Livery Weekend in Berlin
History can be a distant, unreal matter compared with the challenges of daily life. In Berlin history assaults the visitor and provokes uncomfortable questions.
My wife, Kirsten, and I arrived on Thursday evening and enjoyed wandering on foot during Friday. The Kunsthaus Tacheles, simply known as Tacheles or Tacheles Gallery, is a former, half demolished, department store which now houses a self-organized collective of artists on Oranienburger Straße. The owners wish to complete the demolition and develop the valuable site. For now it provides a curious oasis of artistic expression amongst high end real estate.
Our weekend together started with a Friday evening meal in the hotel. It was Hilary Goodridge's birthday.
After dinner Nigel Dunkley MBE told us a little of his experiences in Military Intelligence. Nigel is a former soldier whose work included intelligence gathering operations behind the Iron Curtain. He acted as an interpreter for Rudolf Hess in Spandau. He also served two years in the US 1st Cavalry both in Texas on Operation Desert Shield and on Operation Desert Storm, before becoming an assistant military attaché at the British Embassy.
On one mission Nigel crawled through drainage pipes beneath a fence to liberate a sample of a DDR rocket from a helicopter. He had been quite well briefed; the only omission being any idea of the weight of the missile. So when unfastened it fell, dogs barked, sentries ran. We all felt with Nigel a frisson of excitement and lived again with him the miracle of his escape through a hole in a wire fence.
Nigel also retold some DDR humour. George Bush, the Pope and Erich Honecher were running away from savage cannibals. George turned and offered millions of dollars for their freedom. The trio had to keep running. The Pope offered eternal salvation. The savages were not interested. Erich simply told them that within fifty metres they would all be in the DDR. At that the savages halted.
An innocent little joke? No way! It earned its original raconteur a year in prison because a “friend” informed on him. So that was a good evening, but with that little reminder that we were still in Berlin.
On Saturday morning we rode a coach to gain an overview of the city, which was a useful introduction covering far more territory than we could have on foot. We stopped and took pictures of a surviving part of the Berlin wall whereon artists have painted. Master John wanted us to ride in his nice new Trabant. He seemed puzzled that we all thought it a bit too small.
Then, thanks to the efforts of Liveryman Volker Heinz, we visited Hohenschonhausen, once a Stasi prison. We were joined by Volker, who was once a political prisoner himself, after a remarkable period during his student days when he helped about thirty people to escape from East Germany.
This was not an easy visit. Master John even wondered whether it had been too heavy emotionally but I, for one, feel that it was important and valuable to have done it. Our guide was challenging and invited us to reflect on freedom in our home countries. This is what came to my mind - In September 2009, in England, two mums who share a job had been found to be in contravention of child protection law for the innocent act of sharing each other's child care. They had been informed on by a neighbour.
Saturday evening dinner was in Brechts restaurant beside the Spree a few minutes north of our hotel. Although not the originally booked restaurant, which had gone bust, it was admirable, from unexpected amuse-bouche to the end of three named courses and coffee. We had English descriptions of the menu. I am told that the original, far more poetic, attempt at describing the beef consommé was “essence of young bulls with balls of dough”. This meal was, for me, the best experience. All the weekend food was at least competent. Brechts was outstanding in every way.
On Sunday morning we visited Potsdam which has been a suburb served by trains to Berlin since early in the 19th century. The former royal city is a UNESCO heritage centre with a unique collection of palaces and parks. Our coach explored the heart of the city with its Dutch quarter and Russian colony, Alexandrowka.
The rococo palace of Sanssouci was a favourite refuge of Prussia’s Frederick 11. We enjoyed a tour of the highly decorated ground floor rooms followed by a stroll through its enormous tiered garden.
On Saturday afternoon Kirsten and I visited the Holocaust memorial. This is disparaged by some Berliners as a plagiarism on Liebeskind's cleverer design at the Jewish History Centre. But I found it moving to consider the value of the plot and the number of possible paths through its 2,700 concrete blocks. No life time would be long enough to exhaust all routes.
Our mornings started earlier and earlier as the weekend progressed, so on Monday we were asked to gather by 0830 in front of the Reichstag for a tour led by Nigel and a German speaking lady for whom Nigel translated. They formed a superb double act and I was sorry not to hear a little more of her words. We experienced first of all the main chamber.
A long presentation in German was translated by Nigel, but he lost interest as the speaker spiralled down into detail about his security pass. So we went up to the roof from which Nigel gave a fascinating account of the history which could be seen all round us. After an expensive coffee in the fine (public) restaurant beside the cupola we made our way back to the hotel to check out.
I ate too much (two schnitzels during the weekend would have sufficed) and might have drunk a little less (the German reds were all rather seductive). My wife, Kirsten, and I both came away with whetted appetites. Next time we will walk more and look at a few things in detail – top of our list will be the Liebeskind museum of Jewish history and spending more time in Potsdam.
All in all, a great weekend – thank you, Master John, for working so hard to make it possible.
Liveryman Michael Gifkins