(Berlin) Berlin Wall Memorial ★★★★

Bernauer Str. 111, 13355 Berlin, Germany

 

Recommended if you are interested in dark tourism. Learned a lot of facts that I didn't know about the Wall.

2023-05-16 TUE

Berlin is a beautiful city but, there is no single must-go place such as Eiffel tower in Paris. So I decided to visit places in the order of distance from our hotel. In that respect, our first destination was the Berlin Wall Memorial that is only a few minutes walk. 

Walls are full graffiti. I can feel that Berlin is a city of freedom.

Interesting wall paintings.

At first, we were not sure what we're looking at, but this is it. The poles represent where the walls existed before. 

Even the regular houses nearby were supportive to the memorial. 

The history is well explained, so you can learn a lot while walking. 

The site is huge, so you'd better decided where to begin in advance. 

In the wall. 

The cross that fell from the old church that was torn down during the construction of the wall. 

Everything was written in English, but sometimes I had to use the Google translation. 

"Before the Wall was built, the residents of the border houses, which were situated directly behind the border, enjoyed a certain freedom: They had immediate and uncontrolled access to the West. When the border was closed on August 13, 1961, the residents lost this privilege. The Wall also separated friends and families living on Bernauer Strasse. Residents on the east side were faced with the decision of whether to go or to stay. Many decided to flee."

"Wedding at the Wall: The bride's parents lived in one of the border houses and were not able to attend the marriage ceremony in the West. Because of the Wall, the bridal couple could only visit the parents briefly (September 1961)."

Bricking up the window of a border house. 

The Finder family jumping from Bernauer Strasse 7 on September 22, 1961.

I took only a few photos but there were many other surprising facts that I've never known about the Wall. 

One of the most famous photo of a soldier jumping over barb wire to run away from the East.

A cat joined for a while. 

So fluffy! 

I wondered how the building structure can hold those balconies.

Still some houses refused to be part of the memorial. 

After a long walk, we had a coffee break. 

I didn't drink coffee at all about 10 years ago, but somehow I began enjoying even espresso, especially when I've already had americano or caffe latte on the same day. 

Leaving the coffee house. 

Seoul garden! Korean bbq?

Checking out vintage clothes. The weather was colder than expected, so we needed extra outer, but it was not easy to shop because clothes are very expensive here. 

Well said.

back to Berlin (2023)