Savvy Sightseer - tips and insights for seasoned travelers!
Palace resembles the style of a British Tudor half-timbered structure.
Symbol of a divided Berlin
Enormous Nazi Rally Field
Modern Wartime History - Germany's Darker Side
It's impossible to tour Germany without being reminded of its role in WW II. Documentation Centers attempt to explain what happened without bias. The nation's focus is more in looking forward and rebuilding than dwelling on Hitler's past influence.
Potsdam
Cecilienhof Palace, looking more like an English country house than a German royal residence, may not ring many bells with Americans, but it is well known to many by a different term. Completed near Berlin in 1917, Cecilienhof was the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm and his wife Cecilie, the last of their family to reign. The Castle was seized by Soviets at the end of WW II and is more famous to tourists as the site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference. Here US President Harry S. Truman (Franklin D. Roosevelt’s successor), British Prime Minister Clement Attlee (Winston Churchill’s successor) and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, entering through different doorways, met to discuss how Germany would be divided post-war. The resultant Potsdam Agreement included splitting control of Germany among the Allies and restructuring borders.
Site of Potsdam Conference
Cecilienhof Palace - attention to every detail, even chimneys
Click on each set of images for an expanded slide-show view and additional information.
Berlin
Just as Germany itself was sectioned into Allied controlled zones, so was its capital city, Berlin. This wasn’t just a figurative segmentation, it was a visual one with the 1961 erection of the Berlin wall enclosing the Soviet eastern section and preventing access from the Allied western section. The wall was ultimately torn down in 1989, but remnants and reminders of it persevere. A large segment of the wall with the simple but profound question Why painted among other graffiti is provocative. A double row of cobblestones now marks the course of the Wall over 27 miles in the center of the city. At certain intervals, there are metal plaques in the ground bearing the inscription: “Berliner Mauer 1961–1989” (Berlin Wall 1961–1989). Gateway entrances that once limited access to the walled city are now wide open, and nearby is the quintessential symbol of capitalism – within feet of the famed Brandenburg Gate is the ever-present Starbucks café. In an equally bizarre mashup of 1960s and current Berlin, a McDonald’s and gaudy souvenir shop are directly across the road from Checkpoint Charlie, one of the best-known border crossings of the Cold War. Beyond these markers lies a decidedly modern and united Berlin. Upscale shops and trendy eateries reflect the bustling and thriving 21st century city.
Nuremburg
A grim but compelling reminder of the Hitler Days is in Nuremberg, where an eerily empty Zeppelin Field with its cautionary double entendre sign: “Enter at your own risk,” evokes images of the Nazi leader pounding his message into Germans assembled there. Up to 100,000 could pack the field during rallies, and an additional 60,000 could cram onto the concrete stands. The nearby Documentation Centre houses a permanent exhibition, "Fascination and Terror," that looks at the causes, context and consequences of the National Socialist regime. Less than 4 miles away is where that reign of terror came to an end for many at the Nuremburg Palace of Justice, where the War Trials were held 1945-1949.
Wall divided a city and culture
Chariot driven by four horses and an eagle - symbol of peace - that ironically was just inside the Berlin Wall dividing the city.
Much has changed - instead of armed guards, McDonald's and souvenir shops flank the outpost.
Beyond the grim reminder of post-war Berlin is the new city street lined with upscale shops.
Unexpected site in Berlin - a beach bar!
Enter at your own risk.
Continue your trip through Germany with a visit to the Palaces and Castles or Old World Charm pages
or back to the Germany home page.
