THE 'BERLIN WALL' - WALK

.. IN BERLIN: WE WALKED THE WALL WHICH WASN’T!!

That was the sunny summer of June,2003.After about a week in Switzerland, we crossed the border to reach Freiburg in Germany- to see my friend Frederick von Knorre. Touring in the picturesque Black Forest in his 1958 Ford-‘Thunderbird’ vintage, he suddenly pulled out near the historical town of Grunwald and showed me weirdly painted concrete slabs grounded vertically on the road side. He asked to guess about those edifices. Had he given me even hundred choices, I would not have been anywhere near the answer as “pieces of dismantled Berlin Wall”. Related stories ignited our interest. We were in Germany to participate in ‘European Lock Collectors Meet’ in historical town of Velbert, near Dusseldorf. Though we had two-weeks- Eurail pass, and intended to travel to neighboring Austria also, visit to Berlin was like detour to Delhi in South India’s tour. We resolved this by taking night train from Cologne to Berlin with shortened Rhine cruise, and return from Berlin, again by DB NachtZug [Deutsche Bahn-night train] to Vienna. We were to get two days there [and save some precious Euros for two nights hotel stay!]

In main tourist office of Berlin near Zoo station, desk person asked us- Fun, History or Zeitgeist? Trying to understand the meaning of the latter [‘intellectual and cultural climate of that era’] we realized that we have to define our preferences precisely. In this city of contrasts and extremes with 172 museums, we opted to combine Royal Prussian past and dark evils of Nazism, but back in mind that curiosity to discover the scattered bits of broken Berlin Wall and to put them together like jigsaw puzzle to solve the mystery of post world war history.

We’d done our home work seriously and ‘studiously’--after Germany’s defeat, each of the victorious powers occupied separate zone of Berlin-USA, Britain and France on West and Soviets on East. This was the beginning of Cold war as the rift between two worlds of Capitalists and Communists was literally DEEP-Dreams, Employment, Exuberance, Prosperity in the West and Despair, Emptiness, Extremism, Poverty in the East. Naturally- more than three million people had fled from East Germany to West Berlin between 1949 to1961. The long wall, encircling about 160 kilometers perimeter of Berlin, started taking shape from 13 August 1961, in a bid to stop such a massive exodus to Berlin. This divisive landmark, for next 28 years, split not only the German capital and nation, but also an entire generation.

We were on feet, strolling along the avenue -Unter den Linten [ literally meaning ‘beneath the Lime trees ] and marveling those historical monuments-Berliner Cathedral, History museum, National Gallery, Reichstag [ parliament ] and ultimately reached the landmark Brandenburg Gate; the most beautiful and only surviving of 18 city gates built in 1789. It was the symbol of ‘divided city’, as one section of the Berlin Wall had sealed the gate. It was rightly said-"The German issue will remain open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed”. Under the pressure of east German people in a peaceful revolution, Soviets gave in and the Wall fell on November 9, 1989.The ‘Pariser Platz, empty square on eastern side was flooded with citizens as the gate was opened two days later. In the days and weeks that followed, people came to the wall with sledgehammers to dismantle it, while cranes demolished lengthy parts of the wall. Since then, the same Gate, till to date, stands as the emblem of the reunification of Germany.

We were standing in front of an international beauty pageant, in which an Indian contestant was prominently ‘standing out’-adding glory in the glamour of this grand gate. My camera kit and a foot long telelens gave me an easy access to the group photo session and unique opportunity to shoot.., but I could imagine what it would be all those 30 years of cold war, when every day, every single soldier was positioned to aim and shoot...to prevent those possible attempts to cross the wall. Early successful escapes involved people jumping the initial barbed wire or leaping out of apartment windows along the line but these ended as the wall was fortified. Later successful escape attempts included digging the long under ground tunnels, or taking a hot air balloon during the favorable winds, or sliding along aerial wires, and even flying ultra lights. However there were 133 confirmed killings during such escape efforts to West Berlin.

To give some rest and respite to our sore feet, after almost six hours of walking around with back packs, we took a train to Orienberg.That was a place of infamous concentration camp -Sachsenhausen. This silent site of Nazi Holocaust rather inflicted more pain and strain to our numb minds.

We returned to Potsdamer Platz in central Berlin. During 1920s it was one of the busiest traffic junctions of the world! The damage during world wars, added by this division of the city, transformed such popular and populous square into no man’s land with ‘death-strip’ and ‘the wall’ ran right through the square. The circle turned full in next eighty years, as it regained its past glory- now one of the largest building sites in Europe and a fascinating spectacle of modern technology and innovation. We could spot few segments of preserved wall, giving us dramatic photo opportunities. The location of the whole length of former wall is now marked by a row of cobblestones in the street. We walked on that particular stretch, as if walking the Berlin Wall, and returned back for the dinner, to call it a day.

Next day morning-we visited Potsdam and its world famous Castle Sans souci [ meaning free of anxieties, in French] and then Charlottenburg Palace , again a wonder of Old Prussia . However we wanted to rush for that most talked and photographed place of the cold war- Checkpoint Charlie. We took U-bahn train and got down at ‘Friedrichstrasse’. Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie was just in front of us. It’s been claimed as the first museum of international ‘nonviolent protest’. Their exhibits rightly include Mahatma Gandhi’s diary and sandals, along with related knick-knacks. “The world is so well built that against every injustice there are stronger, vanquishing forces. ...From every injustice arises justice, from every untruth emerges truth, from darkness comes light...” – the words of Mahatma Gandhi were flashing boldly in another display.

The plaque on the cross roads read---‘the separation of the world began and ended at the checkpoint Charlie, the best known border cross point between West and East. That is where American and Soviet tanks confronted each other in October 1961 when the U.S. defended fundamental rights of the Berlin status. The world held breath…’ I also held breath and inhaled deeply, while posing for the photo in front of ‘US soldier’s poster’, to hide that unsightly bulge on tummy [that was the money pouch with passports, hidden on body!]

We managed to find main three of major remnant sections of the Berlin wall. We walked the length of it- this symbol of war and hate and division. How could people in the modern world believe such instance to imprison a group of people behind a wall? It was real, not mythical. With closed eyes in that night train from Berlin to Vienna, I was imaging the guard towers, searchlights, barking dogs and Kalashnikov shots that once made the wall the global symbol of the Iron Curtain. Recollecting those scenes of movie- The ‘Mauer-Spechte’ [Wall woodpeckers] - tens of thousands of people sledge hammering the wall, breaking through the border crossing points – stunned and crying for joy, and celebrating… Suddenly it was interrupted, as if by the popular commercial break on television- ‘Bhaiyaa, Ye Deewar tootati kyun nahi? [Why this wall is not coming down/ is it too strong to break it off ?] And I thanked, on the behalf of German brethren that Berlin Wall was not made of that famous Indian Ambuj.. Cement !!