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Bargain Travel Europe guide to Europe on a budget for unusual destinations,
holiday travel tips and secret spots missed by travel tours.


Student Flight Discounts to Berlin


BUILDING THE BERLIN WALL - 50th ANNIVERSARY
Berlin “Celebrated" Events in 2011

Berlin Wall Section Student photoWhen one hears the word Berlin almost immediately follows in the mind the word “wall”. Very little is left of the original Berlin Wall that once divided Germany’s capital city into city into East and West. The infamous border divider began being constructed on August 13 of 1961. First as a barbed wire fence, then an increasingly complex system of metal and concrete walls with watch towers and a death strip no-mans land, upgrades over the nineteen-sixties. And when it “fell” in 1989, there was a rush to remove all traces of this symbol of German division (see Fall of the Berlin Wall) and the Cold War in an effort to reunite the country. Construction cranes soon filled the skyline, building a revitalized city where it was once divided.

Berlin Wall Mauer Monument photoNow a new generation is showing a renewed interest in the monument to this unique period of 28 years of German history which split families and neighbors. Memorials, museums, sights, and special tours are now available for visitors to Berlin, and for 2011 a selection of special commemorative events to mark the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall, will put a special emphasis on its inhumanity, and the disruption, fates and hopes of the people on both sides of the 99.4 mile (160 kilmometer) barrier.

German Historical Museum - Pei Building
May 12 to October 3

The German Historical Museum is dedicating an extensive photo exhibit to the Iron Curtain and the East West conflict, featuring works by artists Thomas Hoepker and Daniel Biskup; two photographers documenting the political upheaval in the GDR and its broader consequences. Hoepker worked as a GDR correspondent in the 1970s and Biskup travelled through the Soviet Union, as it was breaking up. www.dhm.de.

Allied Museum - Berlin
From the 1958 Soviet threat to force the Western powers out of Berlin, to the tank stand-off at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961, to the Cuba Crisis in 1962, the international history of the building of the Wall forms the central narrative thread of the exhibition at the new Allied Museum representing the western powers where aspects of everyday life of Berliners as well as Allied soldiers are told. Frozen moments of the past with personal souvenirs will help visitors grasp the individual experiences of the Cold War. Allied Museum

Wall Trail Images Art Installation
June 15 to August 27

Life-sized black & white photographs will be located at 13 places where the wall once stood, the the Trail of the Wall, with each showing a view from 1961 of that particular location towards the sector across the wall. The images document life situations for that year. The project’s opening date, June 15, coincides with East German Party Chief Ulbricht’s infamous remark of exactly 50 years before, stating that “no one has the intention to build a Wall“.

The Wall at the Berlin O2 Arena
June 15 & 16, 2011


On July 21, 1990, Pink Floyd performed The Wall live in Berlin to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall eight months earlier. On June 15 & 16, 2011, Roger Waters will bring The Wall back to Berlin’s O2 arena, and perform the 1979 album in full as part a 28-date tour. The concert will feature a new visual interpretation of the world famous album and intends a more political point-of-view than the original band’s tour.

Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse
August 13

On the actual day of the 50th Anniversary, an official commemorative ceremony of the commencement of construction of the Wall will be presented on August 13, 2011, with the official address by Federal President Christian Wulff, beginning at 10 am at the Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse. The event will include a prayer, wreath ceremony, opening of the memorial’s new outdoor exhibition dedicated to the victims of the wall, as well as the speaker program, the "mile of contemporary history" informative walk, and open-air cinema.

“ We’re Going Across” Art Installation
Friedrichstrasse S-Bahn Station - August 5 to 15

On August 13, 1961, at 1.14 am, passengers of the S-Bahn train at busy Friedrichstrasse station heard an announcement ordering them to deboard the train, as continuation of the trip from one sector to the other would no longer be possible. That same historic announcement is scheduled to be broadcast again in the trains, platforms, and station to remind passengers of the bizarre situation. Markers on the floor will show the borders and checkpoints where East Berliners were stopped from entering West Berlin, and vice versa.

For further continuing Berlin Wall and East German GDR (German Democratic Republic) period experiences one can visit the Wall Museum at Checkpoint Charlie, the remaining original wall section monument at the Topography of Terror Museum and examine life in socialist East Berlin at the GDR Museum. © Bargain Travel Europe

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See Also:

SUMMER IN BERLIN & HAMBURG

BERLIN TECHNICAL MUSEUM - BERLIN AIRLIFT

BERLIN COMMUNICATIONS MUSEUM

KAISER WILHELM MEMORIAL CHURCH