Platz des Volksaufstandes von 1953

We had to check out of the hotel before noon, but our train didn't leave until the afternoon, so we visited the Platz des Volksaufstandes von 1953, which is dedicated to those who were killed, injured, and arrested during the 17-19 June 1953 protests.

It is located in the forecourt of what had been the Ministry of Aviation, and is now the Department of Finance. Along the wall are two murals, called the Aufbau der Republik, which depict idealized Communist life.
It wouldd be nice if the reality of Communist life were like the pictures, but it wasn't -- a truth that makes "Soviet Realism" a huge misnomer. And that reality came crashing down on East Germans in June 1953. Given the choice between a "worker's paradise" or state control over workers from the point of a gun, the Soviets chose the latter, and the East Germans paid the price.

We later saw this row of memorials to those who were killed during the Cold War, and one of the memorials was to those who were killed in the protests
Which is what makes the placement of the Platz des Volksaufstandes right next to the Aufbau der Republik such a power move. After unification, the German government didn't take down the murals, but they *did* place an even bigger real-life photograph right next to them. I think it's a good example of what we should to do in the United States if we don't want to take down a momument

From there, we walked to Potsdamer Platz, where there were a few sections of Die Berliner Mauer (the Berlin Wall) on display. And that was it for our Berlin trip -- we walked back to the hotel, picked up our luggage, went to the train station, and waited for our train back to Wiesbaden.