Nearly twenty years after a shore excursion to Berlin with the Regent Seven Seas cruise of the Baltic Sea, our high-spirited guide’s comments resonate again, as if the past is repeating itself only as a different story.
Memories as Facts
The agricultural land along the 180 kilometers (112 miles) from the German port town of Warnemünde to Berlin unfolded monotonously until we met Burkhardt. Our guide had immediately set the tone on the drive along Unter den Linden—Berlin’s historic grand boulevard.
“There was nothing democratic about the ill-fated German Democratic Republic,” he said, meaning East Germany. Many years ago, I had heard this from students in the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as West Germany.
“The Jewish Memorial stands almost above Hitler’s former bunker.” Burkhardt’s karmic insinuation wasn’t missed as we passed by the Holocaust Memorial, a field of 2711 concrete blocks, among which visitors meander and reflect. “Jewish people represented only 0.77% of the German population, but millions were killed in Poland.” We all seemed to carry the unwarranted guilt of this genocidal fact as we got off our charter bus.
Our tour continued with a boat ride on the Spree River, and so did Burkhardt’s thought-provoking comments, as if he had made it his life mission to remind everyone of what happened. “Marshall Brücke was letting boats through during the war, but had fences below the water.” Burkhardt could only veer from that cryptic statement with sarcasm: “Berlin has more bridges than Venice, but the ugliest bridge in Venice is nicer than the nicest bridge in Berlin.” His humor briefly lightened the mood until he pointed to signs along the canal, warning of the danger of mines and forbidding the throwing of anchors. Even Angela Merkel had to evacuate her apartment; construction work still uncovers bombs today.
Burkhardt then became more personal. As a young boy, he visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, nicknamed ‘the church with 15 bathtubs.’ After Berlin’s oldest church was heavily damaged, it collected rainwater from its roof, while also serving as a multi-faith sanctuary for protesters. Nearby, the Palace of Tears Museum is a reminder that for the then-separated families like Burkhardt’s, the single-day visa to visit loved ones in East Berlin could only end with tears.
The Berlin Wall in Brief
Our guide then moves on with a to-the-point factual history lesson. After WWII, Germany was split into four zones: American, British, French, and Soviet. Then Berlin was again split in two, the Soviets controlling East Berlin and the Allies controlling West Berlin. When East Germans began to flee to the West, the Soviet East German government sealed the border overnight in 1961, first with a barbed wire fence, then with a fortified concrete wall, electrified fences, and guard towers.
Burkardt became animated again with the tug of war that ensued, Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev closing off Berlin with 11 checkpoints and President Kennedy ordering tanks to Checkpoint Charlie. The Russian conceded after a 14-day standoff, and Checkpoint Charlie allowed free passage from East to West to foreigners. Germans who attempted to cross over were killed; he would later point to the white crosses in the city, serving as their memorials. In 1989, protesters breached the wall, and its demolition was completed in 1994.
We kept pace with Burkhardt until he pointed to plaques on the street, marking the length of the defunct wall, which led us to the East Side Gallery, the 1.3-kilometer (0,8 mi.) remaining section of the wall, where artists had freely expressed themselves. Our walk ended at the Brandenburg Gate, a part of the Wall until new buildings were constructed after reunification.
Berlin’s Past and Present
At the time of our tour, in 2010, Berlin was in a baffling economic situation. According to Burkhardt, millions of square feet of office space stood empty, and so did the 21 five-star hotels—more than in Paris or New York. The end of the Cold War had generated an über enthusiasm for development that even freedom didn’t buy.
Our spirited guide then left us with an anecdote. For a time after the reunification, Eastern Germans so resented any reminder of the Führer that the term Stadtführer (city guide) was changed to Stadtbild Erklärer (city map explainer). Since then, semantics has returned to its original purpose.
As for the remnant of the Berlin Wall, it struggles to remain the symbol of nations being better off as allies than adversaries.
Note: In 2025, Berlin visitors occupied approximately 66 percent of hotel capacity, thanks to its cost-effective policy that attracts fairs and conventions, and a thriving music, film, fashion, and design industry.
Street markers of the Berlin Wall (MCArnott)
Berlin Holocaust Memorial (MCArnott)
