Berlin + gig

Berlin is not only the capital of Germany. It is now the central city of European culture. Central because of its location and collection of art masterpieces and popularity as a concert spot. I went there to see the concert of my beloved band “Modest Mouse”. Here are some photos from the city.

East Berlin

For the start some pictures from the spots associated with a grim history of normal Germany vs. DDR (German Democratic Republic) (!). They called it “democratic” though they built the wall to stop people escaping from that “democracy”. Well…

Checkpoint Charlie the border crossing between two Berlins

Today the remainings of the wall is a symbol of two meanings. First, it is a symbol of imprisonment of the whole nation and symbol of the death of many people who died trying to escape from the “heaven”. Second, it is a symbol of overcoming the evil, the oppression , the tyranny.

After a walk good , solid food. In a traditional, old restaurant.

Menu in form of an old newspaper with picture of the restaurant from the “old good times”.

Curry wurst is really … attractive. Especially with beer.

German Democratic Republic existed from creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolutionon 3 October 1990. It had nothing in common with democracy as satalite state of the Soviet Union it was ruled by the communist representatives of Soviet government. Nothing could be done in the country without aknowledgement by the Soviet bosses. The regime in GDR was as cruel as in any other country from the communist block.

Stazi

Special political police persecuted anyone who wanted to change anything. People were either imprisoned or liquidated in mystery. And the border guards shot those who tried to escape over the wall . Still… many of them succeeded. After all, it is the only optimistic element of this story. Today the remainings of the times constitute a certain attraction. Well… maybe it causes that people get interested in the old, morbid times. Hopefully they never return. Well… probably.