Andrew Gray
Unremarkable residential neighbourhood
In the latter days of the Communists, these were some of the nicest buildings in the otherwise-collapsed infrastructure of East Berlin. This is where the most well-off government officials would live. Not that great by capitalist standards.
Notice the way they are built: they appear to be made out of blocks, almost like Lego. This is a typically Communist style which makes use of a lot of pre-fabricated concrete pieces which basically get assembled into buildings. Less skilled workers required, cheaper to build. Our tour guide pointed this out as one way to always know immediately whether you were in West or East Berlin. If you can see buildings that look like that, you're in East Berlin.
That's not the most interesting thing about this picture, though. In the days of WWII, this was the location of the entrance to the Nazi's vast network of underground bunkers, and Hitler's private residence in the last days of the war. Right under our feet, though you wouldn't have the slightest idea from the look of the place, is where Hitler married his mistress Eva Braun, and then committed suicide, and was carried up three floors to ground level by his top officers. Most of the bunkers were long since destroyed, but there was one very small section that had been preserved in the area somewhere.
Unremarkable residential neighbourhood
In the latter days of the Communists, these were some of the nicest buildings in the otherwise-collapsed infrastructure of East Berlin. This is where the most well-off government officials would live. Not that great by capitalist standards.
Notice the way they are built: they appear to be made out of blocks, almost like Lego. This is a typically Communist style which makes use of a lot of pre-fabricated concrete pieces which basically get assembled into buildings. Less skilled workers required, cheaper to build. Our tour guide pointed this out as one way to always know immediately whether you were in West or East Berlin. If you can see buildings that look like that, you're in East Berlin.
That's not the most interesting thing about this picture, though. In the days of WWII, this was the location of the entrance to the Nazi's vast network of underground bunkers, and Hitler's private residence in the last days of the war. Right under our feet, though you wouldn't have the slightest idea from the look of the place, is where Hitler married his mistress Eva Braun, and then committed suicide, and was carried up three floors to ground level by his top officers. Most of the bunkers were long since destroyed, but there was one very small section that had been preserved in the area somewhere.