A budget traveller’s GuideINBERLIN

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Berliner DomPotsdamer platzAuguststraße Gendarmenmarkt PergamonmuseumNeues Museum Peacock Island Berlin Olympic Stadium

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HISTORY

INTRODUCTION

FEATURES

A whistlestop tour of Berlin’shistory in ten key dates.

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A brief summary of the guide.

All the information you need to explore Berlin from where to stay to how to flirt in German.

ONLY INBERLIN ART & CULTUREThe Buddhist House

Book burning memorialNeue Wache

Victory Column Alexanderplatz

Checkpoint CharlieSaint Hedwigs Cathedral

Brandenburg GateCharlottenburg Palace

NikolaiviertelSanssouci Gardens

ReichstagUnter Der Linden

Rotes Rathaus

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Concerts at the Bode-MuseumEast Side GalleryHamburger BahnhofBoros CollectionScharf-Gerstenburg CollectionKW Institute for Contemporary Art Gay MuseumMuseum of Film and TelevisionBauhaus ArchiveOld National GalleryHauptstadt ZooGemäldergalerieSinguhr Sound GalleryMuseum BerggruenAquarium BerlinBerlin Concert HallMonster CabinetBoros Collection

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BARS & NIGHTLIFE

SHOPPING OUTDOORS & TOURS

100 & 200 Bus Tour Schwarzlicht MinigolfBaum Haus Comedy Open Air TiergartenWannsee LakeBearpit KaraokeTeafelseeCharlottenburg GardensBritzer GartenAlternative Berlin TourBrewers Berlin Express TourLake Tegel

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Jewish Museum Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt

Topography of TerrorGDR Museum

Memorial to the Murdered Jews STASI. Exhibition

German History MuseumRamones Museum

Museum of Musical InstrumentsMilestones-Setbacks-Sidetracks

Altes MuseumHelmut Newton Foundation

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KaterholzigBerghain

Mein Haus Am See Club der Visionäre

BeirbarDr Pong

B FlatWeinerei Forum

Suicide Circus

Mustafa’s Gemüse KebapFassbender & RauschRocco BurgermeisterFraulein BurgerTiki Heart CaféAmar Indian RestaurantBonanza Coffee HeroesBurger de VilleWhite Trash Fast FoodAnna BlumeFranken und GrunewaldBarcomi’s CaféEl Rief Marheineke MarkthalleCurry Clärchens BallhausMuttiRosenburgerCafé im LiteraturhausSchwarzes CaféCafé am Neuen See

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Mauerpark Flea MarketLes Galeries Lafayette

Sing BlackbirdDo You Read Me?!

Saint George’s English BookstoreKaDeWe

StiefelkombinatMade In Berlin

Turkish MarketDussman

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Multicultural, innovative and colourful are just a few of the adjectives that spring to mind when thinking of Berlin. Everything you see in this city hides a secret which is ready to be uncov-ered.

While walking through the streets, if you look carefully, you will notice that most of the monuments, the parks, the roads and even open air spaces try to convey a piece of Berlin’s controversial his-tory.

With this guide we want to introduce you to the most interesting places that you absolutely must see.

We start with a brief history of the city, it may seem bor-ing, but be assured that it’s very important to be aware of the past in order to better ap-preciate some of the sites.

The survival guide that comes next provides you with the most important informa-tion about hostels, public transport and other places you might need to go.

Then we cover different sec-tions. Culture is an impor-tant part of Berlin and we have highlighted the best bits along with an excellent guide to the museums and art gal-leries.

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Cafés and restaurants can be considered one of the most in-teresting aspects of the city, as they mirror its multicultural-ism. In Berlin you will find ev-ery kind of food from Turkey to China, from Italy to North Eu-rope.

Nightlife is another important feature, young people here have a wide selection of clubs, bars and pubs, so you’ll be spoilt for choice.

Even shopping lovers can sat-isfy their needs, not only in the shopping area of Ku-dam, but also thanks to the opportunities that the city provides for vin-tage shopping and flea markets.

During the warmer seasons it’s very enjoyable to spend an en-tire day in one of the various outdoor areas of the city: Tier-garten, Wannsee and Tegeler See. Last but not the least you will also find a piece of advice about the best guided tours both on foot and with other means of transport.

So, don’t miss the opportunity to discover Berlin, espe-cially if you have a low budget. Follow our suggestions and you won’t be disappointed!

The earli-est mention of Berlin in a title deed. In the 13th cen-tury, itinerant merchants founded the trading posts of Berlin & Cölln near today’s Nicholaiviertal. A profitable medieval trade route, the Ascanian margrave of Bran-denburg decided to amal-gamate the two towns into one for political and security purposes in 1307.

23 years after Martin Lu-ther nailed his 95 theses to the all-saints church in Wittenburg, Ber-lin finally converts to Prot-estantism. Berlin prospered for the immediate few de-cades until it was thrown into the medley of the thirty years war (1618-48). Elec-tor Georg Wilhelm (1620-40) attempted to keep Ber-lin neutral although this only succeeded in Berlin being battered by both sets of belligerents. As a result destruction, starvation, murder and disease ran rife through the city’s decimated streets.

FrederickWil-liam I, known as the great elector, succeeds his fa-ther Georg Wilhelm as elector of Brandenburg. His reign is categorized by a policy of encourag-ing immigration and reli-gious toleration.

The German empire is found-ed. Berlin is de-clared the capital under the command of Wilhelm I of Prussia. Berlin’s pop-ulation skyrockets from 800,000 to 1.5 million in-habitants.Kaiser Wilhelm goes into exile in Holland as riots break out after Germa-ny’s heavy defeat in WWI. Food shortages and left-ist political aggravation characterize these tumul-tuous years, resultantly the government resigns and seeks peace with the allied forces.

At the end of WWI in 1918, a republic was pro-

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claimed in Berlin. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act incorporated dozens of suburban cities, vil-lages and estates around Berlin into an expanded city. This new area encompassed Spandau and Charlottenburg in the west, as well as several other areas that are now major municipalities. After this expansion, Berlin had a population of around four million. During the Weimar era, Berlin became internation-ally renowned as a centre of cul-tural transformation at the heart of the Roaring Twenties.

The darkest hours of Berlin’s his-tory begin. The American stock market collapses in 1929. Ameri-ca would call in all of its foreign loans and Germany was spared no slack, even after the massive rep-arations it was forced to pay un-der the Treaty of Versailles. This crippled the economy of Germany and em-ployment rose to over 6 million people. As history has proved over and over, economic depression causes the rise of extremism – during this period National Socialism and Communism were vying for the

power of German government. Hitler obtained full power after claiming emergency powers from Chancellor Von Hindenburg after the Reichstag fire. The fire was os-tensibly caused by Dutch anarchist Marinus Van Der Lubbe, although many historians still speculate that the Nazi’s caused it them-selves in order to gain emergency powers.

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After the fall of Berlin in WWII, Berlin is spliced into 4 sec-tions by the allied powers. The former population of 4.5 million is almost halved, with a third of all the city’s histor-ic buildings and living space flattened.

Berlin is slashed in two by the Berlin Wall. The Eastern bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to pre-vent the will of the people in building a socialist state in East Germany. In operation however, the wall served only to prevent the massive emi-gration & defection (dubbed the brain-train) leaving for West Germany. The path of the wall is marked today by a double row of cobbles throughout the city.

A peaceful revo-lution leads to the destruction of the Berlin wall and subse-

quently the dismantling of the GDR. As communism began to falter in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslova-kia, new exodus points were opened, breaking a hole in the iron curtain. On Novem-ber 9th 1989, East German official, Gunter Schabowski, announced that, “perma-nent relocations can be done through all border check-points between the GDR into the FGR or West Berlin”. This announcement caused mass celebrations on both sides of the wall, many par-ticipants bringing a chisel and hammer to take part in its destruction.

Germany is offi-cially re-united by the Grundgesetz consti-tution article 25. The end of the process is referred to as Deutsch Einheit, or Ger-man Unity. Berlin again becomes Germany’s capital and parliament returns to the Reichstag for the first time since 1933.

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Berlin is now a world city of culture, politics, media and science. Its economy is based loosely on high tech industry and the service sector. It is a thriving cultural mecca, particularly amongst young people due to its vibrant nightlife (clubs have no legal obligation to close) and has become one of the coolest places on the face of the earth. Berlin is a fully unified and cosmopolitan city and an exciting destination for travellers.

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www.visitberlin.deVisit Berlin|Official tourist authority info

www.museumsportal-berlin.de Museums portal|Find information about 200 muse-ums, memorials and palaces as well as details about of exhibitions and events

www.exberliner.com Exberliner|The ultimate city guide from Berlin’s English - language magazine

www.sugarhigh.de Sugarhigh|Bilingual daily email magazine featur-ing the latest in contemporary culture in Berlin - art, music, fashion, food, film, events, jobs and more.

www.bvg.de BVG| Berlin’s transport website

useful websites

E Fine, thank youG Gut, dankeP Goot dang-ke

E Do you speak english?G Sprechen Sie Englisch?P Shpre.khen zee eng.lish

E I don’t understandG Ich verstehe nichtP ikh fer-shtay-e nikht

E How much?G Wie vielP Vee feel?

german phrasesENGLISH|How are you?GERMAN|Wie geht’s?PRONUNCIATION |Vee gahts

By Stephanie Annett