Exploring Berlin’s History, Green Spaces, and Diversity
On the last leg of our trip, we traveled to Berlin, a city-state in Germany with a population of around 3.6 million people. Berlin is a culturally rich place where diversity is present in its population, businesses, and industries. I even saw a coffee shop combined with a vintage bike shop.
The tour of Berlin was particularly memorable as we visited many historical sites such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, the Humboldt University of Berlin, and a Holocaust Memorial. The tour guide provided a great number of historical details about the city. One story that has stuck with me is the escape of a family through a window with a homemade zip line over the Berlin Wall. They were not caught even though they were spotted by East Berlin guards because they had been mistaken for East Berlin spies infiltrating West Berlin. At the DDR Museum, the tour guide revealed how the Ministry for State Security (MfS) or “Stasi” was the secret intelligence service and police force in East Berlin. The Stasi ran one of the world’s tightest surveillance networks where people were recruited to spy on loved ones including family and friends. In the DDR Museum, the tour guide explained that people were recruited to spy on people they already knew or to establish new relationships for the purpose of spying on them. The Stasi archives were opened to the public in January 1992 and 3 million people requested to see their files, discovering loved ones who had spied on them.
In Berlin, we also toured Elisabeet Cemetery Community Garden which is a largely volunteer-based community space that leases at least 15 plant beds to neighbors and sponsors. Elisabeet was filled with exciting innovations such as warm beds, liquid fertilizer, and a plant-based filtration system for dishwashing water. Some of the plant beds were raised so that they were wheelchair accessible. The garden also had harvesting directions for the volunteers alongside sliding-scale bundle prices for the plants that were harvested. I also learned the importance of planting mixed cultures and strains of plants as it prevents diseases from spreading within the same family. Interestingly, Elisabeet received public and private subsidies for specific projects such as educational workshops. The Elisabeet Community Garden was located within a cemetery due to limited urban space. With such constraints of space and bureaucratic funding, it was amazing to witness what Elisabeet Community Garden is able to accomplish and foster.
Finally, we also visited the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation. I was particularly moved by this museum due to its storytelling through various mediums such as photographs, drawings, and replicas. For instance, we saw replicas of photo identification cards in Germany where Jewish people had a large letter “J” depicted in red on their ID cards. We also learned about an iris-scanner company in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan that is being tested as an alternative payment method rather than paying with money or vouchers. In order to use this technology, refugees must provide biometric data. This subjection to technological testing has resulted in significant ethical implications.
Berlin was one of my favorite places that we visited during the program. There is so much history to learn, places to visit, and experiences to dive into. I will forever cherish the memories I made there.
Until next time, Berlin!
