Insider goes to Check Point Alpha

Here are some fotos from a recent Insider guides' foray to the German-German border crossing point Marienborn/Alpha. This was a major East/West crossing point where the DDR controlled all traffic through their territory and en route to Berlin. This is an expansive 35 hectare complex with access to many original buildings which retain their authenticity and are now being used for excellent exhibitions (although unfortunately not all in English). This complex once employed 1.000 with millions of people controlled here over a 45 year period, some unwittingly with X-ray.  Oh, how Europe has changed!

http://www.stgs.sachsen-anhalt.de/gedenkstaette-deutsche-teilung-marienborn/

Germany's Reunification, 25 years later

With this BIG holiday just around the corner, I thought I would share some articles which put Germany's reunification into perspective.  Catch up with this reading list, and then celebrate with confidence on Saturday!

East Berliners go west on November 11, 1989. Source: AP 

 

Germany's Unlikely Diplomatic Triumph: An Inside Look at the Reunification Negotiations

By Klaus Wiegrefe

When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, nobody expected Germany to be reunified less than a year later. New documents released by the Foreign Ministry in Berlin shed new light on the dramatic negotiations that led to East and West Germany becoming one. 

Reunification Renovations: A Massive Facelift for Eastern Germany

By Solveig Grothe 

During a trip to East Germany in 1990, photographer Stefan Koppelkamm discovered buildings that had survived both the war and the construction mania of the East German authorities. Ten years later, he returned to photograph the buildings again. The comparison threw up some unexpected contrasts.

'Two million fewer people in former East' since German reunification

More than 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, official statistics show two million fewer people live in the former East German states. Eastern states' economies are still weak in comparison with western ones.

Germany 25 years after the Berlin Wall: 5 charts shown its transformation

By Sara Sjolin

Olympic Village Day Tripping

one of the smaller cottage-like sleeping quarters

This past weekend I hopped on my bike and explored a place in Berlin that had been on my to-do-list for a long time, Olympic Village.  Located to the west of Berlin in the town of Elstal in the Brandenburg countryside lies this ruin.  Unlike Hitler's 1936 Olympic Stadium which has been renovated and is used regularly, Olympic Village is mostly un-touched aside from a few boarded up windows.  There are bits such as the indoor swimming hall which have been updated and host youth-group sport teams, but as you can see by these photos, the majority of the buildings sit in a state of decay.

House of the Nations canteen

Hindenburghaus

Elstal was located in East Germany and the Olympic village was used by the Soviet Army.  A series of pre-fab buildings were added.  The army resided here until 1992 when they officially withdrawal from German soil.

housing, now without windows or doors, Soviet era I believe

more of a villa looking building on the premises

housing, Soviet?

another view of the House of Nations canteen

4,000 sportsmen slept and trained here.  Woman were not allowed.  The above building must be Soviet era though, the pre-fabricated plattenbau which is very commen throughout former East Berlin.

more information in German http://www.dkb-stiftung.de/Veranstaltungen_Olympisches_Dorf_2014.130.htm

and an interesting article from our friends at Slow Travel Berlin http://www.slowtravelberlin.com/berlins-olympic-village/