The wall has been gone for over 20 years, but in many ways Berlin remains a divided city. On the one side you have the former Eastern districts of Mitte, Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, Pankow, Weissensee, etc. and on the other you have the former Western districts of Charlottenburg, Wilmersdorf, Zehlendorf, Grunewald, etc. Officially Kreuzberg, Wedding and Neukölln belonged to West Berlin, but in spirit they are much closer to the East.
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| The TV Tower dominating the East Berlin skyline |
In my experience East Berliners who were born in the GDR tend to stay in the East and West Berliners who grew up in the part of Berlin that belonged to West Germany tend to stay in the West, even now after all these years. I have met very few original Berliners that have made the unconventional move from East to West or West to East. Last weekend a friend of a friend who is originally from West Berlin and obviously lives in West Berlin told me she hadn’t been to Kollwitzplatz (one of Prenzlauer Berg’s landmarks) for 15 years! And the only reason for this trip (or should I say voyage?) was to visit my friend, an Argentinian, who like most “foreigners” lives in this part of Berlin.
The truth is I know very few people who live in West Berlin. The majority of my friends or acquaintances either live in the former East or in the “cool” Westerns districts of Kreuzberg and Neukölln. I haven’t seen any statistics, but it is apparent that the vast majority of those who move to Berlin (the Zugezogene or newcomers), both West Germans (Wessies) and expats alike, tend to move to one of the following districts: Mitte, Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg or Neukölln. Schöneberg is also fairly popular, but apart from the one time I went to the Haus der Berliner Festpsiele and to someone’s party (a West Berliner of course) I have no idea what Schöneberg is like.
In fact, I have to admit that after two and a half years of living in Berlin I still have very little knowledge of West Berlin. On my map, Berlin stops somewhere around Potsdamer Platz. I still get a buzz every time I cross the Brandenburg Gate, thinking about what an extraordinary and unthinkable step that would have been two decades ago, but I quickly turn back to face the TV Tower – the symbol of East Berlin. Once my husband and I were on a plane to Cape Town and the West Berliner sitting next to us couldn’t believe that we’d never been to Savignyplatz! He seemed concerned that we should get to know that charming part of Berlin and he would act as a tour guide for us. Alas we never took up the offer! It’s not that I haven’t tried to get to know West Berlin, but every time I feel that I don’t belong there. It’s only when I am in East Berlin that I feel at home. It’s much more than a geographical divide; it’s an ideological abyss! Perhaps I am exaggerating a little, but there is no denying that the differences between East and West are still very alive today. Although the physical wall has been knocked down, there is still a cultural barrier in the head of most Berliners and it will take many more years for this wall to fall.
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| Fireworks at the Brandenburg Gate marking the 20th anniversary celebrations of the fall of the Berlin wall |
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