1. On November 9th
, 1989, destruction of Berlin Wall started. Today, most of the
pieces have been destroyed and only some are reserved as memorial sites. Among the
existing ones, Bernauer Strasse especially stands out because it is the only piece of
Berlin Wall that was not taken by government or developers, or flooded with souvenir
vendors. Rather, this memorial site today is immersed completely into its surrounding
neighborhood, and becomes a part of local community.
1961 – 1989
1
Berlin Wall on Bernauer Strasse was located on the edge between district Mitte
and Prenzlauerberg. South of Bernauer Strasse was considered East Berlin and North
of the street belonged to France. In fact, before German Democratic Republic (GDR)
closed the boundary in 1961, residents on Bernauer Strasse enjoyed special and easy
access to the West with no need of permission. For them, West Berlin was just
downstairs with a different exit from the building. Many of the residents actually
lived on the north side of the street yet went to school or work on the other side. In
1961, GDR started the construction of the boundary wall and ever since normal local
life was affected severely.
1 Image by Karl Heinz Schubert, found it online.

2. Many daily life aspects were changed and interrupted by the erection of the wall.
For example, Church Kapelle der Versohnung (Chapel of Reconciliation) was located
on the south side of the street, which was the Soviet sector, yet many of its
parishioners of the church community actually lived on the other side, which was the
French sector. With the wall constructed over one night, residents on the French sector
found themselves no longer able to conduct religious activities. In fact, later through
construction, the church was put into the “death strip”, which was an empty lane
between walls to prevent any transportation, and only soldiers from Soviet Union had
access to the church, which was used as a supervision tower. However, this blocked
church still annoyed GDR because it slowly became a symbol for what the Berlin
Wall had blocked. In 1985, the building was destroyed completely by GDR in order to
“increase the security, order and cleanliness on the state border with west Berlin.”

3. 2
Also, many local people faced a severe situation, as they had to leave their
residents involuntarily. Bernauer Strasse 10, for example, was a residential building
zoned into the Soviet sector. However, the pavement in front of the building was
actually in the French sector. Before August 13, 1961, residents on this building could
enter and exit between the East and the West without any prevention. Yet after the
wall, residents had to choose whether to stay in the East or to flee to the West. During
early days of construction, regulation was not that strict, and residents could still live
on Bernauer Strasse 10, except for the fact that the entrance to the pavement was
blocked by Soviet soldiers. However, as more and more people used this building to
escape to the West, either by jumping through windows or by climbing down the
exterior of the building, Soviet Union ordered to shut down this building completely,
and force residents to leave, forcing many family separations. In fact, according to
Bernauer Strasse memorial site website, nearly 2000 people managed to flee to the
West through this building throughout years.
Another daily aspect that was shut down completely because of Berlin Wall was
the subway system. As shown in the map above, U-Bahn runs right through this area
with a subway stop Bernauer Strasse. However, with the borderline between the East
and the West, this subway stop was deserted and became a ghost station.
Bernauer Strasse during the wall period was also famous for hosting several
2 Aerial view shows the Church of Reconciliation standing within death strip in 1970. This picture is created
by Aufnahme in 1970 and is within public domain today.

4. escape tunnels underground, some of which were dug by escapers, while several
others were used by Stachi to transport agents to the West secretly. Even though GDR
claimed that they never made order to shoot escapers, more than three hundred people
were found killed during escaping.
After 1989
In 1989, with sudden political power shift and collapse in Soviet Union, Berlin
Wall became meaningless and was torn down finally on November 9. Bernauer
Strasse was then chosen to be preserved, just as many other locations of Berlin wall.
In 1999, a memorial park was established here, and Bernauer Strasse was rebuilt into
a major road again. Many former buildings including the church were already torn
down, and land of where they used to stand was left with grass growing wildly. Even
though in 89’, everybody in Berlin wanted to get rid of evidence of Berlin’s
separation, the church community from the former French sector still decided to
rebuild the church in order to remember what had left behind. Architects Rudolf
Reitermann and Peter Sassenroth, both native Berliners, conducted the design. The
new church was finished in 2000, and is still active today, serving local community, as
it did before 1961.

5. 3
3 The original cross from the previous Church of Reconciliation

6. 4
4 Me walking down a pavement on the grass in the Memorial park. There are three pavements, resembling
the three famous escape tunnels during Wall period. As seen in the picture, people can actually sit on the
grass, relax and socialize, and it is quite a small but peaceful area, but for aesthetic reason I photoshopped
this image to a more dramatic vibe.

7. Instead of leaving pieces of Berlin Wall there, the memorial park on Bernauer
Strasse established a line of tall, iron pillars on the original Berlin Wall traces.
Different from that three meters high concrete wall, this iron pillar wall does not
block people’s view; visitors could see through it clearly of what’s the other side
looks like. This row of iron pillars however still functions as a wall, as it stands as a
sign to show visitors that here a line is splitting this green space into two parts, and
that here is probably where you need to stop.

8. 5
Today the memorial park is a large green place that is integrated perfectly into the
local community around Bernauer Strasse. Surrounded by new and modern buildings,
many of which are still under construction, this park is now a central recreational
5 A modern residential building right next to the memorial park

9. space for local living within the area. Only pieces or small signs here and there on the
ground would remind visitors of what used to be on the same spot. However, this is
certainly not a memorial space that tries to make people feel serious or sad about
history. Because this space is merged seamlessly into the local neighborhood, it is
vibrant and alive. As a memorial site, this space shows visitors that history has not
been forgotten, and will not be; as a physical space, however, it has been given a
second life to move on as well. Many areas of Berlin Wall memorial sites have been
locked up; it almost feels like their major job is to stand there, receive visit, and show
some exact facts preserved from 1989, and by visiting, every visitor has an obligation
to figure out what went wrong and how we could move on. Bernauer Strasse, on the
other hand, is alive and would keep growing within the surrounding area.
With the seen economy success contributed by Berlin and Germany, it is for sure
that Berlin is moving forward to a new, modern and international city. It is impossible
for Berlin to stay physically the same. In fact, Berlin indeed has changed dramatically
within the last 26 years since Berlin Wall fell down. It is quite reasonable for people
to worry that soon Berlin would move away from its past, and that from losing
physical evidence, that part of history would be forgotten. However, we also must
know that every physical existence in space would one day disappear and become a
concept in time. Berlin Wall for my generation is already more of a concept than a
physical experience, and I wonder if it would be that much different for youth in
Germany today. The necessity of memorial site, however, is not to remind us of who
killed whom, which party won, or what got buried. It is not the physical objects or
events that we must remember from detail to detail, or the sad, the heartbroken, and
the hopeless feeling to make a promise that we are never making the same mistake
again. The function of a memorial site is rather to teach and inspire maybe just a
slight bit of mind growth within each individual, and to educate each and everyone
that humanity has gone through all of that to reach where we stand today. When I
visited the site, I was not hailed by the serious subject; instead, my feelings came
from my respect towards the whole human race. History always repeats itself, but
consideration and respect for humanity should never regress.

10. 6
6 As walking down streets in Berlin, you see buildings under construction everywhere

11. 7
Notes:
1. More information including stories and facts on
http://berliner-mauer.mobi/startseite.html?&L=1
2. More information about Church of Reconciliation on:
http://www.kapelle-versoehnung.de/bin/englisch/rauchbuch.php
3. Two map images were screenshotted from Google map, and edited by Effie Jiao
4. All photos were taken and edited by Effie Jiao (except for two which already
specified in the article) using Canon 700D + XiaoYi Sports Camera
7 Taken at East Side Gallery, another preserved site of Berlin Wall. This graffiti has been severely vandalized
though.