D14 – BERLIN: ONE LAST LOOK

We realize you cannot do a world capital justice in just three days but we gave it our best in Berlin. Time to move on, but on our way out, we took the time for one last look.

Another outstanding reminder of the terribleness of World War II is prominent in a revitalized Berlin. The remains of the Kaiser Wilhelm Church stand as a monument to the futility of that war or any war. Karin Berning, our girl in Berlin, says the tower wrapped in scaffolding belongs to another church and is under renovation.  Both are located on the Kurfurstendamm, the street ordained by the Axis powers to be an extravagant display of Western commercialism, progress and beauty.

And so it remains today even as the Unter den Linden struggles to rebuild itself as a retail showcase of the new Berlin.

Another relic with a once stellar past is the now defunct Tempelhof Airport in an area of Berlin that grew to, and ultimately swallowed, a monument of the earliest days of aviation…1923 to be exact.  Tempelhof came to my attention early in my youth when it served as the home base for the Berlin Airlift.

From April 1948 to May 1949 Russia closed all supply rates, either by truck or rail, to Berlin. The reason was pretty simple. They wanted to remove the other Allied powers who were occupying Berlin and the easiest way was to starve them out….or so they thought. The Allies responded with an airlift, that at its best, brought in more supplies than was ever carried before. The Russians finally accepted the futility of their efforts and re-opened all ground access to the city. The airport labored on until 2008. when it was decommissioned.

While the city fathers debated on what to do with this suddenly vacant chunk of real estate, the populace made their wishes known by streaming in to use the open space for recreation purposes such as picnics and soccer games. But Tempelhof is still in the flying business, just not the jet type. On our visit, the sky was full of kites of all sizes and the crowds it drew could not be discounted.

But her day on the world scene may happen again…sooner than later. The recent influx of Syrians refugees is streaming into the country. The buildings are empty and there is plenty of vacant land so why not house them there? So, once again, Tempelhof Airport may become the home base of people who have suffered oppression and brutality of their own land and are looking for a safe place to land. Just goes to show, you can’t keep a good girl down.

We’re off to Dresden. Auf wiedersehn Berlin.

Louise and Ray, on the road again.