Reflections on Berlin
Berlin, the culminating city of our trip, was an amazing way to wrap up our course and travels. I felt that each city we visited and the lessons we got in each region built up to the moment where we arrived in Berlin to learn more about social sustainability in Germany. My favorite parts of this city were our walking tour and Bundestag visit and talk with politician Thomas Lutze. Berlin was overall a very emotional destination for me because I felt that there was so much tragic and complex history from World War II to the Cold War to reunification. It felt strange to be a tourist looking for a good time after our site visits and tours because I was constantly thinking about the psyche of the people and the city’s deep history with death and division. I know that’s not how the city and people want to be portrayed or remembered, and there is triumph and happiness despite historical events, but I couldn’t help but mull over what life was like in Berlin during WWII and while the wall was up.
Our walking tour of Berlin and East Berlin was so fascinating and forced me to think deeply about the history of the Cold War and its implications on the people. I had so many preconceptions about East Berlin especially from our talk with Ina during the semester at home about what daily life was like in East Berlin. For example, I thought life would have been rural with an overall feeling and sense of desperation, but on our walking tour and at the DDR Museum, we learned that most people lived in apartments, no one was starving, and if you did not go against the regime, you lived a nice quality life. I was often thinking about the costs and benefits of this and whether the freedom of choice and living in abundance in necessary compared to living a life with necessities but at the cost of political freedom. Then I found myself asking, do I have political freedom? I kept comparing the past with the present — the bottom line question being: how free are we and does it matter when there is so much inequality in our world? Something that fascinated me throughout this whole trip were TV Towers. I loved the sight of a TV tower and Berlin has the most iconic one, shaped like spudnik. I think the TV towers represent modernity, hope, and connection in a transitioning country out of devestation and political isolation from the rest of the world post WWII.
Second, what a unique opportunity it was for us to go into the Bundestag and also meet and converse with a German politician! We had lunch in the Bundestag and met Thomas Lutze of the left party. We asked him questions about industry and economic development as well as the rise of the AfD. I couldn’t believe I was meeting a German politician before an American one. It was really cool to hear his perspective, although he gave quite guarded and politician-like answers. To kind of wrap up our time in Germany we attended a plenary debate inside the Bundestag. Although the debate was in German, it was still interesting to see the politicians from each party speak and to see how they interact with each other and the demographics of each party. Lastly, we walked around the dome which had an amazing 360° view of Berlin from the west to the east. Lutze joined us and gave us a brief history of the skyline that we were seeing. I loved the Bundestag dome and seeing the sunset. I normally love a view point because I love the feeling of reflection and smallness that I get when seeing out for miles. I felt so much gratitude in this moment for how much I’d grown on this trip and how much we had experienced as a class. The history of the city sunk in through this moment and I will not forget how I felt seeing Berlin from above.
