience and
determination of those who dared to challenge the Stasi's authority.
These acts of resistance played a significant role in undermining the
Stasi's control and ultimately contributed to the fall of the Berlin
Wall and the reunification of Germany. 
In
conclusion, the Stasi's control over the population was achieved
through a combination of surveillance, ideological indoctrination, and
tactics of fear and intimidation. Their extensive network of informants
and sophisticated surveillance techniques created an atmosphere of
constant scrutiny and suspicion, stifling dissent and promoting
self-censorship. The manipulation of ideological indoctrination through
state-controlled media, education, and cultural institutions ensured the
propagation of the regime's ideals and limited alternative
perspectives. Additionally, the Stasi's use of psychological and
physical intimidation aimed to instill fear and maintain control.
However, it is crucial to recognize that not all individuals succumbed
to the Stasi's control, and acts of resistance played a vital role in
challenging the regime's authority. The Stasi's methods of control left a
lasting impact on East German society, but ultimately, they were unable
to suppress the yearning for freedom and the desire for change.
It consists of a rectangular wooded park with a large, circular paved area in the centre with a sculpture by Engelhardt, consisting of larger-than-life bronze figures of Marx (sitting) and Engels (standing). Behind the statues is a relief wall showing scenes from the history of the German socialist movement. The inauguration took place in 1986. After German reunification in 1990, the future
Among the donations from foreign visitors can be seen Canadian Tyre money.
The
site of the wall on Zimmerstraße near the corner of Wilhelmstraße with
the Markthalle III behind me and as it appeared in 1976. The hall closed
in 1910 due to unprofitability and was subsequently home to the Berlin
Konzerthaus Clou, where Hitler first appeared as a speaker in Berlin on
May 1, 1927 from 11.00 to 14.00. The closed assembly took place on the
occasion of the May Day celebrations of the Berlin-Brandenburg Gau
which, according to the Völkischer Beobachter,
was attended by around 5,000 people and was led by Kurt Daluege, SA
leader and deputy Gauleiter. Goebbels spoke before Hitler about the
latter's ban from speaking in Prussia. This was also the site where Hitler made his first public appearance in Berlin
in July that year. At the end of the 1930s the city of Berlin divided
the property and sold the former market hall and the front building on
Mauerstraße to the previous tenant Hoffmann & Retschlag. The front
building on Zimmerstraße came into the possession of the Nazis' central
publishing house, Franz Eher Folger GmbH. The publisher set up its
Berlin branch here and in the neighbouring buildings at Zimmerstraße
87–8 where the printing machines for the Berlin edition of the Völkischer Beobachter along with other party propaganda journals such as Das Schwarze Korps and Der Angriff were housed. 
After the war, the SED party organ Neues Deutschland was printed on them. The
concert hall, which had already been closed due to the war, served in
1943 as one of the assembly camps for the last Jews who had been spared
deportation until February 27, 1943 and who were still being forced to
work in Berlin armaments factories. Towards the end of the Second World
War aerial bombs destroyed the facilities of this former market hall
that had been built between 1884 and 1886, except for the front building
and its western side wing on Zimmerstrasse shown here. After the Berlin
Wall was built in 1961 right in front of the building, it stood in the
inaccessible border area until 1989. On the right is the dismantling of
the concrete slab wall and erection of border wall 75 on Wilhelmstrasse.
In 1976 here, between Niederkirchner Strasse and Friedrichstrasse, work
began on removing the remains of the old border wall made of concrete
slabs and building the new border wall 75 from precast concrete parts.
In place of the old wall, a 400 metre long mobile safety fence will be
erected temporarily, reducing the distance to the residential buildings
to a width of 1.50 to 2 metres. A border soldier guards the area between
the fence and the border wall.
Standing
beside the large bronze statue of Lenin created by the Russian sculptor
Matvey G. Manizer in 1925. It was erected about 20 miles south of
Leningrad in Tsarskoye Selo, now renamed Pushkin, which had once served
as the Tsar’s summer residence. During the Second World War the Germans
Wehrmacht took Pushkin, dismantling the statue in 1943 and transporting
it to Eisleben. There, in the “Krughütte” smelting works, the statue was
to be melted down and used as urgently needed metal for war production.
The statue survived the war for reasons that remain uncertain, probably
because it was simply too large for the smelting furnace. Later in the
German Democratic Republic, the statue’s survival became the stuff of
legend, spun for political ends: It was said that Soviet forced
labourers and ‘class-conscious’ workers at Mansfeld AG had
“spontaneously come together” and saved the statue by hiding it under a
scrap heap. When the Red Army entered Eisleben in 1945, the townspeople
were then said to have raised the statue of Lenin “as a sign of
gratitude for liberation from Hitler’s yoke by the glorious Red Army”,
as was written in an official GDR brochure. Greeted by their
revolutionary hero and a cheering populace, the soldiers of the Red Army
were said to have marched triumphantly into Eisleben while inhabitants
greeted them with flowers.The reality was surely otherwise when the
occupying troops in Eisleben, initially the US Army, ceded the territory
to the Red Army, around two months after the end of the war. The city
did in fact raise the statue on the market square to greet the Soviet
soldiers on July 2, 1945. Yet it seems the soldiers greeted Comrade
Lenin with complete indifference, and the triumphant march, the cheering
townspeople of Eisleben and the colourful flowers are also figments of
the socialist imagination. In spite of all this, the Soviet Union was
sufficiently moved by the raising of the statue that it made a gift of
the statue to Lutherstadt Eisleben in an official ceremony on May Day
1948, with Walter Ulbricht in attendance, who went on to become First
Secretary of the ruling Communist Party. The sculpture thus became the
first monumental statue of Lenin in Germany.
The three-metre high Lenin relief on the Behrenstrasse side of the
embassy was recently removed in February 2011 when the complex's
swimming pool was completely renovated. This came after Gerlin
journalist Gunnar Schupelius complained in 2008 that “Lenin went down in
history as one of the greatest criminals of mankind. And the Russian
embassy is not taking its picture off? This is scary to me. I would
rather avoid Behrenstrasse in the future.” Here I am nine years later to
see the facade of the building entirely cleaned up. This was the last
of the giant likenesses of Lenin to be removed in Berlin having earlier
been removed from
the
entrance to the Russian House on Friedrichstrasse, Leninallee and as a
colossal statue made of red granite on Leninplatz, now renamed United
Nations Square, although his relief can still be seen at the Soviet memorial at Treptower. 
Incidentally,
it was near this site on the afternoon of May 7, 1866 that Ferdinand
Cohen-Blind shot Bismarck twice from behind after the latter had just
reported to King Wilhelm and was walking home. Bismarck spun around and
grabbed his attacker, who was able to fire three more shots before
soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Guards rushed up and took him
into custody. Bismarck continued on his way home. Later that night, he
allowed the King's physician, Gustav von Lauer, to examine him. Lauer
noted that the first three bullets had only grazed Bismarck's body and
the last two had ricocheted off the ribs and had caused no major
injuries. Some sources claim that Bismarck was saved because he had worn
a bulletproof vest. 
