Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.
— General George S. Patton
Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. www.walled-in-berlin.com
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on the home page of http://www.walled-in-berlin.com Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War.
Half-life is the time required for half of something to undergo a process. Today, on February 5, 2018, Berliners celebrate the halfway point between the Berlin-Wall-era and the post-Berlin-Wall-era. In other words, today the Berlin Wall will have been down for exactly the same number of days that it once stood, namely 10,315.
The Berlin Wall went up on 13 August 1961 and divided the city for the next 28 years. The purpose of the monstrosity was to stop the massive exodus of East Germans who were seeking a less controlled and more prosperous life in the West. Prior to the construction of the Wall, an estimated 3.5 million people had defected from East Germany.
The East German government called the barrier an “Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart”, necessary to protect East German citizens from western fascist elements who supposedly were intent on undermining East Germany’s efforts of building a utopian socialist state. The West German government called the barrier the “Wall of Shame.” During its 28-year existence, the Berlin Wall was continually fortified with guard towers, anti-vehicles trenches, beds of nails, dog runs, a death strip and shoot-to-kill orders.
Berlin Wall, Photo © J. Elke Ertle, www.walled-in-berlin.com
The Berlin Wall stood until 9 November 1989 when it unexpectedly fell in the wake of a misunderstanding. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-day-the-berlin-wall-fell/ At an East Berlin press conference, Guenter Schabowski, an East German government official misread a new policy that was intended to allow select East Germans to visit the West with proper approval. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/schabowski-sparks-fall-of-berlin-wall/ Instead, Schabowski mistakenly announced that visits to the West would be permitted “immediately.” http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/brinkmann-or-ehrman-the-crucial-question/ Within minutes, masses of East Germans headed for the Berlin Wall crossings points. Without specific orders and quickly overwhelmed by the crowds, East German border guards opened the checkpoints. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/who-really-opened-the-berlin-wall/ Following that initial border opening on 9 November 1989, there was no going back. Within days, the Berlin Wall began to be dismantled for good.
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings.
— Ralph Blum
Open the door to new beginnings. Yesterday’s obstacles can turn into today’s gateways to new beginnings. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015. www.walled-in-berlin.com
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Berlin is the capital of Germany, a city that was divided into East and West from 1945 to 1989 and brutally severed by the Berlin Wall from 1961 to 1989. But Berlin is also the name of a well-known sculpture, the Berlin Sculpture, located in the median of the Tauentzienstrasse, not far from the famous Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirche. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/iconic-kaiser-wilhelm-memorial-church/. If you are positioned just right, the sculpture will frame the church perfectly.
Berlin Sculpture in the median of Tauentzienstrasse with the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirche in the background. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com
In 1987, two years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city celebrated its 750th anniversary http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berlins-long-history/ To commemorate the occasion, the city of West Berlin commissioned a group of artists to create artistic sculptures for its main boulevard, the Kurfuerstendamm. The eight winning sculptures went on display. Husband-and-wife team, Brigitte Matschinsky-Denninghoff and Martin Matschinsky, created one of these eight sculptures and placed their creation within close proximity of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the house of worship that was so heavily damaged during the bombing of Berlin during World War II. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-battle-of-berlin-ended-wwII/
The Berlin sculpture consists of four chromed nickel steel tubes, shooting up into the sky, seemingly courting each other without touching. By placing the cylinders in close proximity, yet inaccessible to one another, the Matschinsky-Denninghoff sculpting team tried to represent Berlin’s situation in a symbolic way. From a certain angle, the Berlin Sculpture looks like a broken chain whose links are severed, which symbolizes the division of East and West.
To everyone’s surprise, only two years after the Berlin sculpture was created, the Berlin Wall fell quite unexpectedly. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-day-the-berlin-wall-fell/ Today, the sculpture is a reminder of Berlin’s history during the Cold War.
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Strandbad Wannsee has been a popular public swimming area in Berlin, Germany, for the past 100 years. It is located on the eastern shore of the River Havel, where the river forms a large bay, the Grosser Wannsee. Its broad, shallow beach is almost one mile long and is replenished annually with sand from the Baltic. Four historic two-story, clinkered buildings are arranged in a row parallel to the beach.
Strandbad Wannsee is one of the largest such inland lidos in Europe. It is run by the City of Berlin, and on a hot summer day, up to 30,000 visitors take advantage of this public beach. There is something for everyone: Strandkorb and deckchair rentals are available, http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/distinctly-german-the-strandkorb/ a separate nude-bathing section is offered, http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-skinny-on-nude-bathers-in-germany/ and a water slide, a playground for children and a park and promenade for the entire family are on hand.
Strandbad Wannsee as seen from the River Havel. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017, www.walled-in-berlin.com
Following Germany’s first unification in 1871 http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/otto-von-bismarck-visionary-or-villain/, the City of Berlin experienced an unprecedented population growth. Existing housing could not absorb the sudden influx, so that inhabitants ended up packed into tiny flats like sardines, without much light or fresh air. As a result, residents sought escape in the great outdoors. But their yearning for sun and fresh air caused a new problem because the moral standards of the time demanded that men and women not bath within sight of each other.
In 1909, a public beach and swimming area – which eventually became the Strandbad Wannsee – was constructed at the River Havel. It was built with distinctly separate sections for men, women and families. The sections were separated by wooden fences, each containing tents that served as changing facilities. Changing stations were surrounded by yet another fence to discourage looky-loos.
After World War I, the City of Berlin took over Strandbad Wannsee. In 1924, the tents were replaced by thatched pavilions, and the sanitary facilities were improved. By then, the S-Bahn, Berlin’s elevated train system, had opened and made the area more accessible. During World War II, Strandbad Wannsee provided a welcome escape from the devastation in the city.
In 1951, eight-year-old Conny Froboess turned Strandbad Wannsee into a household word with her song Pack die Badehose ein … und nichts wie raus nach Wannsee (Pack your swimsuit … and off the Strandbad Wannsee). Conny was only two years older than I, and I envied her for being able to ride her bike, unsupervised, to the Wannsee lido. I only dreamt of such autonomy. The song, written by her father, became one of the great hits of that time. To hear Conny Froboess, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhZEbaoSWNs/
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government only when it deserves it.
— Mark Twain
What is Patriotism? Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. (United Nations, New York). www.walled-in-berlin.com
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
I am referring to the “Drei Maedchen und ein Knabe (three Girls and a Boy)” sculptures in Berlin, Germany, of course. In case you were thinking of the human body in the buff, keep in mind that, as the Germans like to say, God created the human body and McDonalds formed it. I neither agree nor disagree with that statement. I am just repeating what I heard. Anyway, unlike many human specimen, these four life-size bronze sculptures are perfectly proportioned. Is that because they never dined at McDonalds? Who knows.
These sculptures were created by German sculptor and stone cutter, Wilfried Fitzenreiter, and currently sit at the water’s edge along the Spree promenade, across from the Berlin Cathedral. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/Berliner-Dom-Transforms-Multiple-Times/ One girl looks down St. Wolfgang Street. The other three youths watch the hustle and bustle on the River Spree.
Originally, the four sculptures frolicked around the fountain of the Palasthotel, located at Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 5, right behind the Berlin Cathedral. In those days, the hotel – despite being located in East Germany – was closed to East German guests because it showcased many western products. Western merchandise was rarely made available to the East German public. Instead, the East German government frequently hosted distinguished foreign guests at the Palasthotel, which accepted only western currency.
The Palasthotel – part of the East German Interhotel chain – was also an important player in the Stasi surveillance of many foreigners who entered East Germany. For that reason, the hotel got the nickname “Stasi-Nest.” On an ongoing basis, Stasi officers monitored guests of “special-interest” here, using hidden cameras and microphones in corridors, elevators, reception areas and in selected rooms. Approximately 25 to 30 rooms were equipped accordingly and reserved for such special-interest guests. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-stasi-and-how-it-worked/
In 2001, following German reunification, the Palasthotel was demolished because of asbestos contamination, and the four sculptures were temporarily stored. When the hotel was rebuilt in 2003, now part of the Radisson group, the fountain and the Three Girls and a Boy sculptures did not return. Instead, the foursome moved to their current location along the eastern bank of the River Spree in 2007. As an interesting aside, during demolition, a 550-pound American WWII bomb was found at a depth of 13 feet. The bomb had rested in the ground, undisturbed, for 55 years. It was defused on the spot.
Three Girls and a Boy (Drei Maedchen und ein Knabe) sculptures on the eastern shore of the River Spree. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Else Ury, author of the famous Nesthaekchen series, http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/nesthaekchen-popular-childrens-books/ was the daughter of a prosperous Jewish tobacco merchant and grew up in a bourgeois household during the German Empire. The family lived in an upper-class neighborhood in the Kantstrasse in Charlottenburg, just around the corner from where I grew up. Although, by the time my family rented one of those flats, they had long been divided into three or four small working-class apartments. In many ways, the Nesthaekchen series echoes Ms. Ury’s life in the Kantstrasse, where she penned the books. Despite having attended a prestigious high school, she did not pursue higher education because it wasn’t customary then for women to go after advanced degrees. Else Ury never married, became a tremendously successful writer of children’s books and lived with her parents until their deaths.
When the Nazi party came into power, Else Ury’s writing career came to a sudden end. In 1935, she was barred from the Reichsschrifttumskammer (Reich Literature Chamber) and forced to cease publishing because she could not prove Aryan heritage. Other members of her family had already been barred from practicing their professions. By 1939, Else Ury’s life in Germany had become untenable. Stripped of their possessions, Else and her mother were forced to leave their beautiful home and relocate to a Judenhaus (a ghetto house where Jews were awaiting deportation). Her mother passed away one year later. In 1943, Else Ury was deported to Auschwitz and gassed the day she arrived.
During Else Ury’s lifetime, Nesthaekchen und der Weltkrieg (Nesthaekchen and the World War), the fourth volume of the series, was the most popular. The book refers to World War I. Following World War II, the Allied Control Board, in charge of determining which books were suitable for publishing, viewed her narratives as glorifications for Germany’s role in World War I and placed the book on the censorship list. The publisher subsequently pulled the volume from circulation, and it wasn’t reworked and republished for many years.
Until 1992, the general public knew little of Else Ury’s fate. That changed abruptly when Marianne Brentzel, another German author, reconstructed Ms. Ury’s life through photographs and letters. The work bore the shocking title, Nesthaekchen kommt ins KZ (Nesthaekchen is sent to the concentration camp). https://www.welt.de/geschichte/zweiter-weltkrieg/article112708668/Als-Deutsche-Nesthaekchens-Mutter-ermordeten.html In 2007, Brentzel published a biography of Else Ury entitled, Mir kann doch nichts geschehen (Nothing can happen to me). Now, the public became keenly aware of the fate of its once favorite author. Since then, a memorial plaque has been affixed to the façade of the apartment building in Kantstrasse 30 where Else Ury penned the series. In 1998, a shopping arcade was dedicated to her. The colonnade is located beneath the Stadtbahn – Berlin’s elevated train – between Bleibtreustrasse and Knesebeckstrasse, close to where Ury was raised. A Stolperstein (stumpling stone) http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berlins-stolpersteine/ was installed in front of the former “Judenhaus,” in Solingerstrasse 10 to which Ury and her mother had been relocated in 1939. And the well-known memorial and educational site, Haus der Wannsee Konferenz, http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berlins-house-wannsee-conference/ hosted an exhibition that featured the life of Else Ury and included the suitcase she took to Auschwitz.
Memorial plaque affixed to the facade of Kantstrasse 30 in Berlin, where Else Ury penned Nesthaekchen. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com
I never knew that Else Ury was Jewish or that she had been gassed in Auschwitz until my eye fell on the memorial plaque on a visit to Berlin. That was in 2017. The Nesthaekchen books were my all-time favorite reading during my early teens. What made the series so special to me was the fact that Nesthaekchen’s childhood played out in my own neighborhood. I fully expected to see her walk down my street one day. Although I wasn’t born until after World War II and did not grow up among the privileged, I completely identified with Annemarie Braun and envisioned my life to play out exactly like hers when I grew up. To my delight I learned that reprints of the series are still available.
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
New Beginnings – Eyes forward. Mind focused. Heart ready. Let’s go 2018!
New Beginnings – Eyes forward. Mind focused. Heart ready. Let’s go 2018! Photo: USS Midway Museum, 2017, © J. Elke Ertle. www.walled-in-berlin.com
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
The Berlin Clock, also called Set Theory Clock or Mengenlehre Uhr (Mengenlehre=Set theory, Uhr=clock in German) is located in Berlin’s busy Europa Center, not far from the famous Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirche http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke/ertle/iconic-kaiser-wilhelm-memorial-church/. The clock, which looks more like a modern sculpture than a timepiece, defies conventional methods of telling time. It tells the time using the Mengenlehre or Set Theory rather than numbers.
Set theory is a branch of mathematics that deals with the properties of well-defined collections of objects. A set is considered a collection of objects with something in common. That common element might be prime numbers, birds that visit a feeder or the group of colleagues in a department. In other words, a set is a collection of definite, distinguishable objects that can be conceived as a whole. The Russian-born, German mathematician Georg Cantor invented set theory between 1874 and 1884. It has become a fundamental theory in mathematics.
In 1975, the Berlin Senate commissioned inventor and watchmaker, Dieter Binninger, to create the Berlin Clock. The unorthodox timepiece was originally located on the Kurfuerstendamm at the corner of Uhlandstrasse and was moved in 1996 to its present location.
The Berlin Clock uses set theory and a system of colored lights in four rows to display the time in a 24-hour format. The first row contains four fields. Each of these fields represents five hours. The second row holds another four fields. Each of these fields stands for a single hour. In this way, the clock can display a full 24-hour day. https://24hourtime.info/2015/02/14/the-berlin-set-theory-clock/
Each yellow and red field in the third row stands for five minutes. The red fields in the third row represent completed quarter-hours (15, 30 and 45 minutes past the hour). In the fourth row, each field represents a single minute. Because the third row consists of eleven fields and the fourth row consists of four fields, a total of 59 minutes can be displayed. It is unnecessary to show 60 minutes because they make a full hour. The round light at the top of the clock blinks every second. Can The current time, therefore, can be determined by sequentially multiplying and adding up the lit fields on the Berlin Clock.
Berlin Clock, Budapester Str. 45. Time displayed: 10:31 am. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.org, attributed to Muritatis
Looking at the photo of the Berlin Clock above, two fields are lit in the top row. Five hours times two equals 10:00, or 10:00 AM. The second row is not lit so that we do not add additional hours. Two fifteen-minute fields are lit in the third row, adding 30 minutes and bringing us to 10:30 AM. A single segment is lit in the fourth row, adding another minute. In other words, the photo was taken at 10:31 AM. Did you get it? Wasn’t that amazing?
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
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