Week 4 in Berlin, Germany!

Hallo!

I've just come to the end of my fourth week in Berlin which feels very bittersweet; this week was the most fun I've had so far but is also one of my last here!

One of the highlights of my week was visiting the Berlin Wall Memorial. Something we learned about during our tour is that it was never really the Berlin “wall” but the Berlin “walls.” What we commonly think of as the Berlin Wall was the wall facing West Germany, with there being another internal wall on the East Berlin side. The 50-500ft between these walls was monikered the “death strip” — an area where East German soldiers were instructed to shoot everyone that tried to escape. One of these “death strips” is preserved at the Berlin Wall memorial. The photo I’ve included is from the east side wall, with a watchtower that East German soldiers would have used to shoot deserters preserved. 

Friday was our free day and so I took the opportunity to go to a museum on my own. But first I had to get coffee, of course, and so I visited a new cafe. This cafe is a converted gas station that also now functions as an art gallery. I enjoyed a latte and chocolate croissant while reading my book.

Afterward, I went to the Berlinische Galerie, an art museum focusing on works from Berlin-based artists. The main exhibit on display was the works of Marta Ashfalck-Vietz. She started her career as a photographer during the Weimar Republic, taking advantage of the era’s liberalizing attitudes by taking nude and experimental photographs. Unfortunately, after the Nazis rose to power she stopped her photographic work out of fears that she would be targeted for it. She then focused on painting watercolors of plants which was a more acceptable form of artwork. Despite this, she showed her resistance to the Nazi regime by letting resistance groups use her dark room for propaganda material and giving tuition money to Jewish children banned from attending public schools. Ashfalck-Vietz didn’t return to photography after the war as many of the materials she needed were unavailable in the abysmal post-war economy. I love this exhibit as I both had the opportunity to see beautiful art and learn interesting history. 

This was another great week in Berlin and I’m thankful to be here!