What is commonly refered to by Westerners as the Berlin Wall, was known to East Germans for 40+ years as the ‘anti-fascist protection barrier,’ erected to protect themselves from corrupt western power infringing on their socialist paradise. A paradise without bananas, not even in the supermarkets.

It was a Sunday morning, August 13th 1961, that East Berliners woke up to find themselves cut off from visiting the Western part of the city. The Berlin Wall Documentation Center (Documentationszentrum Berlin Mauer) opened on November 9, 1999, the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, and has been keeping "the memory of the division of the city from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989," alive since.

There is a viewing platform five storeys high, from which you can see into the death strip area of one of the remaining stretches of the original Wall, and permenant exhibitions charting the history of the infamous chunk of concrete and its lasting legacy. The Documentation Center also offers guided tours, including one of tunnel escapes underneath the Wall – but unfortunately this one is so far only available in German.

Why should I go
Because it’s probably the only time you’ll be able to stare at a brick wall in your life and not look like you’ve lost your marbles and need locking up.

Where
Bernauer Strasse 111, opposite the Chapel of Reconcilliation

Homepage
www.berliner-mauer-dokumentationszentrum.de

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