Before and After World War II

On New Years of 1919, a bloody uprising of the communists occurred, and by January 5, 1919, the Communists had won over the Brandenburg gate and Berlin.

Friedrich Ebert, the Chancellor at the time, brought a volunteer army into the city to regain control of Berlin, and by January 11, Berlin had become a blood bath in battle. All of the buildings in central Berlin had become fortresses and the volunteer army, called Freikorps, regained control of the Brandenburg Gate and, essentially, Berlin.

Authorities began to put a poem in a poster campaign all over the city, reading “Berlin, your dancing partner is death” The prophecy would last almost a century.

The Chancellor’s army then went to look for the leaders of the Communist group, Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht, and after they get questioned, they are hit on the back of the head with a rifle butt, and then transported via car to the Landwehr Canal in Berlin. The army blew her brains out and tossed her over the bridge into the canal. She crashed through the thin ice, as it was January, and then she disappeared. As the century continued, the canal slowly became the bloodiest channel in Berlin. It flooded underground tunnels during the war and gathering dead bodies into the channel. It later got nicknamed the “death strip”, separating East and West Berlin. It had always been a dumping ground for the many killings and political assassinations. At the time, the deaths of Rosa and Karl named the end of the Communist uprising, but they have since become martyrs of Berlin.

After WWII, East and West Berlin raced to see who could build a better Berlin. But while they were building, they were also tearing down. The ruined royal palace of Berlin, the Schloss, was on East Berlin. The Communist authorities felt that it brought the wrong history to their side of Berlin. It was demolished in 1950. All of East Berlin were upset that it was destroyed, because to the rest of Berlin, the palace was a huge symbol of their past. The Schloss was Berlin’s most historic building, and the Communists destroyed it. Where the Schloss once stood, now sits a sandy pit, as nothing was ever put there, at the heart of the city. For 10 years after the demolition of the Schloss, East and West Germany became more divided.

On a Sunday in 1961, the Communists decided to start working on a structure that would affect the lives of all Berliners for nearly 3 decades. The day is known as “Barbed Wire Sunday” in English. The barbed wire would soon be replaced by reinforced concrete and guard towers. The wall cut everything in its path apart, including buildings, communities, and even cemeteries. The building of this wall was the most grotesque thing anyone had seen in the 20^th century. All new buildings were now based off of the wall, instead of the Schloss like they used to reflect on.

After the wall was built, East and West Germany now competed on who could build the taller building. West Berlin even built a political building right next to the wall. East Germany then built 4 apartment buildings that put the political building to shame. The East was also working on building a TV tower, which was over 360 meters tall. Nothing could compete with the replacement palace that East Berlin was building. It became the symbolic building of the people, as many parties were held there. East Berlin was separated on how to feel about the new palace, as it displayed a new beginning to East Berlin, but it also ground in the fact that the old palace was destroyed. When the Berlin Wall finally fell in 1989, the new Palace was viewed as something that would not stay in the unified city, and in 2006, demolition on the building began. It was claimed that the building had asbestos, but many of the East Berliners claim that it was because it did not belong in their history. Plans to rebuild the Schloss in the same location are in place, but not finalized due to disagreement among the people.

The Landwehr Canal, which now runs clear, used to be tinted red with all of the blood and dead bodies flowing through the water between World War I and II.

The Schloss Palace, which was the most symbolic building of Berlin, which ended up being torn down by the Communists. It is still undecided whether or not to rebuild the Palace.

The Brandenburg Gate is the primary building to have control of to have control of the city. During the time of war, whoever was in control of the Gate had control over Berlin.

After the building of the Berlin Wall, there was barbed wire which separated the two sides of Berlin from each other. This is the new view that East Berliners had of the Brandenburg Gate.

When the tearing down of the Berlin Wall occurred in 1989, both sides cheered, especially because many families were torn apart during the time it was built, and had not seen each other in 3 decades.