Saturday, November 26, 2022

Fernsehturm, Lüftbrucke, Checkpoint Charlie

Today we went to Alexanderplatz, in what used to be East Berlin.

There we rode to the top of the Fernsehturm. Built in the 1960as a TV tower, the technical achievement also boosted the prestige of the Communist government.

Today, the tower still serves as a tourist attraction, but for a unified Germany, and there's a "capitalist" shopping mall near the base -- as clear a reminder as any who prevailed in the Cold War.

We then went to that mall, and shopped around.

Afterwards, we took a train down to the Luftbrücke (Airlift) Memorial. My grandfather was an MP in Berlin during the Airlift. His experience has shaped moany of my perspectives, including the present Russia-Ukraine War.

Then we went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum, which has a lot of exhibits about the Cold War. The picture above is of the actual checkpoint, which my grandfather would have been familiar with, as it marked the crossing point between the American and Soviet sectors.
The museum overlooks the old checkpoint, and right next to it was a Christmas tree decorated in Ukrainian flags. That picture on the right is my favorite -- a shot of the checkpoint as it was in the 1960s, right next to the window where you can see the checkpoint today, and with a McDonald's behind it.
Having once been dominated by the Soviet Union, Germany is very much "pro-Ukraine." Them, as if you couldn't tell from the Christmas tree decorated in Ukrainian flags, there was also a big display in the train station.

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