Growing up with a German father who lived through part of the Cold War, along with a separated Germany gave me a better understanding of the history during this time because of his experiences. As a kid I was always very intrigued by what my father was doing when the wall fell and if he had ever traveled to the East. Because of his upbringing I wanted to interview him because of how rare it is as an American to have a German father who lived through a big part of German history. In the above voice recording, he talks about his time visiting East Berlin in high school and what it was like compared to his home (West Germany).
As mentioned throughout this whole Portfolio, history in Germany is everywhere, especially Berlin. During my time in Berlin, one of the classes I took was about Berlin's Economy. We focused on learning about how Berlin's economy has come back since the fall of the wall. A big part of this is from the club scene in Berlin, which is why I focused on it under my Cultural Awareness tab.
The reason why I wanted to focus on history in Berlin was because of the correlation between this and why Berlin is so green today. Berlin is considered one of the greenest cities in Europe, with more parks, gardens and forested areas than any other European city. This was something I had noticed when I was living there but did not put together with history. West Germany/Berlin was obviously significantly different from the Eastern side. My father even describes how "dark and gloomy" East Berlin was compared to West Berlin. After WW1, Berlin along with their residents had to become self-sufficient and self-reliant in so many ways, especially finding their own sources of food. Green spaces throughout the city became highly valued and were protected by residents who grew food and materials on them. With this in mind, comes a long history of green urban planning which is thriving today.
In this picture we are shown what the Iron Curtain has been transformed into: an unusual nature preserve.
I want to focus on the places I was able to visit during my time in Berlin. I focused on Tempelhofer Field under my Cultural Awareness tab and want to go more in depth about it. This green space is so massive, because it used to be an airport and it is used in a variety of ways. In my opinion the coolest part is the fact that there is a massive space provided for a herd of sheep. This is the most random idea, espesically for a city as big as Berlin but is also very special. They are fenced in a permanent bird sanctuary, and supports both the preservation of a rare breed of sheep and the "heraldic bird".
