Leisure

Cold War Sites in Berlin

The history of the cold war in Germany can be hardly be felt anywhere better than in the formerly divided city of Berlin. November 9 2014 marked the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. In the meantime, a whole new generation has grown up who has never lived with the Wall as a reality. To them, the Wall, barbed wire and a division of Berlin in East and West are history. For those who were there when the Wall came down, Germany's more recent history is still emotionally very present. The team of Top10 Berlin has compiled a list of locations where the history of the two Germanys can still be experienced today.

Place 1

History of the Berlin Wall

Mitte

The central Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Straße shows the permanent exhibition "1961 | 1989. The Berlin Wall".

Place 2

Exhibition “GrenzErfahrungen” at the Tränenpalast

Mitte

The Tränenpalast ("Palace of Tears") near Bahnhof Friedrichstraße is home to the permament exhibition "GranzErfahrungen", giving an insight into the day-to-day life of a country divided in two.

Place 3

Allied Forces Museum

Zehlendorf

The Allied Forces Museum on Zehlendorf's Clay-Allee illustrates the history of the western allies in Berlin. From the end of World War II, over the Berlin Air Lift to Checkpoint Charlie - all this and more are to be discovered there.

Place 4

Everyday Life in the GDR in the Museum of Kulturbrauerei

Prenzlauer Berg

The permanent exhibition of the museum of Kulturbrauerei in Prenzlauer Berg is dedicated to the day-to-day life in the GDR.

Place 5

City Hall Schöneberg

Schöneberg

„Ich bin ein Berliner“ – John F. Kennedy said this famous sentence in front of the Schöneberg City Hall when he visited Berlin in 1963. However, a lot more German history was made here.

Place 6

THE WALL – asisi Panorama Berlin

Mitte

The large Panorama wall of the artist Yadegar Asisi visualizes the daily life next to the Berlin wall on a fictitious autumn day in the 1980s.

Place 7

Hinterm Horizont

Tiergarten

The fast-paced Berlin Musical "Hinterm Horizont" at the Stage Theater on Potsdamer Platz tells with 20 legendary songs by Udo Lindenberg a love story between East and West in the times of the Berlin Wall and barbed wire.

Place 8

City Circle Purple Tour

Mitte

The city tour City Circle PURPLE Tour in a yellow doubledecker bus traces the former Berlin Wall and takes you to the trendy Berlin of today.

Place 9

Gethsemane Church

Prenzlauer Berg

The Protestant Gethsemane Church in Prenzlauer Berg is a symbol of the peaceful revolution in the GDR.

Place 10

WEST:Berlin – An island in search of the mainland

Mitte

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Stadtmuseum Berlin deals with the insular city that West-Berlin was dedicating it the exhibition "WEST:BERLIN - an island in search of the mainland".