Kreuzberg is hard to typecast; to some it is the former Prenzlauerberg which in the 1980s attracted the young, the artistic and the unconventional. To others it is now the Turkish quarter, reflected in many streets where hardly a German shop sign is to be seen. Yet this ignores Yorkstrasse with some of the most expensive houses in all Berlin. The sights are mainly ones for contemplation and sadness – detailing Nazi crimes at the Topographie des Terrors museum and seeing the results of allied bombing in the shell of Anhalter railway station, and the desperate attempts to leave East Germany portrayed at the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie. Others, such as the Jüdisches Museum, now offer hope. Only the Deutsches Technikmuseum offers an escape from politics. SightsHaus am Checkpoint Charlie Friedrichstr. 43-45, http://www.mauer-museum.com Daily 0900-2200. E7. U-Bahn Koch Str. It used to be sad that a crucial part of Berlin's history was dealt with in such an amateur manner, in cramped noisy surroundings with peeling paint, but a rigidly stable ideology. Now this does not matter as the Story of Berlin covers most of what is here with verve, technology and a sense of interior design. Crowds still come to relive the Cold War and West Berlin as "an island of freedom". Artefacts linked with the great escapes are displayed here; these include cars with false bottoms, hot air balloons, bogus military uniforms and passports from non-existent countries. Outside the museum, one watchtower remains on the Eastern side and an American warning sign has been left "in the West". America has, however, deliberately crossed the border; where thorough East German border checks used to take place is now the Checkpoint Charlie Business Center, an American–German joint venture. The Café Adler remains too. John le Carré worked out his plots at this café and on 9 November 1989 it provided the first taste of the West for East Berliners streaming across. Jüdisches Museum (Jewish Museum) Lindenstr. 9-14, http://www.jmberlin.de Mon 1000-2200, Tue-Sun 1000-2000. E5. U-Bahn Hallesches Tor. The architect Daniel Libeskind was first invited to Berlin in summer 1989 to design the museum. His family had lost 85 members in the Holocaust and his parents met as exiles in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The main aim of the collection is to show 2,000 years of German- Jewish history, as well as the 12 years of Nazi persecution. It is a history that continued from 1945, and prior to 1933 was able to integrate into all aspects of German society. The layout is based on a broken, but not destroyed, Star of David. Those able to escape during the 1930s took, as well as the personal mementoes show here, knowledge and attachment to an earlier Germany which would in due course return. In most cases the few photos and letters shown here would be their only link with their former families. The building without the exhibits opened in 1999 and attracted half a million visitors in a year. One area, a closed dark triangle has been left as a void to symbolize the destruction caused by the Holocaust. Others are deliberately crowded to show what could be packed into an émigré's suitcase and equally, the vibrancy of 19th-century Jewish society, and that which is now being re-established. Topographie des Terrors (Outline of Terror) Niederkirchnerstr., http://www.topographie.de Daily 1000-1800. Free. S-Bahn Anhalter Bahnhof. It would never be easy to decide what to do with the remains of the buildings along the former Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse where Nazi extermination policies were planned and implemented. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, had his offices here and the buildings were also used to imprison, torture and execute opponents of the regime. The buildings were largely in what would become East Berlin, but as Niederkirchnerstrasse, the new name of the street, became the border, that area was cleared in 1961 to make way for the Wall and its backup. There was little interest in the West in studying the Nazi period at that time so although it was known that cells from the prison stretched into what became West Berlin, they were not excavated until the 1980s. The temporary exhibition set up then has now become rather permanent. It is all in the open air with placards outside the cells explaining the history of the SS. The planned building for covering this site is one of the many casualties of Berlin's ongoing financial crisis. There is a forlorn hope that it might be open on 8 May 2005, the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. This is also the best place to view the former Wall, as a long stretch has been preserved here, and was protected as a cultural monument before too many souvenir hunters had chipped away mementoes. A few other remnants remain, but the overall planning policy has been to eliminate as far as possible all evidence of this former division. The only concession to history is a line of bricks built into the roads in this area that follows the exact line of the former Wall. It can be seen in front of the Brandenburg Gate, across the Potsdamer Platz and on Friedrichstrasse at the former Checkpoint Charlie. Neue Gesellschaft Für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) (New Society for Visual Art) Oranienstr. 25, T 615 30 31, http://www.ngbk.de Daily 1200-1830. U-Bahn Kottbusser Tor. Situated on the colourful Oranienstrasse, NGBK has exhibited a great range of contemporary art, from the photographers Wolfgang Tillmans and Hannah Villiger, to exhibitions exploring identity and security in the modern age. East Side Gallery Running along Mühlenstr. to Warschauerstr., http://www.eastsidegallery.com U-Bahn Warschauer Str., U-Bahn Schlesisches Tor. Possibly the most historical gallery site in the whole of Germany. It is one of the last remaining areas where the Wall still stands and is situated to the east of Kreuzberg on the border with Friedrichshain. The Wall was given to artists around the world to paint a series of murals, varying from the hope of peace to the famous Trabant car, and Erich Honecker (the leader of the East German Communist Party) kissing Leonid Brezhnev (the general secretary of the USSR). Museum der verbotenen Kunst – Grenzwachtum (Museum of Forbidden Art – Border Watchtower) Puschkinallee Guard Post, T 532 00 09. Daily 1200-1800. Free. U-Bahn Schlesisches Tor. The Puschkinallee Guard Post is the nearest experience to reliving East Germany that a modern visitor can get. Clamber up the tower and look west at what was for 28 years the forbidden fruit. Picture yourself standing there for eight hours a day, or perhaps a night, with two other equally bored colleagues, trying to concentrate on the emptiness below. National service normally required a year of this border duty, which involved total inactivity in most cases, but which was occasionally interspersed with the need to shoot at those attempting to escape. All the furnishings in the tower have been left intact, and on the lower floors, changing exhibitions are shown of artists whose work could not pass the censor in East German times. Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Science Museum) Trebbinerstr. 9, http://www.dtmb.de Tue-Fri 0900-1730, Sat-Sun 1000-1800. E3. U-Bahn Möckernbrücke. This is appropriately housed in the former goods-yard of Anhalter Station, one of Berlin’s largest before the war. Transport still forms the basis of the collection, going back to the pre-science of the stagecoach and forward to space travel. Public and luxury private travel sit side by side and both sides of the war are represented with the aircraft on show. The Spectrum Centre is the draw for all children; the sounds and the ever-changing colours bring many aspects of science to life, and touching all the exhibits is actively encouraged. A new aviation gallery will open in summer 2003. Schwules Museum (Museum of Homosexuality) Mehringdamm 61, T 69 31 172, http://www.schwulesmuseum.de Wed-Mon 1400-1800. E4. U-Bahn Mehringdamm. It is appropriate that Berlin, where homosexuals suffered as much as Jews under the Nazi regime, has a proper environment to show gay history as well as the current gay scene. For younger people the museum will be a salutary reminder of how recently homosexuality was banned and ridiculed. It is perhaps significant that the museum has never received official funding and only in 2002 was it able to allocate some space for a permanent collection. It is still, however, better known for its temporary exhibitions of art by the gay community. Some of these are linked with their lifestyles, and some not.
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