Jim’s Berlin

With the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on the 9th November, we have put together a new DIY Tour that you can do on foot, or better, by bike…

Few things symbolised the Cold War more than the literal building of Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” – the Berlin Wall – overnight in August 1961. The borders between the eastern and western spheres of influence had long been closed, except for one loop-hole in the city of Berlin. The city had been split four ways through occupation back in 1945, with the three western

Allies (Britain, France and the United States) in charge of what would become known as West Berlin, whilst the centre and the east of the city was in the Soviet zone of occupation and would become the capital of the socialist German Democratic Republic.

In the years leading up to 1961 hundreds of thousands used Berlin’s unusual status as a way of fleeing to the west, until the East German regime closed the border in 1961 through the erection of what they called an “Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier”. The wall divided the city, neighbourhoods, communities and families, and would stand until November 1989. What we think of when we think of the wall, and parts of which can still be seen in Berlin, was the fourth generation structure known as “Grenzmauer 75”. But the wall was much more than just slabs of concrete, as the border was secured through anti-vehicle obstacles, trip wires, watchtowers, dog runs and kill zones.

Our intrepid explorer of Berlin – Jim – has not only ridden the entire Berlin Wall Trail, but he has put together this DIY Tour of the central stretch of the wall, that ran through the heart of the city, with some of the different things you can see along the way.

Download the Circus DIY Tour: Riding the Berlin Wall

The Ministry for State Security in communist East Germany was charged, in the main, with controlling and spying in the population, acting in its role as the “sword and shield of the party.” The Ministry was better known as the “Stasi”, and it is estimated that up to a quarter of a million citizens of the GDR worked as unofficial informants, which made it one of the most pervasive spying operations by any state against its own people in history.

Of course, being an organization charged with spying and other secret service operations, you could not find its headquarters on any map, but most East Berliners knew exactly what the large, anonymous complex in the neighbourhood of Lichterberg was and who worked there. The man whose name is most synonymous with the Stasi is that of its former head, Erich Mielke, whose office has been preserved as part of the Stasi

museum that was founded on the site by civil rights activists in 1990.

Tomorrow morning, we will be running one of our weekly free tours for Circus guests to the Stasi Museum in Lichtenberg. The tour will give you a sense of the nature and the work of the Stasi, which had its eyes and ears in all elements of everyday life, and is a fascinating look back into life during the days of East Germany.

The tour is open to all guests, but places are limited so you will need to sign up on reception. It is also important to note that although it is free, you will need public transport tickets to get there and back.

Date: Tuesday 9^th October 2012-
Time: 9am (tour ends at 12 noon)