Wall Documentation Center
Trip Start
Nov 07, 2009
1
9
14
Trip End
Nov 10, 2009
Gesundbrunnen, Berlin, Germany
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Documentation Center is on the Bernerstrasse where the wall ran along the front facade of buildings. On August 13, 1961, when the border was sealed, this was where people were jumping out of windows into police nets to prevent being stuck in East Berlin. Within days the buildings residents had been forcibly moved and the buildings sealed up. Not long afterwards the buildings were torn down.
The wall memorial consists of a preserved section of wall, complete with the inner wall on the GDR side and no-mans land between. Each end has been sealed with metal walls that acts as the memorial. I lit a candle and placed it in the sand at the base.
At the museum, I climbed up the tower that lets you see into the no-mans land area. The rest of the museum was quite good, including a very informative movie (in English and German) that described the multi-level fortifications.
When the wall went up, one of the buildings trapped inside no-mans land was, ironically, the Church of Reconciliation. In 1985 this building was torn down because it obstructed the guards' view. Now, a very unusual memorial chapel has been built on the site, consisting of a concrete oval room surrounded by another oval made of wooden slats. The original bells stand nearby.
