Berlin - Former Capitol of East Germany
| Reunited Berlin is a big city. There is so much to do and see that one could easily spend a month there doing nothing but sightseeing. I didn't spend too much time in Berlin because I wanted to visit some of the smaller former East German towns and cities and knew that I wouldn't have time to see all that I wanted to at a decent pace. I did get to see the Soviet War Memorial and have included photos of it here. It was very moving. East Berlin was the capitol of East Germany, a sovereign state. As the capital of a sovereign state, it had all of the normal things one finds in a capital city (a parliament building, military installations, government department buildings, foreign embassies, etc.). After reunification West Germany took over many of these functions and most of those old East German buildings became redundant and unnecessary. Over a very short period of time, the eastern state was dissolved and absorbed by the western state. But the most visible remains of the old communist government still remain in the form of buildings and memorials. Thus, a visitor to Berlin has the unique opportunity to visit the remnants of a totalittarian enemy state that only a decade ago was feared by both its own populace and the west, but now is only a distant memory. It is an interesting experience to walk along streets where so much history has taken place. I've included a list of East German and Soviet sights around Berlin to see. |
 Gate in Treptower Park to the Soviet War Memorial.
Inscription in Russian and German reads: |