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The tour "Ostalgia" presents important places of the GDR. In Berlin every district has its own history and identity. In the years of the separation in two parts two different political and ideological systems were developed and therefore two different historic evolutions took place in Berlin. After the fall of the wall Berlin became one city again, but the past is vivid in various places. The recent history in Berlin has many aspects and different ways of handling. On one hand there is the difficult historical discussion, on the other hand is the (n)ostalgic mood. The wow of the German movie "Good-bye Lenin" made this kind of mood clear to an international public. Our tour shows both sides.

U5 Magdalenenstraße

Our Tour "Ostalgia" starts in district Lichtenberg. With the underground line 5 you go until station Magdalenenstraße. Follow the Frankfurter Allee until the street crosses Ruschestraße and turn right. Here at Ruschestraße 103, there is the former GDR Ministry of the Interior and the and the headquarter of the "Staatssicherheit" (State Security), the so-called Stasi. Today the building, the Forschungs- und Gedenkstätte Normannenstraße, is a memorial and a site of research opened for public. The exhibition shows photos and documents as well as the equipment used for control and surveillance of the GDR-citizens. You can also have a look into the bureau of Erich Mielke, head of the "Stasi".

Forschungs- und Gedenkstätte Normannenstraße
Ruschestraße 103
Mon-Fri 11am - 6pm, Sat+Sun 2pm - 6pm
Phone: +49(30)5 53 68 54 (for groups an appointment is recommended)

U5 Magdalenstraße

With underground U5 two stations direction Alexanderplatz to Samariterstraße. Driving time: 2 min

Now you can either take the underground line 5 or walk the two stations to Samariterstraße.
By passing Proskauer Straße you reach Frankfurter Allee. At Frankfurter Tor with its two monumental towers, which take up the shape of the towers at Gendarmenmarkt, you start your walk along Karl-Marx-Allee. The pomp and presentation Boulevard of the former GDR Government was called "Stalinallee" until 1961. It was built in the so-called "Confectioner's Style", the stalinistic-neoclassic style of the 1950s. On June 17th 1953 the worker's rebellion started here, which concussed the GDR in its base and was beaten down bloodily.
The Karl-Marx-Allee is a unique open-air museum of Socialist Realist architecture in Germany. Destroyed in World War II, the street was widened to 90 metres and varied with different storeys and storefronts. It reaches from Frankfurter Tor to Strausberger Platz more than 3 kilometres and goes on to Alexanderplatz. The underground line 5 goes to Alexanderplatz, too and so you can shorten your walk on one of the three stations: Weberwiese, Strausberger Platz or Schillingstraße.
The Museum of local history of Friedrichshain (Heimatmuseum) shows changing exhibitions about the history of the district. The museum is located near Station Weberwiese at Marchlewskistraße 6. At Karl-Marx-Allee 72 there is Café Sybille. An exhibition shows the history of "Stalinallee" and the "palaces for worker's" as the apartments in the boulevard were called . In the café events in the evening like readings or concerts also take place.
The Karl-Marx-Allee extends to Alexanderplatz. Between Strausberger Platz and Alexanderplatz the stalinistic buildings meet modern "Plattenbauten" (panel buildings) of the "International Style", the second phase of construction of the avenue. In the cinema International at Karl-Marx-Allee 33 the eastern flair is still alive. The building of the sixties, that is under monumental protection, houses a cinema, a library and function rooms.

Heimatmuseum Friedrichshain
Marchlewskistraße 6
Tue+Thu 11am - 7pm, Fri + Sat 2pm -8pm
Phone +49(30)249 68 75

Café Sibylle
Karl-Marx-Allee 72
Mon-Fri 10am - 8pm, Sat+Sun Noon - 8pm
Phone +49(30)29 35 22 03

U5

To shorten the walk to Alexanderplatz take underground U5.

Now the famous Alexanderplatz is nearby.
The Fernsehturm (TV-tower), the highest building in the city with 365 metres, was built from 1965-69. A pavilion-style construction around the foot of the tower was built from 1969 to 72 according to the plans by the architects Walter Herzog and Heinz Aust; it is divided into three sections with pointed, multi-pitch roofs. On Alexanderplatz, or "Alex", as it is simply called in Berlin, and its environs you find a series of GDR relicts. During the new construction between 1966-71 the place got its today's shape. In 1969 the Weltzeituhr (World Time Clock) and the Brunnen der Internationalen Freundschaft (Fountain of International Friendship) were put up.
The Haus des Lehrers (house of teachers) at Alexanderplatz 4 is an architectonic classic of the GDR Modernity and is under monumental protection. The Bauhaus pupil Hermann Henselmann designed the 12 storeys in form of a box. The impressive frieze of Walter Womacka is in style of modern Mexican murals. Until 1990 the Haus des Lehrers functioned as a culture, education and information centre for pedagogues and parents. Today it is an office building. The nearby congress hall, today bcc, was constructed with an aluminium dome.

The Marx-Engels-Forum extends from the Fernsehturm to the bank of the river Spree. The statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are the only eye-catcher of the spacious place. On the other bank of the Spree at the Schlossplatz (Palace Square) the Palast der Republik (Palace of the Republic) was built. In the former GDR, it served as the office for the Volkskammer (chamber of public), but was also open to the public with very popular cafés, restaurants, theatres, concert halls and a bowling alley. The famous television show "Ein Kessel Buntes" was presented here. Today the building is being demolished due to intoxication with asbestos. The rebuilding of the former palace Stadtschloss is planned
On the left side the Staatsratsgebäude (building of privy council) of the former GDR is situated, which fulfilled for some time the function of Federal Chancellery after the German Reunification. Today, the building is let for exhibitions, recitations or for other commercial reasons. It is planed to rebuilt the Berlin Stadtschloss (Town Palace), that was demolished in 1950 as a "symbol of Prussian militarism" by the GDR Government in spite of international protest. During the GDR the square was called Marx-Engels-Platz and served for deployments and demonstrations. The former tribune for the political parades is now demolished.

Opposite The Berlin Cathedral the GDR Museum is located. The museum presents an entertainment view insight the everydaylife of a former state, multimedia-based and interactive.

DDR Museum
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1, 10178 Berlinbr> Phone: 49 (0)30/847 123 73-1
www.ddr-museum.de

M1 Hackescher Markt

To Hackescher Markt take tram M1 direction Rosenthal until underground station Eberswalder Straße. Driving time: approx. 10 min.

From Station Hackescher Markt you take Tram M1 to district Prenzlauer Berg. There lived and still live famous literates and artists, who were often dissidents in the regime of the former GDR. You pass Zionskirchplatz. From 1986 the church harboured an oppositional group, the "Friedens- und Umweltkreis der Zionsgemeinde" (peace and environmental group of the parish of Zion). The "Stasi" searched the rooms on November 25th 1987 and arrested some members of the group. After a series of protests and reminding church services as well as a huge media echo in the western press, the GDR-government let out the imprisoned members. But afterwards the "Stasi" locked the entrance and tower of the church. So the protest group moved to another church "Gethsemanekirche", where the famous reminding church services were hold.
You can get out of the tram at station Eberswalder Straße. The underground line 2 from Alexanderplatz is also going there.
The Mauerpark (Wall park) at the end of Eberswalder Straße is connecting East and West. The Berlin Wall passed the park and a little rest of it is today an exercise wall for graffiti sprayers. You can swing on the big seesaws between East and West.

The Eberswalder Straße passes over to Bernauer Straße. Directly at the former run of the Berlin Wall the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall memorial) is situated in Bernauer Straße 111. Once the houses in the street had been walled up and the border between East and West run through them. The most spectacular attempts to escape happened here. In 1964 for example 57 people flew in burrowed tunnel under the street and escaped to western Berlin. The dramatic events were told in the successful television film "The tunnel" in 2001. The former frontier band between Ackerstraße and Bergstraße is now under monumental protection. The border was opened first here in Bernauer Straße at the pictures of this unique event went into the whole world.

Now you have different possibilities to continue your trip "Ostalgia".

The district Pankow borders north on district Prenzlauer Berg. The elite of GDR politics once lived here. Pankow is also the former embassy district of the GDR.

12 U-Bahn Eberswalder Straße

From Prenzlauer Berg tram line Linie 12 goes from Eberswalder Straße to Stahlheimer Straße/Wisbyer Straße. Driving time: approx. 10 min.

13 Stahlheimer Straße/Wisbyer Straße

With tram line 13 direction Rudolf-Virchow-Klinikum two stations Stationen to Schönfließer Straße. Driving time: approx. 3 min.

From the same station with tram lines 13 direction "Virchow Klinikum" you go until station Schönfließer Straße. Here between the streets Stavagner Straße, Gotlandstraße and Ibsenstraße is the old embassy quarter of the GDR where time seems to persist. There are still some ambassadors of countries like Cuba, Eritrea, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Cape Verde.

M1 Schönfließer Straße

Take tram line M1 direction Niederschönhausen/Schillerstr until station Tschaikowskystraße. Driving time: approx. 12 min.

With tram line M1 you take direction Schillerstraße. At Station Tschaikowskystraße you can get out. Now you are near Schloss Niederschönhausen (Palace Niederschönhausen), the former Office of the GDR president Wilhelm Pieck, later guesthouse for important state visitors. In the park are many wonderful old trees, 18 of them under memorial protection and some of them more than 1000 years old. They are to be here before the first settlements and were protected already in GDR times by the sign with the owl on it.
The area around the palace was domicile of the GDR elite. At Majakowskiring 29 you see the former residential house of Wilhelm Piek. It was opened until 2001 for public. Today the villas are rented or marketed and the atmosphere of the old eastern times continues only in fantasy.
From Majakowskiring you go south with Tram lines M1 until city train station Pankow or you can walk the short distance. From here you have the possibility to go on with your trip in any direction.

M6, 16 Genslerstraße oder M5 Freienwalder Straße

The Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen (memorial Berlin-Hohenschönhausen) gives an impressive look into the jailhouses and penal camps of the GDR. Political oppression and prosecution under the communism is documented in Hohenschönhausen. The area contains prisons, penal camps and internment camps. The premises can only be visited in a guided tour. Guided tours for visitors are from Monday till Friday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m, on Saturday and Sunday every hour from 10am till 4pm. Admission; 4 Euro, reduced 2 Euro. On Monday the admission is free.

Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen
Genslerstraße 66
13055 Berlin
Phone +49(30)98 60 82-30/-32, Fax +49(30)98 60 82-464
www.stiftung-hsh.de

S3, S7, S75, S9, U1 Warschauer Straße

In district Friedrichshain stands the longest cohesive section of the Wall. In fact it is not the real wall but a so called Foreland Wall. The East-Side-Gallery in Mühlenstraße near city train and underground station Warschauer Straße has been painted by an artist group after the fall of the wall and stretches a few kilometres.

S41, S42, S8, S9 Treptower Park

In Treptower Park the Soviet monument was built that us dedicated to the 5,000 soviet soldiers killed in action who were buried here. The site is, besides of the cemetery in Niederschönhausen, the biggest soviet cemetery for soldiers in Germany. It was built from 1947 to 1949 in a monumental "Stalin" style with grave platters and frescos that display the process of the war. The impressing memorial over the mausoleum shows a soldier that carries a German child.

S7 Ahrensfelde

District Marzahn is the largest cohesive area of new buildings in Berlin. It was in the 1970s developed on the grassland because of the successive housing shortage. The well-equipped flats were high comfort during GDR times. Who thinks that today Marzahn is only a dull quarter of panel buildings (Plattenbauten), is wrong. Many houses have been renovated and designed colourful. Public parks and gardens break the high-rise housing estates and are treasured recreation areas. During the EXPO 2000 exemplary ecological redeveloped buildings or housing estates accrued. To visit Marzahn you should take the city-train to the station Ahrensfelde, the last station of S-Bahn line 7.
Who wants to have an example for well-refloated housing estates is referred to the object at Wuhlestraße 9-21. The ten-storey panel building of type QP71, built everywhere in the GDR, was reconstructed from scratch and a energy reduction of about 50% has been achieved.

With a Trabant, the popular car of the GDR, you discover Berlin in a very particular tour . The visitors drive the Trabis themselves and follow the guide who gives explanations. Two tours "Berlin Classic" and "Berlin Wild East" invite you.
Phone: +49(30)-27 59 22 73 (an appointment is recommended, the tour costs around 25 €).

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