Berlin is seriously torn, and Germany continues to be divided? How can the poorest city lead Europe?

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Berlin is seriously torn, and Germany continues to be divided? How can the poorest city lead Europe?

Have you ever seen this statue: a 12-meter-tall Soviet soldier holding a little girl in his left hand, a sword hanging upside down in his right hand, and a broken Nazi symbol under his feet.

This statue is not in Moscow, but in Berlin. According to legend, the marble used in the sculpture came from the ruins of Hitler's Chancellery.

It stands to reason that this sculpture has a strong sense of morality. During the East German period, the Soviet Union could not dismantle it, but after the reunification of the two Germanys, there is no need to keep it there, right? However, when it was first reunified, right-wing elements from West Berlin actually came here to cause damage, which triggered a demonstration of 250,000 East Berliners, demanding that the new government protect the statue.

This incident is a classic example of the left-right struggle in Berlin.

Thirty years after the reunification of Germany, the bricks of the Berlin Wall have been sold all over the world, but the Berlin Wall in the hearts of Berliners and Germans still stands.

Berlin is still the incurable patient with deep mental classification.

Germany was defeated in World War I in 1918. On November 9, on the balcony of the Berlin Palace, the ancestral home of the Huo family and the birthplace of Frederick the Great, Liebknecht, the founder of the German Communist Party, The speech said: "The Hohenzollern family has lived in this palace for centuries, but today, their rule ends! Now I declare the establishment of the German Free Socialist Republic!"

In Berlin at this time, after the fine division in the previous episode, there is a right wing that wants to restore the royal family, a far right wing that advocates centralization and racism, a far left wing that wants the revolution to the end, and a moderate party that doesn’t want the revolution to the end. Left wing. In addition to these four main personalities, there are also other fragmentary personalities. Everyone fights fiercely for body dominance.

In the 1920s, Berlin began to experience a very bohemian era. This is easy to understand. No one cares anymore. The nature that has always been suppressed is freed. Of course, you have to let yourself go.

Berlin's debauchery is particularly evident in its sexual concepts. According to the playwright Carl Zuckermaier, he once attended a party. The young girls serving drinks were only wearing a pair of "transparent panties embroidered with a silver leaf to cover their private parts." The guests were both male and female. You can play up and down, and "don't pay extra", because these small benefits are included in the admission fee. The slogan on the wall declares: "The so-called love is just a foolish overestimation of the trivial difference between two sexual objects."

This kind of universal sexual freedom experience is obviously a must for people around the world. It’s a pleasure to hear and see. Soon, Berlin attracted a large number of talented and creative foreigners, especially Americans. Foreigners who are not interested in beauty are boasting about Berlin’s rainbow fart: that Berlin is a gathering place for intellectuals and cultural innovators; that Berlin is better than Paris and is the true cultural capital of Europe, etc.

However, looking at Germany as a whole, especially in places like Bavaria in the south, the left is still not as strong as the conservative right, otherwise Hitler would not have come to power. In the eyes of the Nazis, sexually liberated Berlin = evil and depravity. How could a degenerate city be worthy of being the capital of the Third Reich?

Therefore, Hitler planned to sweep away everything he disliked in Berlin and build a new Berlin. The racist Nazis even planned to abandon the name Berlin and change it to Germania, which was full of German flavor.

Hitler found a designer he thought was reliable for New Berlin-Albert Speer. Previously, Speer established the new Chancellery in less than a year and proved his strength.

Pell’s Germania had more work than Haussmann’s New Paris. He wants to tear down 50,000 apartment buildings and use the land for new construction. The north-south boulevard will be named "Victory Avenue". The domed Assembly Hall at the northern end can accommodate 180,000 people, 16 times the size of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican; the southern end of "Victory Avenue" is the new train station. Outside the train station is the largest square in the world, on which a 117-meter-high arch will be erected. The round arch in the middle can accommodate the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. On both sides of the avenue are brand new public buildings and commercial buildings; on the outskirts of the city, modern residences, administrative buildings and new commercial buildings must be designed and constructed - this is to accommodate the 200,000 Berliners who have been relocated from the slums in the city center. people.

If you look carefully at this model, you will find that this brand-new Germania has rows of neat parallel straight lines at a glance, and the curves are almost invisible except for the big dome. Obviously, this design was to strengthen the Nazis' sense of order. Although it is solemn and solemn enough, the whole city is square, old-fashioned and depressing, and lacks architectural beauty. It is indeed far worse than the Sanssouci Palace of our ancestors; even if it is more imposing, It is not as grand as the Seven Stalin Sisters in the Soviet Union at the same period; there are also those statues of muscular brothers, which do not have the sense of high-end works of art, but have a sense of earthiness and embarrassment.

Moreover, in order to draw the pie for the leader, Speer also made a proportional city model and gave it to Hitler, telling him that Berlin would look like this in the future. It is said that Hitler was so happy that he told Speer: "I like it very much" in a thick Austrian accent. You should know that Hitler never showed his hometown accent in any formal occasions.

For such a large amount of work, the Speer Plan only needs 10 years to meet the construction deadline. Everyone knows the result. Some projects have been completed, such as widening roads and demolishing some houses. And the very "original" street lights on the road west of the Brandenburg Gate today were also hung at that time. The rest of the construction, those that were not started, and everything in Berlin were reduced to rubble by Allied aircraft and Soviet artillery.

On May 3, 1945, the war ended, but Berlin was completely destroyed.

The Soviet red flag was not only planted on the top of the Reichstag Building, but also on the Statue of Liberty carriage at the Brandenburg Gate. Even the clocks in Berlin were adjusted to Moscow time. The 800-year-old foundation of Hohenzollern was destroyed, and the land of Prussia's Longxing was also taken away by Poland. But having said that, Prussia has been Poland since ancient times, and now the property has returned to its original owner.

Berliners say that at this moment, the clock returns to zero and starts over.

As we all know, Germany was divided after the war, and Berlin was also divided. The Berlin Wall is well known to everyone. When you hear about the Berlin Wall, you may think that Berlin is on the border between East and West Germany. In fact, it is not. You will know by looking at this map. Blue is West Germany, red is East Germany. As for Berlin, it’s this little patch right in the middle of East Germany.

So East Germany could tolerate it for so many years and just built a wall instead of blitzing West Berlin. It can be considered a good temper.

But once the Berlin Wall was built, Berlin also reached the highest level of sophistication, with two personalities each controlling half of the body. This is like a sophisticated white-collar scene on the left and a cyberpunk scene on the right. It’s really hard to watch. And although the Berlin Wall only existed for less than 30 years, the schizophrenia it caused continues to this day.

If you have been to Berlin, you will find that in addition to Unter den Linden, you can still see some European classics and solemnity. Occasionally there are some unrepaired war ruins, and the rest is a row of Rows of board-type residential buildings, abandoned factories, as well as modern office buildings, glass curtain walls of shopping malls...

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the unified new Berlin government did not want to end this kind of division. So he began a difficult work of urban reconstruction. This is a nicer way of saying it. To put it more bluntly, it is trying to erase the imprint, culture and urban memory of East Berlin.

Because the system has no memory, it is the city's architecture that carries history.

So soon, East Berliners felt a strong sense of malice.

Here are four short stories.

The first place: "The First Street of East Germany" - Karl Marx Boulevard. On both sides of the road are 7 to 9-story apartments built more than 50 years ago. The square shape is very monotonous. It looks more like Moscow than modern West Berlin. However, as a low-rent housing in a prime location in the center of the capital, East Germany was The purpose of this is to accommodate ordinary workers. So even after Germany was reunified, the rent here was much cheaper than in Berlin or even West Germany. Can you imagine that the rent of apartment buildings on Chang'an Street in Beijing ranks among the lowest in the country?

After the reunification, the new Berlin government tried to demolish these apartment buildings, but the quality of the buildings in East Germany truly showed German quality. They were so solid that the cost of demolition soared, and the new government could not come up with the money. This Only then was it put on hold. Later, New Berlin also wanted to change the name of Karl Marx Avenue, but this was abandoned due to resistance from local residents. The latest news is that real estate developers want to buy land to build new buildings, and the indigenous people are resolutely resisting. Residents also hung protest slogans on the walls of their apartments: "This is Karl Marx Strasse, not Commerzbank Strasse."

The second place: Marx-Engels Square. There is a pair of bronze statues of sitting Marx and standing Engels in the square, which are larger than life. Behind the statues is a relief wall showing the history of the German socialist movement. The square was only completed in 1986, three years after Germany was reunified. West Berliners felt it was too uncapitalist and advocated the statue being removed and the park renamed. But of course the East Berliners did not agree. In the end, the leftist views prevailed, and the square and sculptures were saved. It is now a tourist attraction, and tourists love to climb on Marx and sit on his knees to take photos.

The third place is the Soviet Red Army Memorial in Berlin’s Tiergarten at the beginning of our video. It is said that this statue is based on a true story. During the Battle of Berlin, Nikolai Masarov, a Soviet health worker, risked his life to save a three-year-old German girl from German heavy machine gun fire.

On both sides of the monument, there are reliefs of military scenes and fatherly quotes. One side is in Russian and the other side is in German. The content is: "Now everyone realizes that it was the Soviet people who fought selflessly and saved the country." European civilization was saved from the hands of fascist thugs. This was a great achievement of the Soviet people in the history of mankind." Under the relief, the remains of at least 5,000 Red Army soldiers are buried.

After the struggle of East Berliners, this memorial is still there. Every year on May 9, the German "Anti-Fascist League" holds a vigil here.

However, the preservation of this place is also related to Russia’s support. After all, there are buried Soviet soldiers who died underground. According to the agreement between the Russian and German governments, a unified Germany must bear the responsibility for the maintenance of all war memorials, and any modifications must obtain the consent of Russia.

The first three were not demolished, but New Berlin succeeded in demolishing the fourth major project as expected, which was the National Palace and the National Palace.

Friends who have watched the last video should still remember that when the Hohenzollern family settled in Berlin, they built the Berlin Palace, their ancestral home. Frederick the Great was born here, and all the previous Kaisers were here. Cat winter.

This Berlin Palace was also bombed to pieces during World War II. In 1950, Ulbricht, General Secretary of the German Socialist Unity Party, believed that this Baroque Berlin Palace was not a good thing. It once enshrined kings and emperors, and always reminds people of the reactionary Junker nobles, cruel book censorship, and the invading Prussian and German armies. It is a symbol of German feudalism and militarism. Therefore, the general secretary gave an order and the ruins of the Berlin Palace were completely razed.

However, the Berlin Palace is an old guy of the same age as Berlin after all. It has witnessed the rise and fall of Berlin, Prussia and Germany. It is indeed a pity that it is completely gone like this.

So, 20 years after the demolition, East Germany decided to rebuild the Berlin Palace, but they played a new trick. In 1973, with the approval of the new General Secretary Honecker, the East German government began to build a new large-scale building on the original site of the Berlin Palace. As the venue for the East German People's Assembly, its name has the revolutionary characteristics of East Germany. It's called ***Heguo Palace.

In order to eliminate the "sinful memory" of the Germans, not only the names of the Palace and the National Palace were changed, but also completely different from the original aristocratic Baroque style from the inside out. The appearance of the National Palace is quite modern, such as the large area of ??yellow-brown reflective glass curtain wall. The Imperial Palace and the National Palace took three years to complete, which is in line with the reputation of German engineering in our minds.

But for such a big symbolic thing, the new Berlin government after reunification did not like it.

Just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a scandal involving a large amount of asbestos contamination was discovered in the interior decoration of the Berlin Palace. The Berlin Parliament decided to close it until all the asbestos was removed before it could be reopened. . And this cleanup lasted for 14 years. This efficiency is simply a shame for German engineering.

Now that the contamination is gone, the Royal Palace and the National Palace can theoretically be reused. But the new government finally got its way, and they officially put the demolition of the National Palace and the rebuilding of the Berlin Palace on the agenda.

The official statement is: The *** and the National Palace symbolize the repressive political atmosphere of the East German regime, the ubiquitous secret police and the whistleblowing activities encouraged by the government, and are the traumatic memories of the Germans. .

East Berliners found this reason unacceptable. They said that with the merger of the two Germanys, the East Germans' living habits, political activities, and even the places where they lived have undergone tremendous changes for the sake of historical memory. For the younger generation of East Germans, there is no longer "a place to leave." They think back to their childhood again," leaving only the palace and the palace where they could play on weekends. The significance of architecture lies in the history it carries. The National Palace carries so many memories of the East German period, so it should be preserved.

The West Berliners said, you remember the German Palace, but we don’t remember it. We only remember the aristocratic Berlin Palace, which symbolizes the former glory of the empire and is a symbol of German culture. A symbol of heritage.

So this time, the East Berliners' protests were in vain. In 2003, the Berlin Parliament decided to demolish the newly renovated Communist and National Palace and use the original site as a park. It also stated that when funds are sufficient, the Berlin Palace will be rebuilt as soon as possible.

However, Germany's speed showed its strength again. The house must be demolished very quickly, but it took them 5 years to demolish it. It wasn't until 2008 that it was completely demolished. In 2013, the reconstruction project of Berlin City began. Since this reconstruction is based on German strictness and strives to restore the original appearance of the Huo family's ancestral home, it is as slow as a snail's crawl. It has not been completed yet.

The Berlin government probably really hates the Communist Party and the National Palace, and does not even want to keep building materials on German soil. About 35,000 tons of steel from the National Palace was sold to the United Arab Emirates and used to build the Burj Khalifa.

In Berlin, it is so difficult to demolish a house, so it is even more difficult to build a new airport.

Last year, the world-famous unfinished project, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, was finally put into operation. This airport was originally a cosmetic project for the reunification of the two Germanys. Unexpectedly, it took 30 years of planning and 15 years of construction. The budget gradually increased from the earliest estimated 2.83 billion euros to 6.5 billion euros, and in the end it cost at least 8 billion euros.

Therefore, Chinese netizens complained that German engineers probably spent all their time and money on burying oil paper packages.

The reason why the airport has been delayed in opening is because as of 2019, there are still tens of thousands of safety defects. It could be as small as the fire protection system not passing the test; as big as an airport, it was discovered that the airport runway design was too backward, and there was a risk of collision when planes took off at the same time.

During the simulated operation, it was discovered that the airport's boarding gate, security checkpoint, and check-in counter were completely insufficient; passenger facilities could not operate normally, or could not operate up to standard; the airport baggage system and elevator system could not operate normally. Work blah blah blah.

Even the new airport was idle for so long that Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen jointly rented it and built a parking lot.

After finally being able to use it, the COVID-19 epidemic hit as soon as it was opened. Recent news has revealed that the airport has been saddled with a debt of 4.5 billion euros, and they need at least 1.9 billion euros in financial assistance to maintain operations.

While waiting for a new airport, Berlin had to rely on two outdated and crowded Cold War-era airports: Tegel Airport in West Berlin, and Schonefeld, the former East Berlin airport.

If you want to get rich, build roads first. The infrastructure is so stretched that there is not even a decent airport. It is no wonder that Berlin is poor, dirty and decadent.

Contemporary Berlin is one of the few capitals in the world whose per capita income is lower than the national average. In this regard, a Berlin mayor said that Berlin is the only world city in Germany. It is poor but sexy.

Why is it sexy?

The logic is this. Since Berlin is poor, prices and rents are relatively low, and things are cheap, which naturally attracts students and young artists with low incomes. Their influx makes Berlin a testing ground for European avant-garde culture.

Berlin is now the capital of electronic music and partying in Europe. A large number of abandoned buildings in East Berlin have been utilized, basements have been transformed into bars, and factories have become clubs. Today, Berghain, the largest and most famous club in Berlin, is In a former East German power plant. Young people combat the absurdity and emptiness of the real world with loud music, sex, and parties around the clock.

With the increasing number of new immigrants, many waiters can only speak English, which makes it difficult for Berliners to go out to restaurants and order dishes even if they speak German.

So, why doesn’t the German government give the capital some preferential policies?

As we said in our last video, although Berlin is the capital of Germany, it is the German city that is most unlike Germany. This is not surprising if you think of Berlin not as the capital but as part of the former East Germany.

Thirty years after reunification, Germany is still two countries. We can get a very intuitive feeling when we look at a set of pictures.

This is the disposable income of residents in 2012. East Germany is really poor. Even if Berlin is the capital, it is only a little better.

This is the average size of a farm in hectares. East German agriculture was obviously developed.

This is the number of guns owned by citizens. Although East German men have relatively high martial ethics, they don't like guns.

This is the influenza vaccination rate for patients over 60 years old. East Germans have retained the habit of people actively getting vaccinated under the socialist system.

This is the percentage of full-time nannies for infants under two years old. What does this mean? When the mother has a place to take care of her children, she can go out to work herself. This means that the proportion of women participating in the work force in East Germany is much higher than that in West Germany.

Therefore, the invisible national border is so obvious, just like Berlin, which is divided into two countries. Thirty years after Germany was reunified, it is still two countries.

An East German writer said this. They originally thought that the reunification of the two Germanys was the merger of the two companies, which seemed like a friendly acquisition at first. But as time went by, they gradually realized that East Germany was more like a hostile takeover.