Berlin the Metropolis

I'm having trouble writing about Berlin. I have all of these reflections about the city that I am dying to get down, but I can't seem to bind them into a cohesive narrative. What is so odd about that is that though each of my most salient experiences was entirely self-contained, they are all about the same thing: trauma.

When I speak of trauma here I am not referring to the ER kind, but rather an emotional wound, or shock that creates substantial, lasting psychological damage, often leading to neurosis. Or, an event or situation that causes great distress and disruption (thank you dictionary.com!). This injury, or wound is of course the division of East and West Germany, the effects of which have resulted in a deep scar that runs the length of the country and is especially raw in Berlin.

In Berlin, like in Dresden but magnified, the past presses so close with the collective traumas of both World Wars, the Holocaust, and the Soviet occupation that it is difficult to to pinpoint where the past ends and the present begins. And yet, it is an ultra-modern city heralding the future with wildly innovative art and architecture that makes we wonder if Fritz Lang could have ever foreseen such a metropolis in his native land.

Berlin has been called the most modern city in the world, and indeed its present day innovations far outshine a city like New York, which feeds off of the cultural capital generated in the last century by artists like Pollock, Warhol, and Judd. But I think that Berlin is also an ultra-modern city because of its close relationship with the past. A city like Rome was heavily touched by the two great wars, but for a tourist, this history is overwhelmed by the stately presence of Ancient Rome, or the papacy fueled images of Baroque Rome. Berlin is unique among the great cities of Europe because its ancient history is so overwhelmed by its connection to recent history. Who we are, what defines our current age is a direct, or indirect reflection of the politics of the past 60 years, and what city has a deeper connection to that history than Berlin.

Berlin is a monument to what makes us tick.

What we have lost, regained and started to rebuild is all there for the naked eye to see. It is truly an amazing city. To try and do it further justice I have decided to make each of my three most salient experiences separate postings, without worrying about them flowing nicely into one another. You can make the connections.