Travel
Berlin, city of change
DIETER BUSE
Winter 2009 |
In Berlin this spring, Russian, Polish and English were heard almost as often as German, especially in areas such as the Brandenburg Gate. My wife and I found the German capital to be a very relaxed city.
On the large square leading to the monument-bedecked Unter den Linden in the historic centre were buskers of all kinds. Some offered "authentic" East German and Soviet passport stamps; others provided mime and song. A few Romanian gypsies pestered tourists for cash. Further east, at Alexanderplatz, a lithe woman of African origins danced and sang in German while her partner played drums and their child sat in his stroller looking bored.
This is a year of celebration in Germany. In May, the country celebrated the passing into law of a democratic, federal constitution that since 1949 has served it well. The main event is yet to come. The Berlin Wall was dismantled 20 years ago on Nov. 9, 1989.
Over the last 40 years, my wife and I have lived a total of one full year in Berlin: from July to December 1968; June 1973, January through April 2005; and mostly recently May 2009. What struck us is not the diverse weather but the changing political climate.
In 1968 West Berlin had many decrepit areas, including boarded-up apartment blocks in Charlottenburg where we lived. It had been a ritzy area in Imperial times and is now upscale again.
Of course in 1968, East Berlin had more areas showing the bombing of the Second World War. Both cities were then seeking to solve a housing shortage by building many concrete-silo sub-cities that are now being renovated or eradicated.
Politically 1968 in West Berlin was marked by student protests about the lack of participatory democracy and the sale of armaments to dictators such as the Shah of Iran. After a policeman killed a student, the protests turned to riots and occupations.
In 1968 one could be berated by elderly West Berliners for having a beard or washing a car on Sunday. Today tolerance is the norm, symbolized by a gay mayor and mixed racial, ethnic, and religious neighbourhoods. Turks remain the largest minority (five percent) but thousands of Russians, Poles and Jews call Berlin "home."
In 1973 I worked in the East German archives in Potsdam and came to know a local doctor. Because of the Wall, we always had to visit him. However, during the last years of the Wall’s existence, travel restrictions were eased. He came to Canada for his sister’s 50th birthday in 1988 and visited Sudbury.
As a nose-ear-throat specialist, he was interested in our medical system, so we toured Laurentian Hospital. He found much of the equipment similar, but was surprised at the signs indicating something had been donated by Rotary or Lions. The idea of service clubs, as opposed to the state, providing equipment was foreign to him.
Today, hospitals in reunited Berlin welcome donations from anyone.
And the superb cultural organizations are slowly being weaned off state subsidies. Three operas are reduced to two, theatres are down from some 50 to 30, and orchestras are being amalgamated. However, the musical offerings remain at the highest level, and with more than a hundred superb galleries and museums—major ones on the Museum Island, a world heritage site—Berlin is the cultural capital of central Europe. Neighbouring Potsdam’s series of palaces—another world heritage site—augments the huge artistic and architectural jems.
When the Wall opened in November 1989, the doctor continued to live in East Berlin and work at its famous hospital, the Charité. However, he and his family welcomed the opportunity to travel to Italy, France, and Turkey. Previously they had to go east to Czechoslovakia or Mongolia. One son married an English woman and lives in England where the daughter, who is now in Hamburg, also worked for a while. All those possibilities did not exist before 1989.
To illustrate further, in May our doctor friend invited us to meet a former manager of a large state factory who had travelled the world selling specialized instruments for the East German state. His new house on the edge of East Berlin is a mini mansion, full of the most modern furnishings and technology surrounded by a fine garden. When the Wall came down, so did the markets in eastern countries, and he created a private company employing highly skilled workers from his former firm. He was evidently successful in the post-Wall world.
However, he was among the lucky, since in many parts of eastern Germany the transition has been slow and painful. Unemployment stands at between 12 and 20 percent, the movement of young people to the west continues and the recession has reduced subsidies to rebuild infrastructure.
Shifting from the personal and economic to the political, the eastern part of Germany and Berlin remain different. The leftist parties retain a strong base though few want the return of communism. While some nostalgia remains for a less stressful lifestyle and appreciation for the kindergartens and medical systems of the pre-1989 era, no one misses the extensive state control and surveillance.
What marks the new Germany, and why it is justified to celebrate its constitution and the fall of the Berlin Wall, is the country is now a relaxed and civil society. The Prussian military values are gone. The authoritarian approach to the family disappeared in the 1960s and partnership is the norm. Most young Germans from east and west have cosmopolitan outlooks and travel the world learning many languages. A few support the radical right, but far less than in France; the Berlin anarchists rioting on May Day seemed mild relative to British soccer matches.
Noticeable is the civility of people in their daily existence. My wife kept repeating how relaxed Berlin seemed, how easy it is to travel around by integrated public transit, and how extensive the cultural offerings.
On the subway we observed a skinhead with tattoos, his girlfriend with dozens of rings and piercings plus purple hair. What were they doing in their big boots and black outfits accompanied by their bulldog with a spiked collar? Taking a bouquet of flowers to where they were invited for Sunday lunch.
My visiting brothers were impressed by the architecture of a rebuilt capital. That includes Europe’s most modern train station with express and local trains arriving and departing on seven levels.
As an historian, I was impressed by the monuments and sites of remembrance to all the problematic—for instance to the murdered Jews of Europe—as well as positive aspects of the German past.
Germans have come to terms with their past and, by doing so, are building a more civil future. This could serve as a model for many places in crisis, including the Middle East.
Germans have forgone visions of expanding their land and dominating their neighbours. Though a partner in NATO and participating in the Afghanistan war, its military has been guided by the ‘citizen in arms’ concept, which also allows conscientious objection.
Its socially progressive economy, despite all dire predictions by freer-market advocates, performs better than most.
Its parliamentary system, despite a few scandals not unlike those involving Canada’s former prime ministers, functions well with coalition governments and proportional representation. 'Its welfare, education and health-care systems are under stress, but less so than elsewhere in western countries. The normality and civility of Germany is its most striking feature.
Dieter K. Buse is professor emeritus at Laurentian University.
