Twitter
Facebook
The sudden Fall of the Berlin Wall was positively welcomed by the world, but also brought about frightening changes. While many East Germans lost their jobs in closed state-run businesses, they found themselves in a state of turmoil and had to completely restructure their lives from one day to the next. Younger people went job seeking to the western states, others reunited with their families, but many were overburdened by the unexpected circumstances and had to start from square one.
The first New Year’s fireworks at Brandenburger Tor took place Dec. 31, 1989, and drew hundreds of thousands of spectators. After official reunification Oct. 3, 1990, the German government rapidly moved from Bonn to Berlin, and the city was again declared capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. The U.S. Army Brigade was inactivated in 1994 and the Reichstag received its new cupola in 1999.
By the late 1990s it became difficult to determine whether you were in West or East Berlin. The “East Side Gallery” is a section of the wall with artwork depicting former times and the belief in resurrection, while a small segment of the original wall was placed in a traffic circle at Ramstein Air Base.
Berlin has countless places of interest and maybe you’ve been inspired to try a sip of Berliner Weisse, a wheat beer with green or red syrup, try typical Berliner currywurst or potato soup and tour the city on an open double-decker bus or even a horse-drawn carriage.
Points of interest include Alexanderplatz, Brandenburger Tor, Check Point Charlie, East Side Gallery, Hackische Höfe, Holocaust Memorial, museum islands, Nikolai Viertel, Potsdamer Platz, Reichstag, Regierungsviertel (government area), former Stasi Headquarters, Spree River boat rides, Tierpark, Unter den Linden, Wannsee and many more. For inspiration, check out https://www.berlin.de/en/
Regarding historical happenings, we were only able to scratch the tip of the iceberg, for in-depth information, please visit https://www.introducingberlin.com/history-of-berlin
