Gateway to Berlin

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany

Brandenburg Gate was built by the Prussian King Frederick William II between 1788-1791.  I am always amazed at how such huge structures were built so long ago and yet still stand majestically for us to admire.  There is quite a bit of history that goes with the Brandenburg Gate.  It was built as a protected point of entry to Berlin.  On the top is a statue called "Quadriga" which is the goddess of victory, driving a chariot being pulled by four horses.  When Napoleon Bonapart conquered the city he shipped  "Quadriga" to Paris.  Later, when the Prussians defeated Napoleon, they returned the statue to the top of Brandenburg Gate, and as a symbol of their military victory over France, an iron cross was added to the statue.

Quadriga Statue

The Brandenburg Gate was severely damaged during World War II.  Here is  picture of what it looked like shortly after the war.  This is why I am amazed at how it was able to stand after so many building and structures in Berlin were destroyed during the war.  I found this picture on line but could not find the source.

Not far from the Brandenburg Gate is the Reichstag Building.  It was built from 1892 to 1894 to house the Parliament.  "The building caught fire on 27 February 1933 in what was reported to be an arson attack by a Dutch communist, although many believe that it was orchestrated by the Nazis as a ‘false flag operation’, to enable Adolf Hitler to step up his state security operations and crack down on civil liberties." (Taken from the Interesting Facts about the Reichstag Building.)"

Reichstag Building (Parliament Building)

Close to the Reichstag is a memorial for 96 members of the Reichstag (Parliament) who died at the hands of the Nazis.  I found this to be so powerful that I took numerous pictures of it.  I will spare you with just three.  It is made of 96 cast iron plates.  Each plate has the name of one person, birth year and year of death.  It also has place of death, most of them being concentration camps. The memorial is designed so that more plates can be added if any other names are discovered. It scares me that this could happen to our government, but Ray insists that the makeup of our government is different and prevents a nationalist type take over.  He is the history expert, and it makes me feel a bit better, but there is still a darkness has seeped within me.  

This man died in the Sonnenburg concentration camp in 1944.

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When we were visiting Berlin it was the week that Senator John McCain had died.  We felt a great sense of pride as we passed the United States Embassy and noticed that the flag was flying at half mast.

U.S. Embassy is flying the flag at half mast in honor of Senator John McCain.

One more picture before I stop!  This is the Hotel Adlon.  It was not destroyed like so much was in the Berlin Battle. In 1945 it was destroyed by a fire that was started in the wine cellar by a bunch of Red Army soldiers.  Later it was reconstructed to look like the original building.  This hotel has been in a lot of movies and mentioned in a lot of books.  Many stars of the 1930s would stay there.  In modern times most people will recognize it as the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his infant son off the balcony.  Dr. Who fans might recognize it when the TARDIS landed in the hotel dining room in the episode, "Let's Kill Hitler."

Hotel Adlon

There is so much history in Berlin, and like so many places, we could have stayed there for days to  see all of the historical and cultural sights.  We visited a few other places there, but for now, I will end this post because I still have a lot of places to write about.