Rick Steves Berlin by Rick Steves

Author:Rick Steves
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avalon Publishing
Published: 2017-03-17T04:00:00+00:00

This was the communist ideal. The reality was quite different. When the DDR barricaded its borders with West Germany in 1952, the economy floundered—and it quickly became clear that the West was better off. After Josef Stalin died in March of 1953, people across the Eastern Bloc hoped for change. On June 16 of that year, workers who were busy constructing the ambitious Soviet-style boulevard “Stalinallee” (now Karl-Marx-Allee) laid down their tools, went on strike, and marched to this square to demand change. (Look at the ground in the courtyard in front of the mural to see an enlarged photograph from that demonstration—a stark contrast with the idealized mural.) The next day—June 17—a general strike went into effect across East Germany. But the uprising never had a chance to gain momentum—it was shut down by Soviet tanks. Today the square is officially named the “Square of the Popular Uprising of 1953.”

• Now backtrack all the way along the former Air Ministry, to the fragment of Wall we saw earlier. Just beyond it is a modern building that stands in a vast, gravel-filled lot.

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