More Nazi-era Sites in Central Berlin

Looking across Unter den Linden at Friedrichstraße showing the extensive postwar damage and me at the site in 2020. Three blocks east of the parallel Wilhelmstraße, Friedrichstraße was badly damaged during the war and only partly rebuilt during the division of Berlin. During the Cold War and its division, Friedrichstraße underground station, despite being located in East Berlin, was utilised by two intersecting West Berlin S-Bahn lines and the West Berlin subway line U6. The station served as a transfer point for these lines, and trains stopped there, although all other stations on these lines in East Berlin were sealed-off ghost stations (Geisterbahnhof), where trains passed through under guard without stopping. At Friedrichstraße station, West Berlin passengers could transfer from one platform to another but could not leave the station without the appropriate papers. The section of the station open to West Berlin lines was heavily guarded and was sealed off from the smaller part of it serving as a terminus of the East Berlin S-Bahn and as a station for long-distance trains. The section in West Berlin was partly rebuilt as a residential street; in the late 1960s, the remains of the former Belle-Alliance-Platz at the end of the Friedrichstraße, renamed Mehringplatz, were completely demolished and replaced with a concrete housing and office development designed by Hans Scharoun. Despite its central location, this area remains relatively poor.

After the war and during our 2013 Bavarian International School trip on the corner of Friedrichstraße and Reinhardtstraße looking towards Unter den Linden. Friedrichstraße was rebuilt in the 1990s, and at the time it was the city's largest construction project; work continues today north of Friedrichstraße station. A number of well-known architects contributed to the plans, including Jean Nouvel, who designed the Galeries Lafayette department store, Raimund Abraham who contributed the overall design which helped make the street once again became a popular shopping destination, and Philip Johnson, who created the American Business Centre at Checkpoint Charlie. The redevelopment has received mixed reviews.

Bahnhof Friedrichstraße from Berlin in Bildern, published in 1938, and during my 2020 Bavarian International School history trip.

At the end of January, between 40,ooo and 5o,ooo refugees were arriving in Berlin each day, mainly by train. The capital of the Reich did not welcome its victims. `The Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof has become the transit point of Germany's fate,' an eyewitness wrote. `Each new train that comes in unloads a mass of amorphous suffering on to the platform.' In their misery, they may not have noticed the sign there which proclaimed, `Dogs and Jews are not allowed to use the escalator!' Soon energetic measures were taken by the German Red Cross to push refugees on from the Anhalter Bahnhof as quickly as possible, or to force trains to go round Berlin. The authorities were afraid of `infectious diseases such as typhus' and an epidemic in the capital. Other illnesses that they feared the refugees would spread were dysentery, paratyphus, diphtheria and scarlet fever. 

Beevor (48-49) The Fall of Berlin 1945

During our 2017 school trip and the same scene immediately after the war; only the two round roofs of the station offer a direct point of comparison. Kershaw writes how Friedrichstraße station had housed, according to Ursula von Kardorff, a young journalist, an ‘underworld’ almost exclusively inhabited by foreigners, including ‘Poles with glances of hatred’, and a ‘mix of peoples such as was probably never to be seen in a German city’. Any outsider was looked at with suspicion, she wrote. The foreign workers were reputedly ‘excellently organised’, with their own agents, weapons and radio equipment. ‘There are 12 million foreign workers in Germany,’ she said in a telling exaggeration perhaps reflecting her own inner concern, ‘an army in itself. Some are calling it the Trojan Horse of the current war.’

My 2024 cohort in front of Friedrichstraße station, one of Berlin's most significant transport hubs, which played a pivotal role during the Nazi regime and later under the DDR. Its strategic location in the heart of Berlin rendered it crucial for both regimes, not only as a transportation link but also as a tool of political control and surveillance. Built in 1882, Friedrichstraße served as a major intersection for rail lines connecting East and West Berlin, making it a natural focal point for transport under both the Nazi and DDR governments. Under the Nazis, the station became an instrument of oppression, while during the DDR regime, it symbolised division and state surveillance. The station's importance to both regimes lies in how it became entangled in the broader historical currents of totalitarianism, repression, and control. During the Nazi period, Friedrichstraße station was integral to the regime's efforts to organise mass deportations of Jews and other groups considered undesirable by the state. As one of Berlin's busiest stations, Friedrichstraße became a transit point for Jews being transported to concentration camps, such as Auschwitz and Theresienstadt, beginning in the early 1940s. It played a vital logistical role in the Nazis’ broader objective of the "Final Solution." Eichmann, who organised these transports, ensured that the station was included in the network of railway lines used for the deportations. The operation was conducted in a way that minimised disruption to the everyday use of the station, a chilling testament to the regime's ability to conceal the horrors of genocide amidst the ordinary flow of daily life in Berlin. Mass deportations continued even as Allied bombing raids began targeting Berlin, underscoring the regime's prioritisation of the Holocaust above almost all other considerations. The Nazi government also utilised the station's proximity to the city centre for broader purposes of controlling civilian movement and exerting surveillance. The station was one of the key locations for Gestapo activity, where suspected dissidents and enemies of the state were often detained or followed as they travelled through the station. The presence of plainclothes Gestapo officers, combined with the regime's strict requirements for identity papers and travel permits, meant that Friedrichstraße was a point of state-enforced discipline and control. The station's strategic importance was compounded by its proximity to key government buildings, such as the Reich Chancellery and various ministries, further increasing its relevance to the regime's operations. Following the fall of the Nazi regime and the division of Berlin into East and West sectors, Friedrichstraße station became one of the most heavily guarded and politically charged locations in the city. By 1961, with the construction of the Berlin Wall, the station became a transit point for passengers moving between East and West Berlin, though its role was largely restricted to those with special permission to cross the border. The DDR regime used Friedrichstraße as a key checkpoint for managing the flow of visitors from the West, establishing the station as one of the few crossing points between the two sides of the divided city. The station's nickname, "Tränenpalast" (Palace of Tears), came from the emotional scenes that unfolded as East German citizens said goodbye to loved ones leaving for West Berlin, often not knowing if they would ever see them again. 

Outside Friedrichstraße station at the intersection of Georgenstraße and Friedrichstraße is this bronze statue representing the contrasting fate of children during the Nazi era by architect and sculptor Frank Meisler, who travelled himself with a 1939 children's transport from Berlin-Friedrichstraße to England. Five figures in grey look to one side, symbolising the suffering of those deported to concentration camps to meet an early demise. Two lighter bronze figures gaze in the other direction representing those Jewish children whose lives were saved by the Kindertransport to England.  More than two million children lost their lives from 1933 to 1945 through the tyranny of the Nazis. London stockbroker Nicholas Winton, moved by the fate of Jewish refugees, worked with his fellow Britons to bring the first rescued children to the United Kingdom. These Kindertransporte were an attempt to protect the youngest victims of the Nazi dictatorship. 

These rescue missions allowed some ten thousand Jewish children from Germany, Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia to escape deportation and find refuge in children's homes or with English families in London. It was hoped during Brexit negotiations that the Germans remember many such examples of British aid and support to Jews, now recognised as German. The first train left Berlin's Friedrichstraße station with 196 children on board on November 30, 1938.

Beside the statue, seen behind my students, is the entrance to the Friedrichstraße underground station, shown here during the Battle of Berlin, 1945 and from the same view today. Most of the following photographs from the Battle of Berlin date from May 4, 1945 attributed to Soviet propaganda photographer Mark Redkin after five doomed breakout attempts by surrounded German forces and civilians near the Freidrichstrasse U-bahn station. 

Standing at the entrance to the next U-bahn station further down Freidrichstrasse to the north on Johannistrasse, Oranienburger Tor. At the end of this street is the hostel where my 2020 school trip stayed- Heart of Gold.  

 In April 1945, approximately two and a half million people were living in Berlin; in December 1944, there were almost 4.4 millions. The former inhabitants were at the front, in captivity, on the run or dead.  After weeks of haphazard back and forth, Berlin had made makeshift preparations for battle- anti-tank ditches have been dug, access roads barricaded, and fighting positions set up. Refugees were streaming into the city. Food had become scarce, and the supply of water and electricity partially interrupted. Now during these last days of the war, thousands of Berliners had sought shelter in such underground stations from the ongoing fighting and air raids including numerous forced labourers. Trains had not been running here for a long time and some of them served as makeshift hospitals whilst people crowded the platforms of the stations. It was here where, from the Friedrichstraße S-Bahn station, one group was driven into the underground tunnel in the direction of Stettiner Bahnhof (now Nordbahnhof) from where the ϟϟ chased them onto the street. One  woman reported how "the artillery fire was roaring at full strength. I staggered forward as if stunned. Hundreds of us were blown to pieces... It didn't want to be night, the burning sky over Berlin was so blood-red." This area was specifically referred to in Elena Moiseyevna Rzhevskaya's Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter:

 Goebbels’s speech that day contained a summons to all soldiers, to the wounded, to the entire male population of Berlin immediately to join the ranks of the defenders of the city. He declared that anyone who failed to respond to this appeal and did not immediately go to the assembly point, at the Berlin Commissioner’s Office on Johannistrasse near the Friedrichstrasse station, was a despicable swine. Here, next to the station, and in other busy places, Nazis carried out executions to intimidate the public. I myself was confronted by the sight of a hanged German soldier in Berlin when we had just entered the city.

My 2024 senior cohort from the steps of the Friedrichstadt-Palast towards Weidendammer bridge showing dazed civilians making their way through the carnage. Civilians caught in the crossfire further complicated the situation, with reports indicating that over 100,000 inhabitants remained in the city during the final assault. Eyewitness testimonies recount the harrowing conditions faced by these individuals, many of whom were trapped in basements as the fighting raged overhead. The humanitarian crisis escalated as essential supplies became scarce, with civilians scavenging for food amidst the ruins. The presence of Soviet troops also raised fears of reprisals against the German population, contributing to a palpable atmosphere of terror. As the battle continued, the toll on the civilian population became increasingly evident, with estimates suggesting that thousands of non-combatants were killed or injured during the fighting. The Battle of Berlin in 1945 marked the final major offensive in Europe during the Second World War, symbolising the collapse of Nazi Germany and the definitive victory of the Allied forces. Among the most significant areas of conflict during this battle was Friedrichstrasse, a vital artery in the heart of the city, which played a crucial role in the German defence efforts against the advancing Soviet troops.

Barry Crook is responsible for an outstanding webpage in which he analyses photographs that include those shown here from the Battle of Berlin that took place along Friedrichstrasse and adjoining Französische-Strasse on May 4, 1945. With them he provides maps and drawings to make sense of the confusing extent of wreckage found along this road. In this photo on the right, the dead ϟϟ-man, either an Ustuf. or Hstuf., appears to be a soldier of the ϟϟ-Fallschirmjäger-Bataillon 500/600 given the Fallschirmschützenhelm and the FG42 around him which poses a problem given there is no evidence that the battalion ever fought in Berlin 1945. Although there continues to be debate about the identification of the vehicle in the background- one identified it as a Sd.Kfz.250 mortar half-track “339” from the 11. ϟϟ Panzer-Grendier Division “Nordland”, it is usually identified online as the half-track of ϟϟ-Hauptsturmführer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson, the company commander of 3./ϟϟ-Pz-Aufkl-Abt 11. A number of photos taken show the Soviet soldier posing on either side of the corpse suggesting the scene was staged in some way. 

During the Battle of Berlin, the Weidendammer Bridge was one of the few Spree crossings that had not been destroyed. The defenders of the city faced an hopeless battle, consisting almost 45,000 soldiers, including remnants of ϟϟ units from a variety of European countries, and almost as many members of the Volkssturm, consisting of about 42,000 men and 3,500 Hitler Youth.  

On the left, the body of a dead German soldier next to a Horch 108 on Friedrichstraße shown on the right. This vehicle, like the Sd Kfz 251 armoured personnel carrier, towing a light infantry howitzer, also belonged to the 11th ϟϟ Nordland Division. In the distance to the right the postal vehicle visible from another photo shown below is seen.  The very young soldier wearing the Luftwaffe camouflage jacket in the photo at right can also be seen in the main photo at far left, beside the half track’s front wheel. His body has been turned over by the Russians and it lays on a MG42 with its breech opened, dislodging a length of spent ammo belt. Beside lays a Volkskopie of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, probably placed there by Soviet TASS press agency photographer Mark Redkin. The other corpses were most likely Swedish ϟϟ volunteers. A chess/checkers board can be discerned discarded amidst the rubble and corpses.

As a central boulevard, Friedrichstrasse was not only strategically important due to its location but also due to its proximity to other key sites, such as the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Führerbunker. The ferocious fighting in and around this area encapsulated the desperation of the German forces as they tried to delay the inevitable fall of Berlin, and the relentless Soviet advance, driven by a desire for revenge and a final victory, ensured that Friedrichstrasse became a focal point of some of the bloodiest urban combat of the entire war and so the street's strategic significance can't be understated. It ran north-south through the centre of Berlin and connected several important military and political sites. By April 1945, as the Red Army encircled the city, Friedrichstrasse became a vital line of defence for the remaining German forces, many of whom were made up of hastily organised Volkssturm, Hitler Youth, and remnants of regular army divisions. The Germans, despite being vastly outnumbered and outgunned, used the street's infrastructure to their advantage, setting up barricades, fortifying buildings, and utilising the U-Bahn and S-Bahn tunnels as defensive positions. The urban environment provided numerous tactical opportunities for both sides, but it also led to brutal house-to-house fighting, where the Soviets had to clear each building in a slow and methodical advance. Zhukov, leading the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front, made Friedrichstrasse a key objective in his plan to break through the central defensive ring around the government district.

Another photograph taken with my 2020 cohort on the corner of Friedrichstrasse and Johanisstrasse. The van above right is a bright red Bergmann Deutsche Reichspost vehicle, which had initially been suggested to be a Mercedes-Benz L1500 which had been the vehicle of choice for the German infantry troops, eventually produced in nearly five thousand units between 1941 and 1943. However thanks to Javier de Luelmo it has been identified. This photo shows the scene out of view beside the postal van above revealing the bodies of ten combatants. A further two more can be just made out on the rubble in front of the van in the upper photo. A lack of dust and debris on the bodies by the van in addition to the gravity-defying posture shown in the rigor mortis in several of them suggests they were not killed here but rather had been gathered to be taken away by the postal van for burial despite the van's flat front tyre. In other words, the van is likely a later arrival, whilst the number of killed near this intersection remains difficult to estimate. Tibbitts has created a terrific model based on one of the photographs taken of this breakout. He has produced a Youtube video showcasing this work.

 The Soviet strategy in the Battle of Berlin was shaped by Stalin’s determination to capture the city before the Western Allies, but also by the psychological and emotional impact of the brutal Eastern Front campaigns. Soviet troops, having endured the horrors of the German invasion of the USSR and atrocities committed by the Wehrmacht and ϟϟ, fought with a ferocity born from a desire for revenge.

Here on the right, looking the other way down Friedrichstrasse. In the end, the German armed forces' losses in killed and wounded are not reliably known. Of the approximately two million Berliners, about 125,000 were killed with the city heavily damaged by bombing even before the Soviet troops arrived. Bombing continued during the fighting near Berlin - the last American bombing on April 20, 1945 on Hitler's birthday led to problems with food supplies. The destruction was further intensified by the actions of Soviet artillery, which began an artillery barrage on April 20 before storming the city. On April 20, 1945, the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front, commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, began a series of coordinated assaults on the city, employing overwhelming artillery fire to soften German resistance. The street fighting along Friedrichstrasse was particularly brutal because it was seen as the last line of defence before reaching key political symbols of the Third Reich. The intensity of the fighting along Friedrichstrasse is exemplified by the sheer scale of destruction. Soviet artillery relentlessly bombarded the area, reducing entire blocks of buildings to rubble. This had a twofold effect: it made the German defensive positions more precarious, as the destruction of buildings eliminated cover, but it also made Soviet advances slower, as navigating through the ruins was hazardous. The intensity of the fighting along Friedrichstrasse in April and early May 1945 was marked by a series of brutal confrontations that reflected the overall atmosphere of the Battle of Berlin. As the Red Army advanced towards the city centre, Friedrichstrasse became a focal point due to its strategic significance and the entrenched German defenders. The Soviets faced stiff resistance from units composed of both regular Wehrmacht soldiers and hastily assembled Volkssturm forces, many of whom were inadequately trained and armed. The fighting in this sector was characterised by urban warfare tactics, which included the use of snipers, machine gun nests, and fortified buildings.

German forces made extensive use of the urban terrain to fortify their positions. Buildings along Friedrichstrasse were repurposed as defensive strongholds, where German soldiers dug in and utilised the rubble to create barriers and vantage points. On April 27, 1945, a pivotal encounter unfolded at the junction of Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden, where Soviet forces attempted to gain control of this vital intersection. Soviet commanders deployed infantry units supported by tanks, aiming to breach the German defensive lines. The German defenders, driven by a sense of urgency and determination, managed to hold their ground for several days despite being outnumbered and outgunned. Reports indicate that defenders employed Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons to inflict significant damage on Soviet tanks, demonstrating the desperation of the German forces to hold on to key positions. By April 30, reports indicated that German forces, including the 9th Army under General Theodor Busse, were struggling to maintain a coherent defensive line. Friedrichstrasse, a vital thoroughfare linking key strategic locations, became a focal point of combat, with Soviet infantry advancing alongside T-34 tanks to penetrate German defences. The Germans fortified their positions using improvised barricades and strongpoints in buildings, particularly at the Friedrichstrasse Station, which was crucial for maintaining supply lines. 

On May 1, Soviet artillery units reportedly fired over 1,500 shells in a single day, targeting German strongholds along Friedrichstrasse. The intensity of the bombardment resulted in significant casualties among the defenders, with estimates indicating that around 10,000 German soldiers were killed in the final days of the battle. The use of close air support by the Soviet Air Force further exacerbated the German predicament, with attacks on defensive positions leading to the destruction of key artillery emplacements. Amidst this chaos, the psychological state of German troops deteriorated rapidly. Many soldiers were demoralised by the knowledge that Hitler had died by suicide in his bunker on April 30, 1945. The collapse of command was evident; communications between units became sporadic, undermining any cohesive strategy. 

  One of the bodies lying around the vehicle is most likely ϟϟ-Hauptsturmführer Pehrsson's dead driver, his fellow Swede ϟϟ-Unterscharführer Ragnar Johansson. The Swedish ϟϟ reconnaissance platoons escape attempt took place the night of May 1. They came under heavy Soviet fire near the Friedrichstraße-Johannisstraße intersection where the driver ϟϟ-Unterscharführer Johansson, who had  ought in the Swedish Volunteer Corps in Finland before he joining the Waffen-ϟϟ, fell outside the halftrack. Pehrsson himself, whilst wounded, managed to escape after having had time to get rid of his uniform jacket and changed into a Wehrmacht one before being taken prisoner. He was eventually sent to a prison camp from which he managed to escape, hiding himself in a flat back in Berlin. He subsequently met another Swedish ϟϟ-man and together made it to the British occupation zone. On June 2, 1945 they embarked on a remarkable trek back to Sweden where ϟϟ volunteers who had returned from the war were not persecuted. Pehrsson had the chance to return to civilian life and found a good job as a salesman and engineer. Pehrsson would die on March 16, 1974 aged 63 in Stockholm.
The final stages of the battle exemplified the brutality of urban warfare, as both sides faced staggering losses. The Germans were forced to retreat from their positions along Friedrichstrasse, which fell to the Soviets by the early hours of May 3, 1945. In the aftermath of the battle, Friedrichstrasse lay in ruins, symbolising the complete devastation of Berlin. The strategic and symbolic significance of the thoroughfare was underscored by the immense human cost, with estimates suggesting that upwards of 25,000 soldiers and civilians perished in the fighting across the city. The devastation extended beyond mere physical destruction; it marked the end of an era for Berlin, with the street now emblematic of the broader collapse of Nazi Germany.

The former Reichsbahnbunker Friedrichstraße on the corner of Albrechtstraße and Reinhardtrasse on February 26 1987, nearly three years before the wall fell and today with my 2021 cohort. The Nazis had it built in 1943 by forced labourers for up to 2, 500 passengers on the Reichsbahn. Planning work began in 1941 under the leadership of Speer as part of the "Führer Emergency Programme" to build air raid shelters for the civilian population but the building itself was designed in 1942 by Karl Bonatz, Paul Bonatz's younger brother. The symmetrical and square building is eighteen metres high and has a floor area of 1,000 m². The reinforced concrete walls, up to three metres thick, encompass around 120 rooms on five floors that were designed to accommodate 2,000 people intended primarily to provide protection for rail passengers at the nearby Friedrichstrasse station, as well as for the civilians living in the area. Visitors to the Deutsches Theater could also take shelter here in the event of a bomb threat. In early May 1945, the Soviet Red Army occupied the bunker. The neighbouring house and probably also the bunker used the Soviet secret service NKVD as a remand prison until December 1949. Both buildings were taken over by the East German Ministry for State Security in 1950. A further use of the bunker as a prison has not been proven. 

Sneaking inside to see what remains. In 1949 the building was used as a textile warehouse but by 1957, because of the steady internal temperature, it was converted into a warehouse for imported tropical fruit from Cuba, managed by the state-owned company "Fruit Vegetables Potatoes" known locally as the banana bunker. In April 1992 the artist and tenant Werner Vollert turned the bunker into a techno club. It also hosted the Red Cross Club, later renamed the Ex-Kreuz Club, in which fetish and S&M events took place. In 1996, due to another raid  by the authorities after which building requirements that could not be implemented were imposed on the operators, the club closed. In 2001, Nippon Development Corporation GmbH bought the building from the federal government before being acquired by the Wuppertal collector Christian Boros as an exhibition space for contemporary art. As can be seen in the recent photo, he has built a penthouse on the roof of the building.

My 2024 cohort on the Weidendammer bridge showing the Kaiser Friedrich Museum (now Bodemuseum) with flames emitting from the Admiralspalast. During the war, the bridge was spared from bombing, allowing it to continue to be used without serious damage. In 1974 and 1985, the East Berlin ​​administration had extensive repair work carried out, for which larger elements were temporarily removed and reworked in workshops. After the fall of the Wall and the formation of a new Berlin city administration, extensive renovation work was carried out between 1992 and 1994, during which, among other things, inadequate sealing, corrosion and road surface damage were eliminated. The bridge was closed for this purpose and the Ebert Bridge was rebuilt as a temporary solution to provide a short bypass.  

My students in front of the Bodemuseum. 

During the war, the building suffered comparatively the least damage on Museum Island, but it wasn't until 1951 that it received a temporary roof. In the last years of the war whilst bombs were being dropped on Berlin, museum employees and many helpers stored large parts of the collections within the Friedrichshain anti-aircraft bunker, which had been classified as a security depot. But in May 1945, when the war was officially over, a fire broke out in the bunker rooms that lasted for three days resulting in many exhibits being destroyed, and others were mutilated beyond recognition. Any items that still looked like valuable exhibits were brought directly to Russia by the Soviet occupying forces as reparations and stored in the Hermitage in Leningrad and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. In 1958, many of the stolen art objects were returned to the GDR in a symbolic act of friendship and stored in museum depots. There they remained unnoticed for many years. The postwar Berlin city administration had all references to previous rulers removed; the collection building was now unofficially called the Museum am Kupfergraben. On March 1, 1956, Johannes R. Becher, the then-Minister of Culture of the GDR, ceremoniously gave the Kaiser Friedrich Museum the name Bode Museum in memory of its builder. The Egyptian Museum with its papyrus collection, the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, a painting gallery, a sculpture collection and the coin cabinet were temporarily housed here. The first parts of the collections could be shown again from 1954. The gradual repair of the building, including the restoration of the interior, dragged on whilst the museum continued to operate until the year of the city's 750th anniversary in 1987.

The museum appears as a playable level in the 2012 third-person tactical shooter-stealth video game Sniper Elite V2 shown right. It takes place during the Battle of Berlin in April–May 1945, but with an altered narrative and its plot follows an officer of the American Office of Strategic Services who must capture or eliminate the scientists involved in the GermanV-2 rocket programme whilst the Red Army invades. The protagonist, Second Lieutenant Karl Fairburne, begins making his way towards the Opernplatz, today's Bebelplatz. To distract the Germans, he locates a cache of explosives and destroys a bridge, provoking the Soviets into attacking a German garrison at an abandoned museum which for all intents and purposes looks like the Bodemuseum. As expected, German reinforcements arrive to defend the position, allowing Fairburn to slip by during the ensuing chaos. He then infiltrates a military camp at the Opernplatz, saves Schwaiger from execution in the nick of time, and provides covering fire as the scientist flees to safety, before holding off a detachment of Soviet troops sent to capture him.

My 2016 cohort in front of the eagle in the middle of Weidendammer bridge, shown then and now. The imperial eagles on both sides in the middle of the bridge have a coat of arms cartouche on its belly, below which was the inscription BUILT 1895–1896. During the basic renovation of the entire bridge after 1990, all parts were reconstructed according to historical models with the work carried out by Fittkau Metallbau und Kunstschmiede. The crown has been returned just as the imperial palace is being rebuilt. The bridge has played a role in literature several times, as in rich Kästner's Pünktchen and Anton in which “Pünktchen”, the little girl from a wealthy family, begs in torn clothes on the Weidendammer Bridge (in the middle of the entertainment district of the 1920s) and sells matches; across the street, her friend Anton sells shoelaces.

 On the night of May 1, 1945 a Tiger tank from the 11th ϟϟ Panzergrenadier Division Nordland spearheaded an attempt to storm the bridge to allow hundreds of German soldiers and civilians to escape across it. According to Beevor (382),

[w]ord had spread of the breakout and many hundreds of ϟϟ, Wehrmacht soldiers and civilians had assembled. It was a gathering which Soviet troops could not fail to miss. The first mass rush, led by the Tiger tank, took place just after midnight, but although the armoured monster managed to smash through the barrier on the north side of the bridge, they soon ran into very heavy fire in the Ziegelstrasse beyond. An anti-tank round struck the Tiger and many of the civilians and soldiers in its wake were mown down.

The next day Soviet forces launched a concentrated assault on Friedrichstrasse, utilising infantry and armour in a combined arms approach that overwhelmed the defenders. This assault culminated in the capture of the Friedrichstrasse Station, which had been a stronghold for German defenders.

 

It was over this bridge that Hitler's private secretary and successor as Nazi Party Minister

Bormann carried the last copy of Hitler's testament, and he evidently hoped to use it to justify his claim to a position in Donitz's government when he reached Schleswig-Holstein. Another attack over the bridge was made soon afterwards, using a self-propelled 3omm quadruple flak gun and a half-track. This too was largely a failure. A third attempt was made at around 1 a.m., and a fourth an hour later. Bormann, Stumpfegger, Schwaegermann and Axmann kept together for a time. They followed the railway line to the Lehrterstrasse Bahnhof. There they split up. Bormann and Stumpfegger turned north-eastwards towards the Stettiner Bahnhof. Axmann went the other way, but ran into a Soviet patrol. He turned back and followed Bormann's route. Not long afterwards he came across two bodies. He identified them as Bormann and Stumpfegger, but he did not have time to discover how they had died. Martin Bormann, although not of his own volition, was the only major Nazi Party leader to have faced the bullets of the Bolshevik enemy. All the others - Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler and Goring - took their own lives. 

Beevor (382-383) Berlin

The Admiralspalast (Haus der Presse during Soviet rule) further down at Friedrichstraße 101 in 1949 on the occasion of Stalin's 70th birthday and today behind me in 2021 and with my Bavarian International School class of 2018 showing the profound redevelopment post-unification. It was opened in 1910 and remains one of the few preserved variety venues of the pre-war era in the city. It had originally included a skating rink, a public bath, bowling alleys, a café and a cinema open day and night. It was converted into a full theatre with 2,200 seats in 1930, and a year later it was rebuilt in the expressionist style. In 1933 the Rotter Group, which also owned many other theatres, went bankruptand was taken over by conductor Walter Hochtritt. In the mid-1930s the focus of the repertoire shifted to operettas. In 1939 the Admiralspalast merged with theMetropol-Theateron Behrenstrasse and by December 20 that year, on the orders of Goebbels and according to plans by Paul Baumgarten, the theatre was completely redesigned into a "festive and beautiful place of relaxation" in a simple, classicist form, which has been preserved to this day. Johannes Heesters played Danilo in TheMerry Widow here. After the closure of the in-house saltwater bath in 1940, a "Führer's box" was built in the middle of the first tier a year later. On September 1, 1944, the Admiralspalast was ordered closed along with the other Berlin theatres due to the declaration of "total war".

Hitler watched The Merry Widow here. As the building suffered little damage from the wartime bombing, it was home to the Berlin State Opera until the reconstruction of the opera house in 1955. Here it served the Soviet occupying forces and the German authorities after 1945 as a venue for political and cultural purposes. Among other things, a Max Pechstein exhibition took place in 1946. On the initiative of the Soviet military commander Bersarin, the German State Opera moved into the Admiralspalast, whose building was no longer usable due to Allied bombings. Two weeks after the opening concert on August 23, 1945, Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice were performed here. The State Opera played here for ten years and put on a total of 55 productions. On April 21-22, 1946 the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Communist Party of Germany in the Soviet occupation zone held a convention at the Admiralspalast where they merged to become the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The East German Union of Journalists had its offices inside the Admiralspalast. 

Carl Zuckmayer admired the Russian contribution to the arts at the time. The most prestigious theatre in the Russian Sector was the allied zones Admiralspalast, which had survived the bombing unscathed and now played host to the State Opera. Zuckmayer found the singers less impressive than their counterparts in New York, but on the other hand he was very struck by the talents of the young directors and artists who designed the performances. 

MacDonogh (217-218) After the Reich

More recently, Hitler returned to the Admiralspalast which until recently still had its Führer's Box specifically built for him, when it staged Germany's first production of Mel Brooks's musical comedy "The Producers" shown above.

Friedrichstadt Palast around the turn of the century when it served as a military barracks dating from the 1760s and today. During the Nazi era the theatre was renamed the Theater des Volkes. The dome hanging pins were cut off as they were seen as degenerate art. and late-bourgeois operettas were performed. The theatre was at this time also under the name Palace of 5000 and under the private management Spadonis Marion and Nicola Lupo.The building suffered most in March 1945 due to repeated air attacks. Damage caused the plays to be removed from March until August 1945. Now, led the artists Spadoni and Lupo the house as a palace of the 3000/Theater of 3000 or Palace at the Friedrichstrasse station and Palace Variety.In 1949 the owners abandoned the theatre and the city of Berlin took over the facility, the original name Friedrichstadtpalast got back. The first director was following the expropriation of Gottfried Hermann, he was succeeded in 1961, Wolfgang E. Struck.

When taking school groups I'd previously used Baxpax hostel around the corner at Ziegelstrasse 28. Named after Felix Yurievich Ziegel, Soviet researcher, Doctor of Science and docent of Cosmology at the Moscow Aviation Institute and generally regarded as a founder of Russian ufology, like many streets reflecting the military connections around the area- Artillerienstrasse, Dragonerstrasse, Grenadierstrasse- its original name had been purged and replaced by worthy left-wingers by the East German regime.

Checkpoint Charlie, located on Friedrichstrasse, was established on 22 August 1961, just days after the Berlin Wall was constructed on 13 August 1961. The Wall itself was a response by the East German government, under the leadership of Walter Ulbricht, to the mass exodus of East Germans fleeing to the West, which had reached around 2.5 million by 1961. This constant loss of skilled labour and intellectuals was devastating to the East German economy. The Wall and the associated border control points, such as Checkpoint Charlie, were designed to curtail this migration and solidify the division of Berlin, which had become a focal point of Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Checkpoint Charlie, named by the Western Allies using the NATO phonetic alphabet ("Charlie" for "C"), was one of several crossing points between East and West Berlin;  "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. But Checkpoint Charlie held special importance as it was the only crossing point for Allied forces and foreigners. The checkpoint’s strategic location in the centre of Berlin, on Friedrichstrasse near the junction of Zimmerstrasse, was significant due to its proximity to the Berlin Wall and the boundary between the American and Soviet sectors. The Wall itself was fortified with barbed wire, armed guards, and a heavily patrolled “death strip” between two parallel walls, making escape from the East exceptionally difficult. Checkpoint Charlie became the only legal crossing point for foreign diplomats, military personnel, and visitors between East and West Berlin, which placed it at the heart of many Cold War confrontations and incidents.

Standing at the spot in 2020. One of the most critical incidents occurred on October 27, 1961, when Soviet and American tanks faced off at Checkpoint Charlie in a dangerous military standoff. This confrontation was sparked by an attempt by the East German authorities to assert control over access to the Eastern sector by demanding that American diplomats show identification before crossing. The US commander in Berlin, General Lucius D. Clay, refused to comply with this demand, asserting that only the Soviets had the right to control Allied access under the agreements reached after World War II. Clay’s defiance led to a tense standoff, as both sides sent tanks to the checkpoint. Soviet T-55 tanks lined up on the Eastern side, while American M48 Patton tanks took up positions on the Western side, just metres apart. For 16 hours, the world watched as the superpowers stood on the brink of direct conflict. It was only through backchannel negotiations between Kennedy and Khrushchev that the crisis was defused, with both sides eventually agreeing to withdraw their tanks simultaneously.
The incident at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961 was a critical moment in Cold War history, illustrating the fragile nature of peace in Berlin and the high stakes of the East-West confrontation. It also highlighted the role of Checkpoint Charlie as a flashpoint for Cold War tensions, a place where the two superpowers could come into direct confrontation. Ulbricht and his East German government sought to assert their authority by controlling access to the Western sector of Berlin, but the US response reaffirmed that the division of Berlin was not yet fully accepted by the West. The resolution of the standoff demonstrated the importance of diplomacy in averting war, but it also underscored the constant risk of escalation in Berlin, where even a minor incident could spiral into a global crisis.

as it The site as it appeared in 1961 and during my 2016 Bavarian International School class trip.Checkpoint Charlie was not only a site of military and diplomatic confrontations but also a symbol of the human cost of the division of Germany. The Berlin Wall, which eventually stretched for 155 kilometres around West Berlin, was responsible for the deaths of at least 140 people between 1961 and 1989, many of whom attempted to escape through or near Checkpoint Charlie. One of the most infamous escape attempts was that of Peter Fechter, an 18-year-old bricklayer from East Berlin. On 17 August 1962, Fechter attempted to scale the Berlin Wall near Checkpoint Charlie, but he was shot by East German border guards and left to die in full view of Western onlookers. His body lay unattended in the no-man's land for nearly an hour before he succumbed to his injuries. The incident sparked international outrage and further highlighted the brutality of the East German regime’s border policies. Fechter’s death became a powerful symbol of the repression and violence associated with the Berlin Wall, and it solidified Checkpoint Charlie’s place in Cold War history as a site of tragic human loss.
During the 1961 crisis and me today.
In another dramatic event in 1973, Wolfgang Engels, a former East German border guard who had become disillusioned with the regime, stole an armoured personnel carrier and crashed it through the Berlin Wall near Checkpoint Charlie. Although his vehicle became stuck in the fortifications, Engels managed to climb over the wall and escape to West Berlin despite being shot by East German guards. His daring escape highlighted both the desperation of those seeking freedom from the East and the continuing significance of Checkpoint Charlie as a site of defiance against the East German regime.

Drake Winston at the site in 2021. Checkpoint Charlie's significance extended beyond the immediate confrontations of the Cold War. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, it became a focal point for numerous escape attempts from East to West Berlin, symbolising the desperation and determination of East Germans trapped behind the Iron Curtain. Despite the dangers, including a high risk of being shot by border guards, many East Berliners continued to devise ingenious escape plans, some of which succeeded, while others ended in tragedy. In 1964, two families used a homemade hot-air balloon to cross over the Berlin Wall near Checkpoint Charlie, and in 1979, a tunnel was dug from West to East, allowing more than 20 people to escape under the watchful eyes of the border guards.

The atmosphere at Checkpoint Charlie changed somewhat during the 1970s following the détente policies pursued by both the United States and the Soviet Union. The signing of the Four Power Agreement on Berlin in 1971 provided certain assurances for Western access to West Berlin and sought to stabilise the situation in the city. While the agreement did not resolve the issue of Germany’s division, it did help reduce tensions in the city and facilitated travel between East and West Berlin for certain groups, such as pensioners and family visitors. Nevertheless, Checkpoint Charlie remained a heavily guarded site, with strict controls on who could cross, and the Berlin Wall continued to serve as a potent reminder of the ideological division between communism and democracy. One of the most famous episodes involving Checkpoint Charlie during the later stages of the Cold War was the 1985 defection of Soviet diplomat Vitaly Yurchenko. Yurchenko, a high-ranking officer in the KGB, had initially defected to the United States but later decided to return to the Soviet Union. His crossing back into East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie caused a stir in the intelligence community and served as a stark reminder of the ongoing espionage activities that defined much of the Cold War era. Yurchenko’s case underscored the fact that Checkpoint Charlie was not only a site of physical confrontation but also a place where the clandestine battles of the Cold War played out in full view of the world.

My students on the corner of Friedrichsrasse and Zimmerstrasse, taken from Checkpoint Charlie. As the 1980s drew to a close, the political situation in East Germany began to change dramatically. Under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union implemented policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), which encouraged political and economic reforms across the Eastern Bloc. In East Germany, the government of Erich Honecker initially resisted these reforms, but by 1989, mass protests had erupted in cities like Leipzig, Dresden, and East Berlin, demanding greater political freedoms and an end to the repressive regime. The East German government’s inability to quell these protests, combined with growing pressure from within the Soviet Union, culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.

An earlier cohort looking at the same block of buildings from the other direction.

Checkpoint Charlie played a crucial role in the events surrounding the fall of the Wall. As East Berliners flocked to the border crossings to take advantage of the newly announced policy allowing travel to the West, Checkpoint Charlie became a focal point for the celebrations that marked the reunification of Berlin. The images of thousands of East and West Germans embracing at the checkpoint, breaking down the barriers that had divided their city for nearly three decades, became some of the most iconic symbols of the end of the Cold War. The dismantling of the Berlin Wall, including Checkpoint Charlie, began shortly after the fall of the Wall, and by 1990, the once heavily guarded border crossing had been reduced to a mere tourist attraction.

In the years following the reunification of Germany, Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War era and the triumph of freedom over oppression. A replica of the original guardhouse and a sign reading "You are leaving the American sector" were erected at the site as a reminder of the checkpoint’s historical significance. The nearby Checkpoint Charlie Museum, established in 1963 by historian Rainer Hildebrandt, continues to educate visitors about the history of the Berlin Wall and the numerous escape attempts made by East Germans during the Cold War. The museum houses artefacts such as escape cars, homemade hot-air balloons, and other tools used in the daring efforts to flee East Germany. It serves as a powerful reminder of the human stories behind the political struggles of the 20th century.

The cultural significance of Checkpoint Charlie was further solidified by its portrayal in various forms of media throughout the Cold War. Films such as "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1965) and "Octopussy" (1983) shown here with me and James Bond, depicted Checkpoint Charlie as a site of high-stakes espionage and intrigue, reflecting its role as a key location in the shadowy world of intelligence and counter-intelligence operations. These portrayals helped cement its image as one of the most iconic symbols of the Cold War, familiar to audiences around the globe. In literature, numerous works, including John le Carré’s spy novels, highlighted the tension and danger associated with the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie, adding to the mythos surrounding the site.
Looking down Zimmerstrasse towards Checkpoint Charlie. Despite the dismantling of the checkpoint following the reunification of Germany, its legacy endures. Today, Checkpoint Charlie is a major tourist attraction, drawing millions of visitors each year who come to see the remnants of the Berlin Wall and learn about the history of the Cold War. The area around the former checkpoint has been commercialised , with souvenir shops and replicas of border guards posing for photographs. However, for many, the site retains its historical gravitas, serving as a reminder of the sacrifices made by those who sought freedom from the oppressive regimes of the Eastern Bloc.
Rainer Hildebrandt’s efforts in founding the Checkpoint Charlie Museum have ensured that the stories of the men, women, and children who risked everything to escape from East Berlin are not forgotten. The museum continues to expand its exhibits, providing visitors with a comprehensive understanding of the political, social, and human dimensions of the Cold War. Through its educational programmes and exhibitions, it highlights the personal bravery and ingenuity of those who defied the East German regime and sought freedom, whilst also reminding visitors of the broader implications of the division of Berlin and Germany.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standing in front of the Soviet War memorial in Tiergarten on Straße des 17. Juni during my first visit in 2007 and as it appeared during the Cold War when guarded by a Soviet honour guard. After the end of the war, the Red Army erected four Soviet memorials in the city of Berlin. They were to commemorate the Red Army soldiers who were killed, in particular the approximately 80,000 soldiers who fell in theBattle of Berlin . These memorials are not only monuments to the victory, but also memorials in conjunction with military cemeteries and thus Soviet war graves in Germany. The central memorial is the largest complex in Treptower Park. Alongside them were the memorial in the Grosser Tiergarten, the memorial in the Schönholzer Heide and thememorial in the Bucher Schlosspark, the last two situated in the district of Pankow.

 Situated less than a mile away from the Reichstag, it was built at such short notice that it sat in West Berlin, within the British sector. The memorial was designed by sculptors Lev Kerbel and Vladimir Zigal together with the architect Nikolai Sergijewski based on a decision of the War Council of the 1st Belorussian Front and was erected at the intersection of the Siegesallee and the then Charlottenburger Chaussee. It was built as a barrier, across the then existing Wilhelminian Siegesallee. This memorial is the last on the battle route of the 1st Belorussian Front from Küstrin via Seelow to Berlin. On November 11, 1945, the memorial was inaugurated with a parade of the Allied troops shown here. When the wall went up around East Berlin, the monument became inaccessible to the people for whom it was built.

The area in 1945 showing the memorial standing in a wilderness of ruins, the Tiergarten having been destroyed by incendiary bombs and then stripped of timber for firewood during the last months of the war. Today, it is surrounded by the extensive woodlands of the reconstituted Tiergarten. Although the memorial stood in the British sector of Berlin, its construction was supported by all the Allied powers. Throughout the Cold War, Soviet honour guards from the Soviet sector (East Berlin) were sent to stand watch at the memorial; on the right is one such soldier from 1948 and me at the site in 2024.

 Built in a style similar to other Soviet World War II monuments once found all over the former Eastern bloc, the memorial takes the form of a curved stoa topped by a large statue of a Soviet soldier. It is set in landscaped gardens and flanked by two Red Army ML-20 152mm gun-howitzer artillery pieces and two T-34 tanks. Behind the memorial is an outdoor museum showing photographs of the memorial's construction and giving a guide to other memorials in the Berlin area. The Soviets built the statue with the soldier's arm in a position to symbolise the Red Army's putting down of the Nazi German state. The memorial was designed by architect Mikhail Gorvits with the monument of the Soviet soldier by sculptors Vladimir Tsigal and Lev Kerbel. A legend that the memorial was built from stonework taken from the destroyed Reich Chancellery is untrue, but remains popular and persists. Ironically, it was situated at the exact point where Speer had planned his north-south/east-west axis for his planned capital. The material for the monument too aparently came from Hitler's Chancellery, and behind lie today the bodies of 2, 200 soldiers. It was discovered in 1967 that below the Nazis had constructed three motorway tunnels up to 220 metres in length.

The memorial is constructed as an arch with a bronze soldier on top of it. The design actually resembles the Brandenburger Gate which is located only an hundred metres away.
The large Cyrillic inscription written underneath the statue reads:
ETERNAL GLORY TO HEROES WHO FELL IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE GERMAN FASCIST INVADERS FOR THE FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE SOVIET UNION

 The last joint parade of the Allied forces in Berlin on May 8, 1946 in front of the memorial and from the same vantage point today. In the centre of the podium, the Allied commandants of Berlin, American Major General F. Keating, Soviet Major General A. G. Kotikov and British Major General E. Nares are shown. The Soviet War Memorial Tiergarten was provocatively erected on Remembrance Day, 1945, in the hope the British would simply vacate their area and let the Soviets move their zone further into here. Given that the site chosen for the construction of the monument was in the British zone of occupation, permission from the British authorities was required for its construction. At the same time, as follows from the notes that Engineer-Major Beruchan left in his workbook, certain difficulties arose. Marshal Zhukov, whilst giving his consent to the construction of a memorial in the Tiergarten, at the same time proclaimed that he would not go to the British for permission. In this situation, the commander of the 69th military construction detachment of the 23rd UVPS, Major Vladimirov, was instructed to urgently find an interpreter, find out where the British commandant's office was and organise a meeting. On July 26, 1945, the leaders of the 23rd UVPS met with the British military commandant, Major General Line who warmly greeted the Soviet officers, and with sincere gratitude accepted their gift - an album with projects of monuments, the construction of which had already been launched in eleven Polish cities. The general assured that he would apply to the British government for permission to build a monument to Soviet soldiers who fell during the storming of Berlin in the British zone near the Reichstag. Such friendly communication was somewhat overshadowed by an incident caused by an old German translator as part of the Soviet delegation according to Beruchan's notes:

2017 school trip

The British greeted us with smiles, kindly, and praised our heroic Red Army. The short, stout, handsome commandant smiled all the time and smoked his pipe, and suddenly, as if a bomb had exploded, one Englishman said something in the commandant's ear, the commandant changed, lost his smile and began to speak sharply. I saw our old German began to tremble, turn pale. I turn to Vladimirov: what happened? Vladimirov asks the German, the German finally spoke up: the British demand that he leave the commandant's office, they want him to leave immediately. When we found out what was the matter, I asked the commandant if he could speak Armenian, Georgian, Russian, or had their own translator. To everything he answers "no." I say: “The war is over. This German did not fight. You have to have patience. You promised that you would help, so help! "

2021 Bavarian International School trip

The situation was defused by V. G. Vladimirov, who quickly took out a box of "Kazbek" and treated those present with Soviet cigarettes. The negotiations went on calmly and soon all the issues were resolved. The commandant took the general plans, promising to send them with his memorandum and petition to the British command in Frankfurt am Main that day with a messenger on the plane. Immediately the Soviet officers, together with the British colonel, left to inspect the selected construction site, after which the colonel announced that the British side would have no objections to the construction. The very next morning, an oral permission was obtained from the British authorities for the construction of the monument. A document was also issued, signed by General Line, on the provision of assistance from the British troops in Berlin, if the need arise. In addition, the English commandant allocated several buildings near the construction site to accommodate military builders (in all likelihood, one of them was a building located next to the destroyed Kroll Opera). In turn, representatives of the command of the American and French troops reacted with full understanding to the intentions of the Soviet side and expressed their readiness to provide all kinds of assistance. Thus through the British, the leadership of the 23rd UVPS independently and without any bureaucratic delays and endless approvals, managed to build a memorial in the British zone.

From my 2017 class trip and in August 1961 under British guard when the Berlin wall was erected as a sign of communist provocation on West Berlin soil and which had to be protected from West Berliners by valiant British soldiers. This resulted in considerable anger amongst West Berliners and Soviet military vehicles was on many occasions bombarded with stones from angry protesters. In 1970 a neo-Nazi, Ekkehard Weil, shot and severely wounded one of the Soviet honour guards at the monument requiring the bizarre situation where British troops had to protect Soviet troops guarding the monument. On March 8, 1971, a British military tribunal sentenced him to six years in prison for attempted malicious murder. In 2010, the monument was vandalised just before V-E Day celebrations with red graffiti that read "thieves, murderers, rapists", sparking a protest from the Russian embassy in Berlin that accused German authorities of not taking sufficient measures to protect the monument. The German tabloid Bild launched a Bundestag-petition to remove the Soviet tanks from the memorial site as a response to the fascist Russian aggression against Ukraine when it annexed the Crimea in 2014, calling them a "martial war symbol". To be able to visit the memorial it was agreed that Red Army troops had free passage to the memorial on certain days of remembrance.

On November 9, 1990, the Soviet soldiers on guard duty were replaced by German police; shown here are guards on their last day before being replaced. In 1993, the memorial structure was transferred to the city authorities. Bilateral agreements on the care of military graves have been concluded between Germany and the Russian Federation . The memorial is still a site of active commemoration. On the anniversary of VE Day, wreath-laying ceremonies are held at the memorial. It is a site of pilgrimage for war veterans from the countries of the former Soviet Union. It is also a popular tourist attraction, since it is much closer to the centre of the city than the larger Soviet war memorial at Treptower Park. The memorial is maintained by the City of Berlin. There is a sign next to the monument explaining in English, German and Russian that this is the burial site of some two thousand fallen Soviet soldiers. It is located in the heart of Berlin along one of the major roads with a clear sight of the Reichstag and the Brandenburg gate, both symbols of the city. Some of the marble used to build it came from the destroyed government buildings nearby, and it is built on a place which Hitler meant to devote to Welthauptstadt Germania. Besides the main inscription, the columns state names of only some dead Heroes of the Soviet Union buried here. It has earned some unflattering nicknames, such as the "Tomb of the Unknown Rapist", from the local population with references to crimes committed by Soviet occupation troops.

Fasanerieallee in Tiergarten with the Victory column in the background post bellum and today. Hitler had planned the complete transformation of Berlin into "Welthauptstadt Germania", or World Capital Germania and Tiergarten was to be a central location in the new city. The Charlottenburger Chaussee, today known as the Straße des 17. Juni, was to be the central line between the east and west, and was widened from 27 to 53 metres, the same width as the current street. The Berlin victory column was also moved to the Grosser Stern, where it remains to this day. The Second World War caused significant damage to the Tiergarten and its various cultural elements. Many statues were destroyed or damaged; some of the statues still need minor repair. After the war, the Tiergarten underwent a sudden, violent change. Much of the wooded area was felled and turned to firewood due to the shortage of coal, and the now empty fields were turned into temporary farmland by order of the British occupational troops in the region; there were around 2,550 plots of land available for growing potatoes and vegetables. However, these two factors caused the once great forest to nearly disappear; only 700 trees survived out of over 200,000 that once lined the parkway, the bodies of water turned silty, every bridge was destroyed, the monuments lie on their sides, badly damaged. Plans to fill the waterways with debris from the war were also suggested, but were prevented by the head of the Berlin Central Office of Environmental Planning, Reinhold Lingner. 

Students standing directly in front during our 2013 trip and after the war.

Before 1953, the street was called Charlottenburger Chaussee, because it ran from the old city centre (Berlin-Mitte) to the borough of Charlottenburg through the Tiergarten. The 1953 name change was made in order to honour an East German uprising and its victims of the Red Army and East German Volkspolizei who shot protesting workers. After Stalin's death many East Berliners began a strike which also caused riots in a vain hope of getting rid of the communists. But the East German police struck back with brutal violence on June 17, 1953. It was made into a paved road in 1799, and owing to Berlin's rapid growth in the 19th century it became a major thoroughfare to the affluent western suburbs. At the outbreak of the Great War in early August 1914, hundreds of thousands of Berliners cheered the military parade, which took place here. At the outbreak of the next world war, no such scenes were ever observed, according to the American journalist and historian William L. Shirer. 

The right shows fifty thousand troops marching past Hitler on his birthday down Charlottenburger Chausee, a part of the Ost-West-Achse (East-West Axis), which during the Nazi period became a triumphal avenue lined with Nazi flags. During the Nazi era, the boulevard was made broader and the old Prussian Victory Column was moved from in front of the Reichstag to the roundabout in the middle of the Tiergarten, where it has remained since 1938.  The Charlottenburger Chaussee was to have formed one aspect of the remodelling of the city of Berlin into the renamed city called Germania, designed by Hitler, Albert Speer, Professor Troost etc. to be the capital of the Reich. In the last weeks of the war, when Berlin's airports were unusable, it was used as a landing strip.

My 2013 cohort at the Memorial to Homosexual Victims in Tiergarten. Paragraph 175 made homosexuality illegal in 1871; it was broadened under Nazism to allow deportation of gay men to concentration camps. 

Homosexuals, were manifestly of no racial value; between 1934 and 1938 the number prosecuted annually under Paragraph 175 of the Reich Criminal Code rose by a factor of ten to 8,000. Since criminality was viewed as hereditary, those who broke the law were also targeted as asocial. The November 1933 Law against Dangerous Habitual Criminals authorized the castration of sexual offenders. 

Ferguson (265) The War of the World

It was only completely revoked in 1994 after German reunification. In 2002, the German government formally pardoned all homosexuals convicted by the Nazis and in 2003 approved the plan for the Berlin memorial. At the memorial's unveiling in May 2009, the International Gay and Lesbian Association (ILGA) issued a statement pointing out the importance of the monument's location: "It is in the centre of the city from where decades ago the policies of extermination of homosexual people along with such groups as Jews, gypsies, Jehovah's witnesses and political dissidents, was conceived and the deadly orders were given." This central placement was an effort to end the traditional peripheralisation of the stories of gay victims of Nazi atrocities, who continued to be persecuted after the war, and who are largely left out of traditional historical accounts of the Holocaust. As Berlin mayor Klaus Wowerit, who happens to be the city's first openly gay mayor, pointed out when the memorial was first opened, the placement of this monument in the centre of Berlin was meant to form a contrast with the Nazis, who were "a society that did not abolish unjust verdicts, but partially continued to implement them; a society which did not acknowledge a group of people as victims, only because they chose another way of life." In fact, my students and I were shocked to find NO plaque or information at all to explain what this ugly monument actually is supposed to be for; one questioned why the government had created an anti-gay monument. One of my students upon first seeing this structure asked in all seriousness why Germans hated gays so much. The following year another student objected to the film perpetually shown within showing two people of the same gender kissing, complaining that the memorial seemed to limit the idea of homosexuality solely on the basis of sex. In fact, even the name itself has attracted anger- when, in 1996 the planning group decided to include lesbians in the memorial with homosexual men and changed its name from "Schwulendenkmal" (Initiative for a memorial to gay men) to Inititiative HomoMonument,"  Joachim Müller, an early supporter of the initiative for the memorial resigned, protesting in a letter yet another capitulation to the non-stop demands of political correctness, calling into question the balance between appeasing the continual demands of the contemporary gay and lesbian community and honouring historical accuracy.

One of my students received an 'A' from the International Baccalaureate for his Extended Essay examining homosexuality in the Third Reich.

Tiergartenstraße 4

 The headquarters of the Gemeinnützige Stiftung für Heil- und Anstaltspflege and the site today, taken over by a graffiti- covered husk of rusted metal intended to symbolise something intentionally left vague and meaningless as is so often the case in Germany.

Shortly after the start of the war, Hitler signed an order, backdated to September 1, 1939, authorising the systematic killing of mentally and physically handicapped adults and children. Authorisation to direct the program was given on Hitler’s personal stationary to Philipp Bouhler, head of the Führer’s Chancellery, and Dr. Karl Brandt, Hitler’s personal physician. The code-name of this secret program, “Aktion T-4,” derived from the address of the building here on Tiergartenstrasse 4, from which the program was directed. Killings of deformed children had already started before the war. The killings, now extended to adults as well, were conducted by lethal injection or carbon monoxide gassing at several sites disguised as hospitals or nursing homes. These killings marked a further escalation of the eugenic practices that had begun with the Sterilisation Law in 1933.
Ferguson(264-5) writes in  The War of the World

As early as 1935, [Hitler] told a senior Nazi medic that 'if war should break out, he would take up the euthanasia question and implement it'. In fact, he did not even wait for the war. In July 1939 he initiated what became known as the Aktion T-4. It was, he said, 'right that the worthless lives of seriously ill mental patients should be got rid of. Here, as with the persecution of the Jews and Gypsies, the regime encountered little popular resistance and some active support. In a poll of 200 parents of mentally retarded children conducted in Saxony, 73 per cent had answered 'yes' to the question: 'Would you agree to the painless curtailment of the life of your child if experts had established that it was suffering from incurable idiocy?' Some parents actually petitioned Hitler to allow their abnormal children to be killed. Apart from the Catholic Bishop Clemens von Galen, whose sermons against the euthanasia programme in July and August 1941 led to a temporary halt in the killings, only a handful of other individuals openly challenged 'the principle that you can kill "unproductive" human beings'. Others who objected turn out, on closer inspection, merely to have disliked the procedures involved. Some wished for formal legality - a proper decree and public 'sentencing'; others (especially those living near the asylums) simply wanted the killing to be carried out less obtrusively.             

Despite the secrecy of the programme, it was impossible to conceal killing on such a scale, as relatives demanded explanations for the sudden and unexpected deaths of their loved ones. Increasing numbers of complaints and demands for criminal investigations made it necessary to inform the Reich Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior of Hitler’s secret order which led to Hitler’s decision to end the program on August 24, 1941 after more than 70,000 patients had been killed. Killings especially of handicapped children continued in secret, however, until the end of the war. Under the code-name “Aktion 14 f 13” the killing program was also extended to Jewish inmates of concentration camps in Germany. Many of the T-4 personnel were transferred to occupied Poland where they supplied the technical expertise for the systematic killing by gas of approximately three million Jews in the extermination camps set up for the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.

 Fascist-era embassies along Tiergartenstraße

The Spanish embassy after the war with the Franco-era eagle replaced today with the current Spanish coat of arms. The building had been constructed from 1938 to 1943 through Speer's Office of the Inspector-General for buildings and which shows a similar style favoured by the Nazis. It reopened in 2003 after the war damage was repaired and its fascist symbols removed. Before the war the Alsen district near the Reichstag and the villa district around St. Matthew's Church south of the Tiergarten Park were very prestigious and preferred sites for diplomatic missions since the nineteenth century. Its buildings were demolished to clear space for Speer's planned North-South Axis, and to compensate the countries for the loss of their real estate, the Nazi regime had seven new embassy buildings built under supervision of the GBI in western parts of the Tiergarten Park area that were not threatened with demolition, which was declared a “diplomatic quarter” in 1937. German architects submitted the design plans, such as Johannes and Walter Krüger for the Spanish embassy and Johann Emil Schaudt for the Danish embassy (today the hotel Das Stue). The two palatial neo-Classicist buildings, with their natural stone facades, form a prestigious unit along Thomas-Dehler-Strasse.
The Italian embassy after the war and today. The 200-room complex on Tiergartenstrasse was was the first to have been completed in the Tiergarten between 1938 and 1943 as  Hitler's "present" to the Italian dictator and was part of the Nazi leader's grandiose plans to turn Berlin into "Germania", the intended capital of a vast empire. But after the war it remained a near-derelict, bombed-out shell and only one wing of the building was used, as a consular office. "It was the right decision to restore everything and retain the traces of history because we are not trying to be politically correct," said Silvio Fagiolo, the Italian ambassador at the time. "The Berlin embassy is a place of continuity."The Fascist symbol - two stone fasces, a bundle of rods with a projecting axe blade - has been removed from the embassy's lavish reception hall to be put on display in the inner courtyard, directly above a huge bomb shelter. Restored golden birds of prey, Renaissance fireplaces and marble columns inside show that no expense was spared when it came to building what was briefly the embassy of Germany's closest wartime ally. Friedrich Hetzelt, one of Speer's protégés, modelled the embassy on an 18th-century Roman palazzo, which the Nazi leader greatly admired. The Italian and German architects who did the €20 million restoration stopped short of creating a complete replica of the 1943 embassy; the exterior walls remain pockmarked and a bomb-shattered colonnade overlooking the central courtyard has been left a ruin - as testimony to the defeat of Fascism. Yet it still presents an eerie reminder of the days when Berlin was capital of the Third Reich standing next to the renovated embassy of Japan, another wartime ally of Nazi Germany. According to David Irving in his book Göring: A Biography, this was the site of one of Goering's greatest humiliations,

when he saw the fabulous decoration that he coveted, the diamond-studded Collar of the Annunziata, bestowed at the Italian embassy upon his smirking rival [Ribbentrop]. He took it as a deliberate slight and raised hell at every level up to the king of Italy, being mollified only by the award, twelve months later, of the identical Collar in consolation.

The Japanese embassy on the left also maintains its symbols of fascist ideology a reminder of the man-made tsunami it had launched upon humanity beginning in 1931 which required two atomic bombs and countless allied lives and suffering to put an end to. On November 24, 1937 Hitler attended a reception here, given by the Japanese Ambassador Mushakoji in Berlin on the anniversary of the Anti-Comintern Pact. The building itself had been built between 1938–1942 according to plans by Ludwig Moshamer under the supervision of Albert Speer but expected to meet the expectations of the German leadership, resulting in a comparatively sterile classic building style. Above all, the building was to impress with its size; the pillars at the main entrance were a defining style element. Above the cornice , a half-storey attic above the main entrance forms the visual end of the building. In the central visual axis there is a golden chrysanthemum as a symbol of the imperial family. Although the German builder furnished the building with a lot of luxury inside, in fact a large part of the administration took place in bunkers and other air raids during the war.

At that time, part of the Japanese embassy was relocated to the north of the city to the existing estate of the Jewish family Zwillenberg, who had been forced to sell their property. As early as 1943, an aerial bomb destroyed the side wing. Badly damaged, the building was empty for several decades. In the mid-1980s, Germans and Japanese agreed to set up a German-Japanese cultural centre in the dilapidated building. The German monument protection authorities pushed for the historic building to be preserved, but the Japanese found it in a state that could no longer be saved. In order to keep the agreements with the Germans as close as possible, Japan had it rebuilt as identically as possible by Kishō Kurokawa and Tajii Yamaguchi. For its new use as an embassy building, it underwent extensive renovations and additions by the architect Ryohei Amemiya between 1998 and 2000. A complete office wing was newly built and a Japanese garden was laid out. The main entrance was also relocated from Tiergartenstrasse to Hiroshimastrasse, which branches off from it. A golden chrysanthemum, the imperial seal, is still emblazoned above the former main entrance, which is now the entrance to the ambassador's residence. Both architecturally and historically, the Japanese embassy is very similar to the Italian embassy directly opposite.

The former Embassy of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at Rauchstraße in 1938 and today, where it serves as the offices of the German Council on Foreign Relations (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik, DGAP). The building was completed by 1939 by Werner March, the architect of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, as the diplomatic mission for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The property at Rauchstraße 17 was owned by the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy family until 1938. The family was forced to sell the property to the German Reich for 170,000 reichsmarks shortly before they emigrated. The property at Rauchstraße 18 was handed over to the German Reich in accordance with a 1940 expropriation resolution. Until the occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941, Ivo Andric, who would later win the Nobel Prize for Literature, was stationed in the new building as Yugoslav ambassador. Afterwards, the building was used by German Reich and party officials. After Germany’s surrender in 1945, the building was given back to the People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav military mission resided in the building until 1953, when it moved to Grunewald. Beginning in 1953, the building housed the Supreme Restitution Court of the Allied Forces in Berlin. On June 29, 1964, the court accepted the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy family’s reimbursement claim and ordered the People’s Republic of Yugoslavia to cede a co-ownership share in the building.

Berlin Victory Column (Siegessäule)

Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian war, by the time it was inaugurated on September 2, 1873 Prussia had also defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War and France in the Franco-Prussian War, giving the statue a new purpose. During the Nazi era Albert Speer's plans for the World Capital Germania envisaged the north-south axis on the Siegesallee route. As part of the urban redevelopment, the Victory Column on the Großer Stern, surrounded by the monuments of Bismarck, Albrecht von Roons and Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltkes, was to form a "Forum of the Second Reich." In addition, the monuments on Siegesallee were moved from May 1938 to Große Sternallee, which branched off as a pedestrian path south-east of the Großer Stern, and was now called "Neue Siegesallee." At the inauguration of the forum complex on the occasion of the great military parade for Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday on April 20, 1939, the statues of the Siegesallee already lined the Neue Siegesallee. That year the Nazis relocated the pillar to its present location at the Großer Stern, a large intersection on the visual city axis that leads from the former Berliner Stadtschloss through the Brandenburg Gate to the western parts of Berlin. At the same time, the pillar was augmented by another 7.5 metres, giving it its present height of 66.89 metres. The monument survived the war without much damage. Some of the figures were damaged, others have since been lost. The relocation of the monument probably saved it from destruction, as its old site in front of the Reichstag was completely destroyed in the war.

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's) parading in front of the Siegessäule on July 25, 1945.

[B]y by 28 April, troops of the 3rd Shock Army, advancing from the northern districts, were in sight of the Siegessaule column in the Tiergarten. Red Army soldiers nicknamed it the `tall woman' because of the statue of winged victory on the top. The German defenders were now reduced to a strip less than five kilometres in width and fifteen in length. It ran from Alexanderplatz in the east to Charlottenburg and the Reichssportsfeld in the west, from where Artur Axmann's Hitler Youth detachments desperately defended the bridges over the Havel. Weidling's artillery commander, Colonel Wohlermann, gazed around in horror from the gun platform at the top of the vast concrete Zoo flak tower. `One had a panoramic view of the burning, smouldering and smoking great city, a scene which again and again shook one to the core.' Yet General Krebs still pandered to Hitler's belief that Wenck's army was about to arrive from the south-west.

Beevor (340)  Berlin: The Downfall 1945

Before the war with the Eiserner Hindenburg in front and after. The monument unfortunately fell within the French section of Berlin, generously given to them when the British realised they were growing bankrupt from the war and required assistance.

The French perpetrated a few acts of childish spite: they mutilated a few inscriptions on the Siegessäule – or Victory Column – in the Tiergarten, which commemorated German triumph in the Franco-German War, and festooned it with French tricolours. In Schwanenwerder they found a fragment of the Tuileries Palace which had been burned down by the Paris Communards in 1871, and removed a high-minded panel that talked of the fate of nations. The Germans themselves did not waste much time on the French – they realised they were second-division conquerors.

MacDonogh (123) After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation

Standing in front after an early morning run through the centre of Berlin and as it appeared at the same spot in May 1945 with a T-34/76 tank being driven by victorious Soviet soldiers. The model variants of the T-34 now commonly referred to as T-34/76 were originally just called T-34, M19xx. Only after the appearance of the T-34/85 were they referred to as T-34/76. The first 117 pre-series vehicles were built in 1940 by the Kharkov locomotive factory “Komintern” and one can still see examples in front of the Soviet memorial in Tiergarten shown above this page. 

The appearance of the 34‑ton T‑34 caused much consternation to the German Panzerwaffe. Developed in relative secrecy six years before, its 76mm gun was the largest tank armament (apart from the 15cm KV‑2) then mounted. Its 60% sloping armour was revolutionary in terms of the increased armoured protection it offered against flat trajectory anti‑tank shells, which often simply ricocheted off. Josef Deck, a German artilleryman with Regiment 71 in the central sector, complained that the 37mm standard antitank fire ‘bounced off them like peas’. Adapting the American Christie suspension system, the T‑34, with extra‑wide tracks and a powerful lightweight diesel engine, possessed an enormous relative power‑to‑weight ratio, conferring superior mobility on the Russian vehicles. It was to prove the outstanding tank design of the war, and was a formidable adversary, even in the hands of a novice. Alexander Fadin, a T‑34 commander, remarked: ‘As soon as you start the motor it begins throbbing, and you feel part of this powerful machine. You pick up speed and no obstacle can stop you. Nothing, not even a tree.’ 

Kershaw,  War Without Garlands

 

Standing in front of the Bendlerblock building complex and as it appeared in 1942 during the war. From 1914 onwards, the building was used by various military offices and has been the second headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Defence since 1993. During the Nazi era,the building at Bendlerstrasse 11-13 was the headquarters of the General Army Office and the Commander of the Reserve Army in the Army High Command (OKH). The centre of the resistance group of the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944, led by Colonel General Ludwig Beck and Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, was located there. The permanent exhibition German Resistance Memorial Centre in some of the former offices and the memorial to the officers executed there in the courtyard commemorate the resistance fighters. 

After the First World War, the Versailles Treaty required the government of the Weimar Republic to not only drastically reduce the size of its armed forces, but also to downsize the command authorities of the Reichswehr and Reichsmarine, which now used the building together. The air force,including the naval aviators and naval airships,were completely disbanded. The first Reichswehr Minister, the Social Democrat Gustav Noske, moved into the Grand Admiral's official residence and the then Chief of the Army High Command, General Walther Reinhardt, took over the rooms of the former Imperial Naval Authority. During the Kapp Putsch in March 1920, the head of the Troop Office, Major General Hans von Seeckt, refused to put down the Berlin uprising of the Freikorps soldiers. In the Reichswehr Minister's office, he's said to have refused government protection with the words "troops do not shoot at troops". The members of the government then fled Berlin and moved to Stuttgart for a short time. As a result of the uprisings, Noske was dismissed from office. In 1920, Otto Geßler moved into the building as his successor and Major General von Seeckt took over the post of Chief of the Army Command in the same year. 

Inside Stauffenberg's former office, Stauffenberg's office, now an information centre, still has its swastika motif remaining on the parquet which I'm shown inspecting. Shortly before Hitler was appointed Chancellor, the Reichswehr leadership discussed his chancellorship in January 1933. Despite concerns, including from the then Chief of the Army High Command, General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, an opponent of the Nazis, the inauguration took place without opposition. Just a few days later, on February 3, 1933, Hitler gave a speech in Hammerstein-Equord's private apartment in which he revealed his political goals. Amongst other things, he spoke of "the eradication of Marxism root and branch", "strictest authoritarian government and the elimination of the cancerous damage to democracy", "the fight against Versailles" and "the conquest of new living space in the East and its ruthless Germanisation". This resulted in differences with Werner von Blomberg, who was appointed Reichswehr Minister in January 1933 and who influenced the Reichswehr with Nazi ideas. Hammerstein-Equord then submitted his resignation in December 1933. He was succeeded in January 1934 by Lieutenant General Werner von Fritsch. 

On the neighbouring properties at Bendlerstrasse 10–13, which had been acquired in 1926, additional extensions and new buildings were built up until 1938 based on designs by the architect Wilhelm Kreis. During this time the building complex was given the name "Bendlerblock", which was never officially introduced but became common. The main building on the Landwehrkanal housed parts of the Naval War Command in the High Command of the Navy (OKM) and the largest part of the Foreign/Defence Office in the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. The main part of the Bendlerblock on Bendlerstrasse was used by the General Army Office in the OKH under General Friedrich Fromm- whose office is shown here on the right at the time and when I visited in 2024-, from 1940 General Friedrich Olbricht and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army- after the dismissal of Blomberg and Fritsch- Colonel General Walther von Brauchitsch, until Hitler himself took over command in December 1941. During the Second World War, the Bendlerblock served as a command post for the combat commander of Berlin, General Helmuth Weidling, in the last days of the Battle of Berlin, until soldiers of the Red Army occupied it on May 2, 1945. After the war damage had been repaired, the building complex housed numerous offices and federal authorities from the 1950s onwards, including the Federal Disciplinary Court and the Federal Supervisory Office for the Credit System (BAKred).

Already in the early 1940s, the OKH Army Office under the leadership of General Olbricht became the focus of military resistance to the Nazi regime. In October 1943, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was transferred to the General Army Office as chief-of-staff. The first military resistance headquarters was formed in the Foreign Office/Abwehr– the German military foreign intelligence service, which was housed in the Bendlerblock. In 1938, a group led by General Hans Oster planned to overthrow theNazi regime in order to prevent Hitler from taking military action against Czechoslovakia during the so-called Sudeten Crisis. However, when the European powers agreed to the annexation of the Sudetenland to Germany in the Munich Agreement, the plan could no longer be carried out. The "Abwehr" in the Bendlerblock remained a central point of military resistance until it was disempowered by the Gestapo in 1943. In the offices of the east wing, another resistance group led by General Olbricht was working on a plan to overthrow the Nazi regime in the early 1940s. A secret Wehrmacht plan called "Valkyrie" was manipulated for their own ends so that after Hitler's death, important positions could be filled immediately in favour of the resistance. Stauffenberg carried out the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, because as chief of staff under the commander of the reserve army , Colonel General Fromm, he had access to the briefings at the Führer's headquarters in Wolf's Lair. Not knowing that it had failed, he travelled back to Berlin, where the resistance group in the Bendlerblock tried in vain to implement the plan night of July 21, on the orders of Colonel General Fromm, the resistance fighters General Olbricht, Colonel von Stauffenberg, Colonel Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim and Stauffenberg's adjutant  First Lieutenant Werner von Haeften, were shot in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock, Fromm forced retired Colonel General Ludwig Beck, who had been involved in the coup attempt, to commit suicide as an accomplice to the coup plan, Fromm was arrested one day later, sentenced to death and executed on March 12, 1945.

Here on the left members of the ϟϟ and Wehrmacht, including Otto Skorzeny arriving the day after the failed plot at the site with me in front of the spot where the plotters were executed. During the Battle of Berlin in the last days of the war in late April and early May 1945, General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defence Area, used the Bendlerblock for his command and control, before he proceeded to General Vasily Chuikov and surrendered to the Soviet Red Army at 6:00 a.m. on May 2. Following German reunification, the Federal Minister of Defence's Berlin office was moved to the Bendlerblock.

 Hitler ultimately oversaw the purge and execution (in some cases, accompanied by show trials) of some five thousand people he believed were implicated in the plot. All were known opponents of the Nazi regime. Many were tortured to death and some hanged by the neck using piano wire. Despite broadly supporting Nazi expansionist aims in the East until it was clear after D-Day that the war was over and they had to save their own necks, Stauffenberg and the other plotters are remembered in modern Germany as heroes of anti-Nazi resistance and today the courtyard in the centre of the Bendler Block is dedicated to the memory of the officers executed here on the night of July 20, 1944. Shirer described the event on page 958 of his Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich:

In the courtyard below in the dim rays of the blackout-hooded headlights of an Army car the four officers were quickly dispatched by a firing squad. Eyewitnesses say there was much tumult and shouting, mostly by the guards, who were in a hurry because of the danger of a bombing attack – British planes had been over Berlin almost every night that summer. Stauffenberg died crying, ”Long live our sacred Germany!”

 
This section of the Bendlerblock around the courtyard where I am standing was where Stauffenberg and the other conspirators were executed (shown during Zhukov's visit after the war). The complex now houses the Memorial to the German Resistance which is also used as one of the ceremonial sites where new members of the Wachbataillon of the Bundeswehr take their oaths. Beevor supports Shirer's account in his book D-Day: The Battle for Normandy, describing the

chaos in the Bendlerblock. Generaloberst Fromm, in a doomed attempt to save himself from suspicion, ordered the arrest and instant court martial of four of the other officers involved. He allowed Generaloberst Beck to keep his pistol, provided he used it immediately on himself. Presumably because his hand was shaking, Beck shot himself twice in the head. He grazed his scalp the first time, then inflicted a terrible wound with the second shot. An exasperated Fromm ordered a sergeant, some accounts say an officer, to finish him off.
The four, including Stauffenberg, who tried to take all the responsibility for the attempted assassination on himself, were executed in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock by the light of automobile headlights. A detachment of Remer’s men, who had just arrived, provided the firing squad. When it was Stauffenberg’s turn, illuminated by the headlights, he called out, ‘Long live holy Germany!’ Fromm, as desperate as ever to save himself, gave a grotesque speech over their bodies in praise of Hitler and ended with a triple ‘Sieg Heil! ’

In fact, this military resistance has been criticised by historians for failing to act until the war was lost and for pursuing unrealistic nationalist goals. A Gestapo report listed Stauffenberg’s conditions for a negotiated peace allegedly transmitted to England by unnamed emissaries in May 1944 which included restoration of Germany’s 1914 borders, the retention of Austria and the Sudetenland, and continuation of the war, if necessary, in the east against the Soviet Union. As the leaders of the conspiracy were summarily shot in the courtyard, the Bendlerblock also includes the Memorial to the German Resistance. My Bavarian International School students are shown flanking the memorial within the courtyard during our 2013 class trip. Since 1993, the building complex has served as a secondary seat of the German Federal Ministry of Defence which has tried to restrict access to the Bendlerblock due to its historical significance and lingering sensitivities about Germany's role during the war, and yet filming permission was first granted in 2003 to a TV studio for the filming of Stauffenberg, starring Sebastian Koch. Though awarded with the Deutscher Fernsehpreis, the film was also criticised for factual inaccuracies by Stauffenberg's son Berthold. The Ministry hesitated to grant permission for filming scenes of the Tom Cruise-starred movie Valkyrie about the July 20 Plot, especially a re-enactment of the execution on the original location. However, money talked and filming took place. Director Bryan Singer, currently accused of serious sexual abuse allegations, led the film crew in a minute of silence before filming began, in honour of those who were killed on the site in 1944.  

The bronze memorial in the inner courtyard of the Bendler Block, Young Man with Bound Hands, by Richard Scheibe was unveiled on July 20, 1953 and bears the inscription designed by art historian Edwin Redslob: "You didn't bear the shame, you resisted, you gave the great, eternally awake sign of repentance, sacrificing your hot life for freedom, justice and honour."

The statue was chosen for the poster of the Deutschen Historischen Museums in Berlin's 'Divinely Gifted' exhibition which my class visited to compensate the closure of the museum for years due to renovation. The exhibition highlighted the postwar careers of a select group of artists, academics and curators who rose to prominence with the support of the Nazi regime, provided key propaganda works to bolster Hitler’s dictatorship and were then able to continue their careers virtually unhindered in West Germany including Scheibe. They were placed on a list first compiled on behalf of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels in August 1944 which ended up including 378 artists, among them 114 sculptors and painters, who were considered “indispensable” and were exempted from military duty and work assignments. In fact, the year after this memorial was inaugurated Scheibe was honoured with the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in the same year with the Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt am Main; the the only honouree who received both this medal and Hitler's Goethe Medal in 1944. Indeed, the statue Scheibe produced for those killed by the Nazi regime was practically nothing more than a slight variation of the sculptures that he produced for the Nazi regime such as Symbol für die Bereitschaft der Luftwaffe (1937), Zehnkämpfer (1936), Thinker (1937), or Jüngling (1938).     The Bendlerblock  The Bendlerblock  2 THE BENDLERBLOCK  Vestibule interior with security gate. Contents The Past and the Present 7 The Bendlerblock 11 Portraits of Resistance 24 The Attempted Assassination of Hitler – Thursday, July 20, 1944 30 The Bundeswehr Memorial 37 The Location 42 The Cella 45 Dedication and Naming of the Dead 51 Reference Literature 52 Editorial Details 52 CONTENTS 3   Above: The Bendlerblock's historic facade – as seen from Reichpietschufer. Below: Staircase in the columned hall.  4 THE BENDLERBLOCK The Bendlerblock is one of the most significant sites of Germany’s recent history in Berlin. THE BENDLERBLOCK 5  6 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE PAST AND THE PRESENT 7 The Past and the Present Up until the evening hours of July 20, 1944 Colonel Claus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg of the German General Staff and a few trusted companions tried in vain to bring about the overthrow of the tyrannical Nazi regime. Later that night he and his closest confidants were executed by a firing squad in the inner courtyard of the Bendlerblock. As a result of an initiative by the families of the resistance members, a memorial was unveiled in the inner courtyard of the Bendlerblock on July 20, 1953. This has given Germany a special memorial and place of remembrance. Stauffenberg's office.  After the decision to move the seat of German government to Berlin, it was decided to base the Federal Minister of Defence’s Berlin office in the Bendler- block. This once again underscored the Bundeswehr’s commitment to the tradition of military resistance to the Nazi regime. The supreme task of the Bundeswehr is to guarantee the rule of law and to protect human dignity. In this respect, it has much in common with the men and women of July 20, 1944. The Berlin seat of the Federal Ministry of Defence with its staff of some 9001 ensures the necessary proximity of the Federal Minister, State Secretaries, the Chief of Defence and the Ministry’s directorate-generals to the capital’s political decision-making bodies. 1 As of March 2017 8 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE PAST AND THE PRESENT 9 View into the Stauffenbergsaal conference room with bronze bust and Renate Anger's butterfly frieze “Rotes Ordensband” (red underwing) consisting of eight individual panels.   10 THE BENDLERBLOCK The Bendlerblock The historical complex of buildings known as the “Bendlerblock” is situated between Tiergarten and Landwehrkanal. Although this name was never officially given to the complex, this is what it is referred to and known as far beyond the city of Berlin. The history of the Bendlerblock goes back to before World War I. The master builder Johann Christoph Bendler (1789– 1873) developed this area of land and bequeathed a large part of the site to the city administration. The street which connects the Landwehrkanal and the Tiergarten was originally named in his honour, although it is now called Stauffen- bergstrasse. The Imperial German Navy acquired plots of land at this location and a building complex was constructed on it between 1911 and 1914, large enough to house several of the Reich Navy Office ́s com- mand authorities which had previously been scattered throughout central Berlin. With its five floors and numerous inner courtyards, this building provided room for 900 people. The main building on Landwehrkanal was exclusively used as the office of the Secretary of State of the Reich Navy Office (until 1916 Grand Admiral von Tirpitz). The wing of the main building on the right housed the Admiralty Staff of the Imperial German Navy. It was from here that Imperial Germany conducted its naval war during World War I. The east wing was used by the Navy Cabinet, the Kaiser’s personal staff for naval affairs. The Secretary of State of the Reich Navy Office and the head of the Navy Cabinet lived in apartments on the second floor. In the wake of World War I, it was here that the leadership of the Reichswehr sought to define its role in the first parliamentary democracy on German soil. Building seen from the parade ground. THE BENDLERBLOCK 11  The Treaty of Versailles (1919) led to radical reductions in German force levels. Germany was forced to abandon its air force. Hence the Bendlerblock was able to provide enough room for the High Commands of both the Navy and the Army, which had also been scaled down. The Reichswehr Ministry under Gustav Noske (1868–1946), the first Reichswehr Minister of the new German Republic, and the Army High Command under the command of General Walter Reinhardt, moved into what once were apartments used by the former Imperial German Navy authorities. In March 1920 the reactionary Free Corps staged a putsch in the streets of Berlin. The head of the Truppenamt (the name under which the General Staff operated after being banned under the provisions of the Versailles Treaty), Major General von Seeckt, was asked if the military could quell the coup. In the Minister’s office in the Bendlerblock, he is said to have replied, “Troops do not fire upon troops”. In other words: the democratic Republican Govern- ment could not count on being protected by the Reichswehr. It had to flee from the rebels and moved temporarily to Stuttgart. The Army Headquarters was located in the east wing of the Bendlerblock under the command of General von Seeckt until 1926. Left: The Bendlerblock’s columned hall. Following pages: The “Roter Teppich” (red carpet) in the columned hall shows an aerial photograph of post-war Berlin. In particular, it shows the Tiergarten district with the partially destroyed Bendlerblock. (Artist: Via Lewandowsky)  14 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE BENDLERBLOCK 15   16 THE BENDLERBLOCK In January 1933, the Reichswehr commanders met in the Bendlerblock to discuss their position in the event of Hitler’s Chancellorship. A few days later, Reich President Hindenburg appointed Hitler head of government – with the consent of the top military echelon. On February 3, 1933 the “Führer” explained his intentions to all the Reichswehr generals present. He was remarkably frank in describing the objectives of his policy. He talked about “eradicating Marxism root and branch”, “the tightest possible authoritarian government leadership and stamping out the cancer of democracy” and “the fight against Versailles”. When asked how “political power” was to be used in the future, Hitler mentioned the “conquest of new lebensraum in the east and its ruthless Germanisation”. 1 On June 30, 1934 – less than one-and- a-half years later – Hitler had numerous political opponents murdered under the pretence of an alleged putsch by the SA (Sturmabteilung or “Storm Division”). These also included two former Reichs- wehr generals (Kurt von Schleicher and Ferdinand von Bredow). The Reichswehr tolerated their liquidation. The state of affairs at the time was also reflected in measures taken by another representative of the top military echelon: The Chief of Army Command and subsequent Supreme Army Commander, General von Fritsch, ensconced himself in his Bendlerblock apartment, protected by soldiers. 1 “Hitler's first talks ...on February 3, 1933 (at Hammerstein's)” in: H.-A. Jacobsen, 1939 – 1945. Der Zweite Weltkrieg in Chronik und Dokumenten. Darmstadt 1959, pp. 81ff. View of the FMoD visitors' mess. THE BENDLERBLOCK 17   Above: Historical stairway. Below: Corridor leading to offices.  18 THE BENDLERBLOCK  Modern staircase. THE BENDLERBLOCK 19  20 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE BENDLERBLOCK 21 Meanwhile, adjoining plots of land had been bought on which additional new buildings were erected up to 1938. Finally, after its extension was completed, the Bendlerblock housed, apart from the Supreme Army Commander, elements of the Navy Operations staff of the Navy High Command and most of the agencies of the Office for Foreign Affairs/Intelligence in the Armed Forces High Command under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. The Abwehr, the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Third Reich, was a first centre of military resistance. Major General Oster and a group of conspirators planned to overthrow the Nazi regime by military means as early as in 1938. Their intention was to hinder Hitler’s military action against Czechoslovakia because they feared it would trigger a war in Europe which they were firmly convinced Germany could never win. When the European powers approved of the occupation of large parts of Czechoslovakia by German forces, Hitler’s Wreaths placed in the commemorative courtyard of the “German Resistance Memorial Centre” during the annual celebrations commemorating the events of July 20, 1944. foreign policy registered a success and the attempt to overthrow the regime was quashed. Until the Gestapo stripped it of its powers in 1943, the Abwehr remained a pocket of resistance. Shortly after the beginning of the war, the Commander of the Reserve Army and the Army Office (headed by Infantry General Friedrich Olbricht) moved into the main part of the east wing. From October 1943 Lieutenant Colonel (later Colonel) of the General Staff Claus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg worked here, too. The nation- wide military coup against Hitler was plotted under the code name “Valkyrie” in an office on the second floor of the Bendlerblock. The coup d'état failed on July 20, 1944. The very spot where Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirators General Friedrich Olbricht, Colonel Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim and Reserve Lieutenant Werner von Haeften were executed that same night is located in what is today the commemorative courtyard. The four brave men are commemorated with a memorial plaque.   22 THE BENDLERBLOCK During the final days of the war the Bendlerblock served as a command post for General Helmuth Weidling, the Berlin combat commander. Finally, on May 2, 1945, Russian troops occupied the com- plex. During the post-war period the Bendler- block was used by a great number of civilian agencies and federal authorities. At an early stage it also became a memorial of recent German history. On July 20, 1952 the widow of Friedrich Olbricht, representing the members of the resist- ance and their families, laid the foundation stone for a memorial in the courtyard. It was unveiled by Ernst Reuter, the Governing Mayor of Berlin, in a ceremony one year later. On July 20, 1955 Bendler- strasse was consequently renamed Stauffenbergstrasse. In 1980 the com- memorative courtyard was remodelled. Since then one of the walls at the entrance bears this inscription: Soldiers of the FMoD Guard Battalion stand honour guard in front of the memorial plaque for the victims of July 20, 1944. Here in the former Army High Command, Germans organised the attempt to overthrow the lawless National Socialist regime on July 20, 1944. For this they sacrificed their lives. A memorial and educational centre was first opened in the Bendlerblock on July 20, 1968, the 20th anniversary of the failed assassination attempt. The results of research on contemporary history prompted an extension to the exhibition to document the entire spectrum and diversity of resistance against Hitler and the Nazi regime in Germany. By 1989, the “German Resistance Memorial Centre” with its permanent exhibition “Resistance to National Socialism” was established in the historic rooms where the coup had been planned and staged. THE BENDLERBLOCK 23    Portraits of Resistance Ludwig Beck came from an established family of academics, civil servants and officers in Hesse-Darmstadt. After beginning his army service in an artillery regiment in 1898, he qualified for the General Staff (1908–1911); after World War I he became a member of the Reichswehr and held various troop and staff assignments. As a commander he already had his first close encounter with National Socialism before 1933 when officers of his regiment, who sympathised with the Nazi ideology, were charged with treason (1930). While condemning their actions, Beck could well understand the officers ́ views; after all, he saw National Socialism as an instrument to overcome the provisions of the Versailles Peace Treaty. Hitler’s acts of murder against the SA in the summer of 1934 triggered a sub- stantial change of mind in Beck. During the years that followed, he finally saw through the Führer’s foreign policy. Ludwig Beck June 29, 1880 – July 20, 1944 As Army Chief of Staff from 1935, he saw his role in a conventional and professional way, namely as a totally independent adviser to the political leaders. With this view, however, he stood in sharp contrast to Hitler and those officers who, from an early stage, permitted themselves to be used as Hitler’s willing henchmen. In memoranda, lectures and studies he consistently pointed out the risk of war and its dramatic consequences for Germany. His attempts to rally support among army commanders failed. Beck was steadfast in his decision to submit his resignation in 1938 to avoid any involvement in Hitler’s policy which was driving the nation into war against Czechoslovakia. Beck remained unimpressed by Hitler's success in foreign policy and his early military “feats”. He was completely aware that the war triggered by the attack on Poland in September 1939 would inevitably result in Germany’s total destruction. Apart from the external threat, he was preoccupied with the inner decay of Germany, brought about by National-Socialist rule and the crimes it was committing. From the winter of 1939 on, Beck effec- tively functioned as the centre of the resistance. With his vision and superior intellect, he managed to unify and control its various currents and move- ments. Had the coup succeeded, Beck had been earmarked to become head of state. After an unsuccessful suicide attempt to avoid interrogation and torture, Colonel General Beck was shot late in the evening of July 20, 1944. Werner von Haeften October 9, 1908 – July 21, 1944 Werner von Haeften had a military family background. After studying law he worked as a lawyer in Berlin. Later, while serving as a platoon commander in an infantry unit, he was seriously wounded during the Russian campaign in the winter of 1942. Following his recovery, Haeften became aide-de-camp to Stauffenberg. He was a friend of Stauffenberg and one of the conspirators; he took part in the assassi- nation attempt on Hitler at midday, July 20, 1944. On the night of July 20/21, 1944 Reserve Lieutenant von Haeften was shot in the courtyard of Bendlerblock. 24 THE BENDLERBLOCK PORTRAITS OF RESISTANCE 25    Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim came from a family of Bavarian-Palatinate gentry. On completion of his secondary education he joined the Reichswehr (1923), and temporarily considered transferring to the SA. Mertz and Stauffenberg had been close friends ever since they trained together at the War Academy in Berlin. After various unit command and staff assignments he was posted to the Führer’s headquarters near Vinnitsa (Ukraine) in the winter of 1941. This was where he worked closely together with Stauffenberg and was confronted with severe ethical quandaries as a result of Nazi occupation policy. In June 1944 Mertz von Quirnheim succeeded Stauffenberg as Chief of Staff under Olbricht’s command. He was one of those who prepared the orders to be issued after Hitler’s assassination (“Operation Valkyrie”). Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim March 26, 1905 – July 21, 1944 On the night of July 20, 1944 – knowing full well that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt – von Quirnheim unwaveringly issued orders for the realisation of the coup. Shortly afterwards, Colonel of the General Staff Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim was shot in the courtyard of Bendlerblock. Friedrich Olbricht a teacher ́s son, became a soldier in 1907. Following various staff assignments after World War I, Olbricht held several high command positions until 1938. After initially commanding a division, he became chief of the General Army Office in the Army High Command, Berlin, in 1940. Olbricht established contacts with several members of the resistance at an early stage. From the beginning of the War he had been among the protagonists of military opposition in Germany. The use of the alert plan “Valkyrie” as an instrument for the coup – disseminating it through official channels – had been his brainchild. Army units were due to be alerted promptly anyway in case of civil unrest in the Homeland. All further steps by the conspirators – ousting Hitler, assuming military command authority and government responsibility – were forthwith camou- flaged this way. Friedrich Olbricht October 4, 1888 – July 21, 1944 The units to be alerted were to be made to believe that high-ranking disloyal Nazi officials would with Hitler ́s death try to consolidate their power in a quasi-coup, which was to be prevented at all costs by the Wehrmacht. On July 20, 1944, however, the measures that Olbricht had meticulously planned got off to a slow start because the message that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt had got through to the Bendlerblock quite early on. During that same night Infantry General Friedrich Olbricht was shot in the court- yard of the Bendlerblock as ordered by Colonel General Fromm, Commander of the Replacement Training Army. 26 THE BENDLERBLOCK PORTRAITS OF RESISTANCE 27   Claus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg was born into old Swabian nobility. His maternal ancestors were related to Gneisenau. In 1926 he joined the elitist Bamberg Seventeenth Cavalry Regiment (“Bamberger Reiter”) as an officer cadet. In 1936 he was selected for general staff officer training and posted to the War Academy in Berlin. The handsome cavalry officer was considered a brilliant thinker who was equally charismatic. His way of thinking was deeply influenced by the poet and influential intellectual Stefan George (1868–1933) who was also his personal friend. In spring 1943 Stauffenberg was severely wounded in an air raid in Northern Africa, losing his left eye, right hand and two fingers of his left hand. Nonetheless, he continued his service in outstanding positions. In the summer of 1944 – at the age of 36 years – he was promoted to Colonel of the General Staff and Chief of Staff of the Replacement Training Army Command in the Bendlerblock. Initially, Stauffenberg condoned the Nazi government’s foreign policy goals. Soon, however, the sensitive officer felt grow- ing abhorrence at the brutish methods of those now wielding power. By 1942 Stauffenberg had become aware that the war would unavoidably lead to Germany’s destruction and that his actions were covering the most heinous of crimes that the lawless Nazi regime was committing in the name of Germany. Stauffenberg, in his own words: “They're shooting Jews in their thousands. These crimes must stop!” From October 1943 he was responsible for personnel replacement and was thus confronted with the rising number of casualties every day. By then Stauffenberg was firmly convinced that continuing the war would be a crime against the German people. This war had to be stopped at all costs but this seemed impossible as long as Hitler was still alive and in power. Claus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg November 15, 1907 – July 21, 1944 Along with General Olbricht, Colonel von Tresckow and a small number of hand- picked conspirators Stauffenberg started to transform the planning measures, which were his responsibility and which were to be taken in case of civil unrest (“Operation Valkyrie”) into a plan for a coup d ́état, which was prepared with military precision. At that time, Stauffenberg was the only conspirator to still have personal access to Hitler. Hence it was crucial on July 20, 1944 – the day of the attempted coup – that Stauffenberg not only arm the bomb at the Führer’s headquarters in East Prussia but return to Berlin alive to direct the overthrow from the Bendlerblock from about 1600 hours. In a frenzy of activity he tried to convince the Wehrmacht agencies in the Reich that this was the time to act. As the evening progressed, however, it became increasingly obvious that the coup had failed. Stauffenberg and his three closest con- spirators were summarily executed by a firing squad in the inner courtyard of the Bendlerblock. 28 THE BENDLERBLOCK PORTRAITS OF RESISTANCE 29  The Attempted Assassination of Hitler – Thursday, July 20, 1944 The following events in Berlin and Rastenburg (East Prussia), the location of Hitler’s Headquarters (“Wolf’s Lair”), are featured in the overview of individual actions and military measures of July 20 and 21, 1944 contained in the catalogue of the travelling exhibition of the Military History Research Institute (also see Reference Literature on page 52). Berlin 0600 hrs Rangsdorf 0700 hrs Rastenburg 1015 hrs 1130 hrs Berlin 1200 hrs Rastenburg 1230 hrs Stauffenberg leaves his brother Berthold’s apartment (Tristanstrasse 8, Berlin-Wannsee), for Rangsdorf airfield. At about 0700 hrs Stauffenberg meets his adjutant Haeften and flies to Rastenburg with him. Arrival and onward journey to the Führer’s headquarters, access via the western checkpoint; breakfast. Stauffenberg reports to Field Marshal General Keitel (Head of the Wehrmacht High Command); 1130 – 1200 hrs relief of the guards in the Restricted Areas. Lieutenant General von Hase (Berlin City Commandant) is informed about the planned assassination. Haeften helps Stauffenberg to prepare the assassination. They are disturbed but still succeed in completing their work. Stauffenberg leaves to attend the situation briefing, carrying the armed 1-kg explosives charge in his briefcase.  1237 hrs Situation briefing by Lieutenant General Heusinger (Head of the Operations Division of the Army High Command). Due to give a talk on the “employment of blocking divisions”, Stauffenberg’s presence is announced to Hitler. Stauffenberg places the briefcase under the chart table close to Hitler; there are another 24 persons present. – On the pretence of having to make a phone call, Stauffenberg leaves the room. The charge explodes, killing four persons. Hitler survives with only minor injuries. Stauffenberg watches the explosion from 200 metres away. Restricted Area I is closed. Stauffenberg and Haeften are allowed to leave Restricted Area I, the officer in charge of the guards suspects nothing. Both Restricted Areas are put on alert. Stauffenberg is stopped, after confirmation by telephone he is allowed to pass the second checkpoint. At about 1300 hrs a news blackout is imposed on the headquarters, which does not include the SS lines of communication; shortly after, Goebbels is informed about the events without any details. Stauffenberg and Haeften fly to Berlin. The head of the Wehrmacht communication links agency (in Berlin) is informed that the assassination attempt has failed and that Hitler escaped with minor injuries. Himmler (Reichsführer SS) arrives at the scene; initially, labourers working at the headquarters are suspected. Himmler sends for investigators from Berlin, the suspect is now Stauffenberg. Himmler orders him to be arrested on his arrival at Rangsdorf. 1242 hrs 1243 hrs 1244 hrs 1245 hrs 1300 hrs 1315 hrs Rastenburg 1345 hrs 30 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF HITLER – THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1944 31  Rangsdorf between 1445 and 1515 hrs Berlin 1515 hrs 1550 to 1600 hrs Rastenburg 1600 hrs Berlin 1610 hrs 1620 hrs 1630 hrs Stauffenberg and Haeften land at Rangsdorf air base. Haeften telephones the conspirators in the Bendlerblock, saying that Hitler is dead. Lieutenant General Thiele (Head of the Wehrmacht signal communications agency) passes on the telephone message (of 1315 hrs) stating that several people had been killed in the explosion at the “Führer’s headquarters”. Colonel General Hoepner and General Olbricht delay the initia- tion of alert state “Valkyrie” until there is certainty. Olbricht states password “Deutschland” and thus initiates “Valkyrie”; in a message to Colonel General Fromm (Commander of the Replacement Training Army) he states that the Führer is dead and that “Valkyrie” is to be initiated. Fromm telephones Keitel who acknowledges the incident but informs him that Hitler sustained only minor injuries. All military district commands are informed about the failed assassination attempt and counter-orders are issued. The guard battalion “Großdeutschland” is put on alert (“Valkyrie”), its commander, Major Remer, then goes to see the Berlin City Commandant to be briefed; meanwhile further alert measures get under way until 1730 hrs. Fromm issues the order not to initiate “Valkyrie”; Count von Helldorf (Chief Constable) is ordered to the Bendlerblock. In the meantime another two members of the resistance arrive, one of them being Colonel General Beck, the former Chief of the General Staff. The head of the intelligence service of the Wehrmacht High Command, Lieutenant Röhrig, receives a teletype message, “the Führer is dead...”; an amended version here of is forwarded to twenty addresses (1735 to 2103 hrs).  1630 and 1700 hrs 1645 hrs Rastenburg 1700 hrs Stauffenberg and Haeften arrive at the Bendlerblock. Stauffenberg reports to Fromm, claims responsibility for the assassination and states that Hitler is dead. Olbricht informs Fromm that he has launched “Valkyrie”. Fromm refuses to co-operate and is arrested. Beck issues orders to act as though Hitler were dead. Remer returns to his troops with the task of cordoning off the government district. Himmler orders the Reich Security Main Office in Berlin to arrest Stauffenberg inconspicuously. Commanders at the headquarters persistently inquire whether Hitler is really dead. Keitel tries to contact Fromm or Olbricht by telephone. From 1700 hrs radio stations report on the assassination attempt, stating that Hitler had sustained only minor injuries (these messages are disseminated until 2200 hrs). Remer passes on the orders to the officers in his battalion. One officer who had become suspicious asks for permission to verify the news with Goebbels himself. This way, Goebbels first learns about “Valkyrie” and on his part alerts an SS training unit (based in Berlin-Lichterfelde). Remer is then briefed on the real situation. Röhrig has first doubts as he is supposed to relay a teletype message to the effect that “executive powers in the military districts are delegated to the commanding generals and military district commanders”. Röhrig is given another text containing instructions regarding the second stage of alert plan “Valkyrie”; this text is disseminated until 2300 hrs. The government district is cordoned off under “Valkyrie”. Berlin 1700 to 1730 hrs 1750 hrs 1800 hrs 1830 hrs 32 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF HITLER – THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1944 33  Berlin 1845 hrs Röhrig receives the teletype message pertaining to Hoepner’s appointment as Commander of the Replacement Training Army and Supreme Commander of the Home Combat Area; parts of the text are disseminated between 2020 and 2115 hrs. – Meanwhile Colonel Jäger reports to the Berlin City Commandant with the order to arrest Goebbels. – By 1900 hrs soldiers of the School of Artificers have moved into alert positions (castle, arsenal). Remer reports to Goebbels and receives Hitler’s order by telephone to quash the uprising immediately. - In the meantime Beck tries to win the commanders of the Western and the Eastern fronts over to the uprising efforts, most of all to bring about the withdrawal of the Northern Army Group. Another telephone message is received from Army High Command (Organisational Division), acknowledging that the assassination attempt has failed. In endless telephone calls, Stauffenberg persists in stating that Hitler is dead and that the Army has assumed executive powers! Röhrig receives a teletype message, “Radio communiqué is not true. The Führer is dead.” This message is disseminated between 1945 and 2012 hrs. Field Marshal General von Witzleben, slated to be supreme commander of the Wehrmacht, arrives at the Bendlerblock. He has a one-on-one talk with Beck. Röhrig voices his doubts to his superior, Colonel Köllner, and tells him of the delay action already initiated at the teletypewriter station. An armoured unit arrives at Fehrbelliner Platz (Berlin- Wilmersdorf) to be employed in quelling the uprising. Witzleben concludes that the uprising has failed. He leaves the Bendlerblock. No further teletype messages about “Valkyrie”, Summary Regulations 1 to 5, are dispatched. 1900 hrs 1915 hrs 1930 hrs 1945 hrs 2000 hrs 2015 hrs 2020 to 2102 hrs  Rastenburg 2020 hrs Berlin 2035 hrs Rastenburg 2115 hrs 2230 to 2250 hrs 2315 hrs Between 2315 and 2345 hrs 0010 to 0021 hrs Berlin 0015 to 0030 hrs Just before 0100 hrs All military district commanders are instructed only to follow the orders of Himmler, the new Replacement Training Army commander. The intelligence centre in Bendlerstrasse picks up Keitel’s teletype message pertaining to Himmler’s appointment as commander of the Replacement Training Army. General Olbricht forbids its onward transmission. Following orders by General Reinecke, Lieutenant General von Hase meets Goebbels in the latter’s residence where he is at first detained and then arrested the following morning. In the Bendlerblock officers who were not initiated into the plot carry out an armed counter-attack. As a result Fromm is set free. He has Olbricht, Stauffenberg, Mertz von Quirnheim and Haeften arrested before pronouncing a court martial verdict. A company of the “Großdeutschland” guard battalion marches into and occupies the Bendlerblock. Beck tries in vain to kill himself and is then shot by a sergeant who had been ordered to the scene. Fromm dispatches teletype messages to all military district commands to announce that the “attempted coup has been quelled with considerable bloodshed”. A firing squad consisting of ten non-commissioned officers, commanded by Lieutenant Schady, executes Haeften, Olbricht, Merz von Quirnheim and Stauffenberg who dies calling out “Long live our sacred Germany!” Hitler addresses the nation in a radio message. 34 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF HITLER – THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1944 35  The Bundeswehr Memorial This Memorial marks an important milestone in Bundeswehr history. For the first time, there is a central site to commemorate military and civilian Bundeswehr members who lost their lives in the course of their service to the Federal Republic of Germany.  Identity disk: upon entry into military service, every soldier is issued with an identity disc which permits him to be identified quickly and reliably. 36 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE BUNDESWEHR MEMORIAL 37   Above: The Memorial; view from the parade ground. Below: The wide opening of the building in both directions, i.e. to Hildebrandstrasse and to the parade ground, and its frequently perforated bronze shell symbolise transparency.  38 THE BENDLERBLOCK  Since the Bundeswehr was established in 1955, more than 3,250 of its members have been killed: our soldiers who were killed in conflict prevention and crisis management operations in the cause of peace as well as all the Bundeswehr members who lost their lives in or as a result of tragic accidents, whether during training, exercises, in traffic accidents or air crashes. The Bundeswehr Memorial makes it clear that the defence of peace, justice and freedom cannot be compared with any other profession. In no other career is the question of life and death of such existential importance as in military service. The servicemen and women of the Bundeswehr are bound by their solemn pledge and their official oath to bravely defend the rights and freedom of the German people. Military service involves, if necessary, risking life and limb and, ultimately, the obligation to kill in battle. This all-embracing duty of loyalty constitutes the core of military service. Military and civilian personnel who have lost their lives for the protection of peace and freedom also deserve public respect and commemoration. That is why a Federal Institutions Flag covers the mortal remains of servicemen and women who were killed while exercising their official duties. This symbol is a visible token of the special ties of loyalty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the deceased soldier. In addition, the Bundeswehr holds a funeral service to pay its last respects to those who were killed in missions abroad or during their duty at home. This is an important token of solidarity, which can provide helpful support for the bereaved in a situation that shakes their very existence. But in order to commemorate the dead it is necessary not only to adhere consistently to rituals but also to designate certain places for this and make them known. THE BUNDESWEHR MEMORIAL 39  40 THE BENDLERBLOCK   Left: The Memorial; view from the parade ground. Above: The Memorial with a view of the parade ground and the Bendlerblock. THE BUNDESWEHR MEMORIAL 41  The Location The site of the Memorial in Berlin, at the official seat of the Federal Ministry of Defence, is the expression of a considered political decision. All fundamental decisions by the government and parliament regarding the Bundeswehr are made in Berlin. At the Bendlerblock, the Berlin seat of the Federal Ministry of Defence, these decisions are then implemented for the Bundeswehr. The site of the Memorial in the immediate proximity of the legislative and executive powers indirectly highlights the fact that the Bundeswehr is bound by the Constitution and that the democratic political will takes precedence. The urban area in which the Memorial is situated is characterised by its structural diversity. Embassies, representations of the Länder, museums as well as office and service buildings make this a privileged location that is also easily accessible by public transport. As part of this ensemble, the Memorial is neither exposed on a prominent urban stage nor hidden in a backyard. It stands its ground with a certain matter-of-factness without being obtrusive. This also reflects the self-image of the Bundeswehr, which holds its position in state and society with confidence yet does not claim a special role for its members. At the same time, the Memorial fits well into the architectural context of the capi- tal’s other memorials: several memorials from the time of the German Empire, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the New Guardhouse (Neue Wache) as the Central Memorial to Victims of War and Tyranny are in the vicinity of the Bundeswehr Memorial. The German Resistance Memorial Centre housed in a side wing of the Bendlerblock close to the Bundeswehr Memorial is of special significance. This is one of the most important sites of remembrance of the revolt of conscience against the criminal national-socialist regime. Particularly the military resistance against Adolf Hitler is a cornerstone of the Bundeswehr’s understanding of tradition. The Bundeswehr Memorial is quite separate from the German Resistance Memorial Centre and, although nearby, there is still an appropriate distance between the two memorials. This distance from the courtyard of the Bendlerblock underlines the fact that the Bundeswehr Memorial neither affects nor qualifies the importance of July 20 for the Bundeswehr’s under- standing of tradition. On the contrary, the choice of its location again clearly demonstrates that the Memorial consciously reflects the Bundeswehr’s lines of tradition. The location of the Memorial fits in well with the existing architecture. The centre one of the five flagpoles on the slightly raised forecourt marks the centre line of the parade ground. During military ceremonies that take place here, movements can be oriented towards the centre line and the flags. It is here that the Memorial creates a new visual boundary to the parade ground. At the same time, the Memorial is integrated into the spatial and ideal context of the Federal Ministry of Defence. A key aspect of the Memorial’s architecture is its location at the interface of the public- civilian and the official-military area. It is situated right on the boundary between the site of the Bendlerblock and the publicly accessible Hildebrandstrasse. Therefore, the Memorial can be entered either from the premises of the Federal Ministry of Defence or from the public street. Thus representing the interface between the Armed Forces and society, it constitutes another vital element of the Bundeswehr’s self-image. The open access to both sides provides a great deal of flexibility in use allowing for both public and private commemoration and mourning. Individual, private commemoration and public remembrance during military ceremonies are thus equally possible. 42 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE BUNDESWEHR MEMORIAL – THE LOCATION 43  44 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE BUNDESWEHR MEMORIAL – THE CELLA 45 The Cella Inside the Memorial is a room of silence: the cella.   Above: The intentionally reduced use of forms leaves room for concentration and interpretation. Below: The Book of Remembrance with a total of 20 bronze sheets.  46 THE BENDLERBLOCK This room at the southern end of the Memorial has neither doors nor windows and can be entered either from the parade ground or from the street (Hildebrand- strasse). By lowering the ceiling an entrance has been created that leads the visitor into the cella. The cella is a monochrome, dark room in which the contours are blurred, so that it seems dematerialised. The total absence of pictures, ornaments, design elements and colour inside the cella helps the visitor to concentrate on the most important aspects. At the end of the cella, the clean lines and symmetry are interrupted, giving the room an unexpected appearance. The farthest floor panel is raised at an angle so that its edge is fully visible, breaking the Memorial’s strictly rectangular order. This tilted panel symbolises the force and sheer magnitude of the violence and disaster which ended a life. The fault is moreover a reminder that losing somebody has virtually thrown the lives of the bereaved, relatives, friends and comrades out of joint. The raised floor panel provides a suitable surface on which visitors can place wreaths, flowers, candles or other mementos. Daylight shines into the room through a skylight in the ceiling of the cella. This opens up the austere room to the heavens – a timeless symbol for the crossing of real borders and the world perceived by the senses. The daylight that enters the room from above shines through the semi-oval holes in the bronze shell. In favourable light conditions, the special play of light and shadows on the polished surface of the floor panel again provides the link with the pledge, the oath of office and the official oath. THE BUNDESWEHR MEMORIAL – THE CELLA 47  48 THE BENDLERBLOCK THE BUNDESWEHR MEMORIAL – THE CELLA 49   50 THE BENDLERBLOCK Dedication and Naming of the Dead On leaving the cella, the visitor faces a shimmering golden wall. Its radiance contrasts sharply with the sombre tones of the cella. The inscription in raised letters on the golden wall reads: TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE OF OUR BUNDESWEHR WHO DIED FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND FREEDOM Using capital letters only and dispensing with punctuation lend the inscription powerful expression and unity. The dedication recaptures the key idea of the Memorial: to honour the memory of all members of the Bundeswehr who died as a direct or indirect consequence of performing their duties to our country. Whilst the cella relies on abstract elements to achieve its effect, a materialised form of remembrance confronts the visitor as he leaves the room: above the entrance a luminous band displays the names of the dead to be commemorated on a horizontally mounted concrete slab in an ever-changing sequence. The letters shine through translucent concrete. This gives the impression that the names are floating in space. Naming the dead is a decisive element of remembrance. This is a fitting way to pay respect to members of the Bundeswehr who lost their lives. At the same time, it is a reminder that behind the abstract design of the Memorial are the real tragedies of people who were killed in the course of their service to our society. The technical installation permits changes to be made. Thus it is possible for names not to appear should the relatives so wish. Golden wall with inscription. THE BUNDESWEHR MEMORIAL – DEDICATION AND NAMING OF THE DEAD 51 Reference Literature Aufstand des Gewissens. Militärischer Widerstand gegen Hitler und das NS-Regime 1933 –1945. Begleittext zur Wanderausstellung des Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamtes, hg. i. A. des MGFA von Thomas Vogel, 5., völlig überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. 2000 Benz, W., u. Pehle, W. (Hg.) : Lexikon des deutschen Widerstandes. 1994 Bundesministerium der Verteidigung  52 THE BENDLERBLOCK   

The Jewish Synagogue, shown three years after the war and today, was miraculously saved from destruction during Kristallnacht by- it was claimed at the time- the chief of the local police station, Wilhelm Krutzfeld. When he arrived at the scene, he presented the building charter showing that the synagogue had been opened by Otto von Bismark himself. Mindful of Hitler's admiration of Bismark, the forger of modern-day Germany, the mob dispersed and a fire brigade was able to save the building from destruction.  Since 1993 the training institute of the Landespolizei Schleswig-Holstein bears the name "Landespolizeischule Wilhelm Krützfeld". In fact, Heinz Knobloch had popularised the story that Wilhelm Krützfeld rescued the New Synagogue after having learned about the rescue from the report of an eyewitness, the late Hans Hirschberg. Hirschberg, a boy in 1938, observed the fire with his father, the tailor Siegmund Hirschberg, and recalled that his father and a police officer, who was one of his father's clients and whom Hans assumed to be the head of the police precinct, got into a conversation whilst the police officer was supervising the work of the fire brigade, about their experiences in the same sector of the front during the Great War. When Knobloch did research for his book Der beherzte Reviervorsteher about the rescue of the New Synagogue, he learned that the head of the precinct was Krützfeld and identified him as the officer. But Krützfeld was never conscripted in that war. After Knobloch's book appeared another neighbour, Inge Held, Hirschberg, and Hirschberg's sister in Israel all confirmed that the rescuer was in fact Otto Bellgardt. Senior Lieutenant Wilhelm Krützfeld, head of the local police precinct and Bellgardt's superior, later covered up for him. Berlin's police commissioner Graf Helldorf only verbally reprimanded Krützfeld for doing so and has since often been mistakenly identified as the rescuer of the New Synagogue.

Inside the synagogue in 2017. After the effects of the fire had been removed, the New Synagogue had been able to be used for worship services again until April 1939. The dome had to be overpainted with camouflage paint because of the threat of air raids. After a last service in the little prayer room on January 14, 1943, the Wehrmacht took over the building and set up a uniform camp here. During the night of November 23, 1943, the synagogue suffered serious damage during British air raids during the war. Further damage was added to the building structure, after the war, the ruin was used as a supplier of building materials.  After the end of the war, the few surviving Jews of the city founded a new Jewish community based in the administrative building of the Synagogue in Oranienburger Straße to both create suitable conditions for Jewish life in Berlin and, on the other hand, to prepare the emigration for those who did not wish to remain. In the summer of 1958 the partially destroyed building was destroyed because of the risk of collapse and on the grounds that a reconstruction was not possible. Only the buildings on the street remained - as a memorial against war and fascism. It wasn't until after the fall of the Berlin Wall that the reconstruction started on Oranienburgerstrasse. In May 1995, the reconstructed synagogue was finally completed. Inside is an "historical" black-and-white photo captioned "The New Synagogue in Flames". A closer examination of photography and historical research led Heinz Knobloch to the conclusion that the synagogue in the photo did not correspond to its actual state in 1938 but had been clearly retouched in the post-war period.

The interior in 1866 and after its gutting in 1938.

My students in front during our 2017 school trip comparing the postwar damage. 

As late as 1935, the Berlin tourist map issued by the Pharus firm marked the presence of the New Synagogue in Oranienburgerstraße with a miniature depiction of the building, just as it did other key attractions like the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Cathedral. Stars of David pinpointed the locations of other synagogues nearby. In the 1936 edition, not only had the building vanished, so too had any indication that synagogues still existed in the area. The physical destruction of the synagogues that was to follow in 1938 was thus preceded by their symbolic disappearance from tourist literature. Yet there is no evidence to suggest that these changes occurred as a result of direct intervention on the part of the regime. Map publishers were instead reacting to the vague command to work in tune with the ideals of National Socialism.

Seeing Hitler's Germany: Tourism in the Third Reich (61)

For many the building itself is a place that inspires deep reflection given that the rear of the building has been left as a shell - the majority of the main synagogue is now open to the skies behind a glass screen. The museum inside and its thoughtfully (and admitedly expensively) composed exhibits of a time of Jewish vitality providing an interesting contrast with the architecture and help one to visualise the Jewish community in this district and reminds us of how Berlin's Jewish population in some ways experienced a more liberal and tolerant existence in Berlin than in many other European cities, at least until the 1930s. There were around 160,000 Jews living in Berlin by this time, spread around different parts of the city, and the different communities and synagogues exuded considerable vitality. The area around Oranienburgerstrasse provides some sense of place of Jewish Berlin. However, because the Jewish population was so thoroughly purged during the Holocaust there are now only remnants left.

 

Plaque on the wall of the building exhorting never to forget. Today the New Synagogue houses the Centrum Judaicum, dedicated to documenting Jewish culture and acting as a bridge between eastern and western European Jewry

Rotes Rathaus

 

Berlin city hall in 1937 during Berlin's 700th anniversary, decked with swastikas. This is the site where Hermann Göring married Emmy Sonneman on April 10, 1935, with Hitler acting as best man.  During the Nazi era, city councilors no longer met in the Rotes Rathaus; its last meeting took place on March 12, 1933. In their hall there were now 45 councillors who were only allowed to exercise advisory functions. From 1934 a state commissioner was assigned to the mayor with both offices passing to the mayor in 1936. From 1934 to 1938 the building was renovated again. The city fathers announced that it would be "adapted to the spirit of the Third Reich". The architect was Richard Ermisch. By removing massive parapets and a new colour scheme, the stairwell was given a lighter design, Max Esser created a fountain for the vestibule at the end of the stairwell and Hanna Cauer's bronze “Olympic Fountain” was installed in front of the town hall in 1936 for the Olympic Games. The first loss from the war was the sacrifice of this bronze fountain in 1940 for the “metal donation of the German people”.

Joseph Goebbels and Julius Lippert, mayor of Berlin, commemorating the 700 years of Berlin parade in front of the town hall on August 15, 1937. Note the flower decoration on the building, whose extension can be seen better in this overview photo of the same location. Lippert had earlier presented Goebbels with the newly donated shield of honour of the imperial capital.

In November 1943, an air raid destroyed the ballroom followed by damage from further air raids in autumn 1944 and on February 3, 1945. On April 22, Soviet artillery fire hit the house, which had been one-third damaged by then. Substance damages the tower and the wing on the road behind the town hall had suffered. The library room burned down on May 12, 1945. As early as the end of May, employees began to repair the house, which was now about 50 percent destroyed. The councillor's hall and the ballroom suffered particularly severe damage. The building was heavily damaged by Anglo-American bombing during the war and was rebuilt to the original plans between 1951 and 1956. The Berlin magistrate, the city council and the mayor therefore had their seat in the new town hall on Parochialstrasse. In 1947 he arranged for the undamaged bronze statues of King Friedrich I and Kaiser Wilhelm I to be removed from the main entrance. The Neues Stadthaus, which survived the bombing and had formerly been the head office of Berlin's municipal fire insurance Feuersozietät in Parochialstraße served as the temporary city hall for the post-war city government for all the sectors of Berlin until September 1948. Following that time, it housed only those of the Soviet sector. The reconstructed Rotes Rathaus, then located in the Soviet sector, served as the town hall of East Berlin, while the Rathaus Schöneberg was seat of the West Berlin Senate. After German reunification, the administration of reunified Berlin officially moved into the Rotes Rathaus on October 1, 1991.

The fiercest fighting broke out in the city's centre on April 29. The Town Hall was assaulted by the 1008th Rifle Regiment (commander Colonel V.N. Borisov) and the 1010th Regiment (commander Colonel M.F. Zagorodsky) of the 266th Rifle Division.
Captain M.V. Bobylev's battalion was set the mission of breaking through to the Town Hall and capturing it jointly with Major M.A. Alexeyev's battalion supported by tanks and self-propelled artillery. Our men were met by such a strong avalanche of fire that further advance along the street was simply impossible.
It was decided to break into the Town Hall through the walls by breaching them with explosives. Under enemy fire, the sappers blew in the walls one by one. The smoke had not had time to disperse before assault groups rushed through the breaches and cleared the building adjacent to the Town Hall from the enemy after hand-to-hand fighting.
Tanks and self-propelled guns were committed to battle. Firing a few shots they smashed the heavy wrought-iron gates of the Town Hall, breaching the walls whilst setting up a smokescreen. The whole building was engulfed in think smoke.
Lieutenant K. Madenov's platoon was the first to break in. Privates N.P. Kondrashev., K.Ye. Kryutchenko, I.F. Kashpurovsky and others acted bravely together with the daring lieutenant. Every room was fought for.
Komsomol organiser of the 1008th Rifle Regiment's 1st Battalion, Junior Lieutenant K.G. Gromov, climbed up on the roof and, having thrown down the Nazi flag on the pavement, hoisted the Red Banner. Konstantin Gromov was granted the title Hero of the Soviet Union for heroism and courage displayed in these battles.       Marshall G. Zhukov, 1974

Alexanderplatz station opened on  February 7, 1882. In 1926 the station hall spanning two platforms with four tracks was rebuilt in its present plain style. Heavily damaged during the war as shown here, train service at the station was resumed on November 4, 1945, whilst the reconstruction of the hall continued until 1951. Beevor (348) writes of "stories, mainly the product of German paranoia, that T-34s were driven into railway tunnels to emerge behind their lines. The only genuine case of an underground tank, however, appears to be that of an unfortunate T-34 driver who failed to spot the entrance of the Alexanderplatz U-Bahn station and charged down the stairs. Stories of light artillery bumped down station stairs, step by step, and manhandled on to the tracks also owe more to folklore than to fact."

 Alexanderplatz was the location of the Police Headquarters, or Polizeipräsidium. Built in the late 1800s from the same red brick as the nearby Rathaus, it was a dark and forbidding place, which was known to Berliners as the Zwingburg am Alex – ‘the fortress on Alex’ – or simply as ‘Alex’ After the Nazis came to power, ‘Alex’ soon became a place into which people began to disappear. For all its infamy, ‘Alex’ quickly evolved into a mere holding prison for suspects who were bound for an even more feared location – the Gestapo headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse. Nevertheless, Moorhouse in his book Berlin at War (235) relates how

officers at Alexanderplatz often had to make do without specialised torture apparatus. One Gestapo officer, for instance, placed pencils between the fingers of an uncooperative suspect, which were then crushed. Another stabbed the bare chest of a prisoner, again using a pencil. Other methods had a grim, almost comedic quality. One interrogator would simply lock recalcitrant suspects in a small cupboard, with the instruction that they were to knock when they were ready to talk.

 In 1878 the Kadettenanstalt moved from its cramped buildings in the city to the new buildings here in Lichterfelde-West, where it became the most important institution of its kind until its dissolution in 1920. The cadet centre Lichterfelde quickly became the most important training centre of the German armed forces. Several generations of later top officers in the Prussian and Württemberg armies, the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht received their training on the spacious grounds of the Kadettenanstalt. The term "Lichterfelder" quickly became synonymous with military elite training. Lichterfelde was thus for the next generation one of the main institutions of the noble officer junior. The courses at the Kadettenanstalt corresponded in content to the training at a Realgymnasium although the ultimate goal was to become an ensign. Those who attended as a pupil or cadet within the so-called Selekta class after successfully completing this training earned a lieutenant officer rank in the army or the Imperial Navy. Because of the importance of the Lichterfelder Hauptkadettenanstalt as a military elite training centre, Germany was forced to abolish the institution after the First World War in the Treaty of Versailles. It was formally dissolved on March 20, 1920, its last remaining cadets were marching from Lichterfelde to the Schlossplatz and handed over the key of the institution in a solemn act to the new government.

The Nazis upon taking power saw the old academy as an ideal location to house and train its own elites and immediately used it as the headquarters of the SA/ϟϟ Stabswache "Hermann Göring", a unit that would ultimately provide many of Germany's best paratroopers.

Shortly after the so-called seizure of power, the Nazis began the renewed military use of the building of the former Main Cadet Institute. In April 1933, the ϟϟ-Sonderkommando Berlin, which had emerged from the 'Stabswache Berlin', and the police force Wecke, moved into the buildings. The Landespolizeigroup, later renamed 'Landespolizeegruppe Hermann Goering', and the SA-Stabswache, Hermann Goering, drafted in the autumn of 1933, occupied the two western barracks buildings until their removal in December 1934. The ϟϟ building moved into the eastern barracks from which, on November 9, 1933, the Leibstandarte ϟϟ Adolf Hitler emerged. From 1934 it became the sole user of the entire building complex. In memory of the Hauptkadettenanstalt and their young graduates, many of whom honouring those had died in the First World War, Sternstrasse was renamed Kadettenweg in 1934 and a memorial stone to the Cadet Corps erected; Julius Stern was a Jew. In June 1934, during the ostensible Röhm putsch, ϟϟ firing squadrons in cooperation with SD and Gestapo shot numerous people, mostly from the SA leadership. Göring’s old military academy at Lichterfelde would be the main execution site of those SA killed during the so-called 'Night of the Long Knives' in 1934. As Bullock relates in Hitler: A Study in Tyranny

Goring, who had been made a general by Hindenburg to his great delight at the end of August 1933, once in power gravitated naturally towards the side of privilege and authority, and was on the worst of terms with the Chief of Staff of the S.A. He began to collect a powerful police force 'for special service', which he kept ready under his own hand at the Lichterfelde Cadet School near Berlin (290)...
In Berlin the executions, directed by Goring and Himmler, began on the night of 29-30 June and continued throughout the Saturday and Sunday. The chief place of execution was the Lichterfelde Cadet School, and once again the principal victims were the leaders of the S.A. (303)

It was Sepp Dietrich who suggested to Hitler that Hitler's personal bodyguard Regiment, the ϟϟ Leibstandarte should have the honour of such a site. Thus from 1934 and 1938 the facilities were extensively renovated into a showpiece modern barracks. From 1937 to 1938, new buildings were built for the new function by Karl Reichle and Karl Badberger. Torbauten, farm buildings and magazines as well as a large swimming pool were built according to the most modern aspects of that time. The main entrance was moved to Finckensteinallee. 

Hitler in 1935 and the site today. On December 17 of that year, Hitler toured the barracks and spent several hours there. In the afternoon, he made a speech to “his loyal soldiers of the Movement.” The Völkischer Beobachter reported as follows:

There was nothing more splendid than an elite such as that which the Leibstandarte represented. The Führer underlined in particular the ϟϟ men’s task of recruiting for the Party. To great applause, he stressed that “no one would bend or sway us; he would have to break us, and then he would see whether he himself might not be broken first.”

At the close of his speech, Hitler emphasised that nothing was more splendid than knowing that the wonderful regiment of the Leibstandarte bore his name.

A view from the redesigned Finckensteinallee entrance. Lichterfelde was entered through this main gate on Finckensteinallee dominated by two-heroic-sized statues of German soldiers in greatcoats and steel helmets. At each corner of the enormous rectangle which made up Lichterfelde were large dormitory blocks, designated "Adolf Hitler", "Horst Wessel", "Hermann Göring" and "Hindenburg". Within the rectangle were the classrooms and instructional facilities; there was a barracks chapel to which civilians from the Lichterfelde-West suburb were admitted on Sundays. Two monumental figures guarded the entrance, the so-called Reichsrottenführer.

Both entrances to the Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool constructed for the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games which are still flanked today with two, four metre- high granite figures symbolising the "German man" and the "German woman" designed by Professor Hass. The pool had a capacity of 1.2 million gallons and measured fifty metres in length by 25 metres in width. The left shows ϟϟ cadets at the entrance in 1941 and the site today which currently serves as an exclusive sport club.