Berlin

Although we took a trip to Berlin rather early during our stay in Germany, it offered us sights and sounds that are indispensable to our explorations of Germany's past and present. Berlin is a metropolitan world capital: consumer- and technology-oriented, western and European, with all of the accompanying modern social problems. Beneath the glittering surface that one encounters as one exits the train are depths that one can scarcely begin to unravel in a first visit. A few highlights of the city's multi-layered and complex history :

• Berlin's salons were focal points of literary and cultural activity in the 19th century.
• Berlin was the capital of united Germany after 1871.
• Berlin was at the cultural and political heart of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933).
• Berlin was the capital of Nazi Germany, and was 75% destroyed by Allied bombing.
• Berlin was the most poignant and brutal example of post-WWII and Cold War politics.
• Berlin was the symbol for the world of the end of the Cold War as its wall "fell" in 1989.
• Berlin is now the capital of a (re)united Germany looking toward the 21st century.

We left Jena at 8:00am on the morning of Sunday, May 6, for the 4 hour trip to Berlin on the InterRegio regional train. Everyone was still a bit sleepy but excited nonetheless and generally well-stocked with munchies from well-meaning host mothers. Our guide from jenakolleg had reserved two train compartments for the group that were quite comfortable and gemŸtlich.

After we arrived at the youth hostel in the Kluckstrasse and had arranged our rooms, we left on the famous Linie 100 on the way to the Museumsinsel ("museum island"), which houses 5 of Berlin's most renowned museum collections. We spent 2 hours in the Pergamon museum; one of its most impressive exhibits is the cobalt blue Ishtar Gate from ancient Babylon. Though it seems a bit odd to come to Berlin to see ancient Middle Eastern and Islamic art, the Pergamon museum represents 19th century German contributions to archaeological and cultural research.

We hiked to the Sony center at Potsdamer Platz, which has been entirely rebuilt since 1989--this area was part of the "no-man's-land" on the east German side of the wall. It is difficult to imagine all the changes that have gone on in Berlin and that continue; Germans affectionately call it die grš§te Baustelle der Welt the biggest construction zone in the world.

In the evening we took the bus to the Reichstag, now (once more) the home of the German parliament (Bundestag). A thrill for the leaders, Cold War kids whose last visit to Berlin was in 1988, was the chance to go through the Brandenburg Gate (at right). The Reichstag, which was finally renovated and restored to its pre-WWII state two years ago, offered a spectacular view of Berlin in the evening. The group considered singing at the top of of the dome, after we had climbed up, but we are still looking for the best place to sing 606.

Monday, May 7, started with breakfast in the hostel. After viewing the Kaiser-Wilhelm-GedŠchtniskirche, (right) perhaps the most famous memorial to the effects of war, we took a bus tour of the city. The bus tour was fascinating but cold (we are still waiting for spring weather here in eastern Germany!)-students were impressed with the size of the city (which has 3.5 million inhabitants and covers an area of 889 square kilometers) and with all of the history it contains. Monday afternoon we went to the museum at the former Checkpoint Charlie, where there are exhibits dealing with the history of the Berlin Wall and with other areas of the world in which human rights have been compromised.

In the evening, we were invited by William Yoder, to speak with him at his church in Schšneberg. Mr. Yoder (father of a current GC student) has worked for almost 30 years as a journalist and editor for church organizations in Berlin and eastern Europe. We were privileged to hear his stories of life and work in east and west Germany, before and after 1989, and we talked about the present state of the church in Germany today. Such stories of individual experience enable us to understand the history more personally and more clearly. We will all be on the look-out for such tales this summer, since the ability to listen to stories in the language of the speaker is a tremendous gift to the speaker and to the listener, true service in the best sense of SST. An added benefit: The organist in our group also received an invitation to return to Mr. Yoder's church some weekend to play for Sunday services, since there is no organist in the congregation at present!

Tuesday morning (May 8) we were treated to beautiful weather for our short boat ride on the Spree, the river that runs through Berlin. It has been featured in German literature and poetry, and it was also the site of many escape attempts during the GDR. The demand for new construction in Berlin has forced the city to change the course of the river; no one knows what the total cost or the environmental consequences might be.

We took the boat from the Haus der Kulturen to the Museumsinsel again, where we attended the noon service in the Berliner Dom (Berlin cathedral), a monument of Hohenzollern (Prussian) architecture in the Baroque style. This imposing cathedral also houses an equally imposing organ (made by Sauer from Frankfurt on the Oder) that literally filled the church with its sound, and scared a certain 3-year-old with its volume! Various groups broke off to explore the cafŽs of the KurfŸrstendamm (famous as the main shopping center of western Berlin and as the first stop for many east Berliners on the night of 9 Novermber 1989) for lunch after the service. Some even visited the 150 year old zoo (Berlin Zoologischer Garten), which was a thrill for all "kids" in our group.

After three days in a big city and a "new" world capital, most of us were happy to return to the valley of the Saale river and the green hills of Jena on Tuesday evening (even though we left the sun in Berlin). We will be processing our impressions of Berlin in our upcoming meetings at the Goshen-Haus, indeed during the entire time we remain in Germany.

Upcoming activities include: Lectures on the history of divided Germany, on the Romantic philosophers and poets in Jena and Weimar, a hike to Cospeda and the traces of Napoleon in the area around Jena, village studies on 18-19 May, and celebration of April/May birthdays in Germany (including Elizabeth and Megan, as well as young Matthew and Ryan).