On Wednesday, Rachel (our CIEE tour guide) took us through the Berlin Wall memorial. The section dedicated to the memorial is the patch where the Church of Reconciliation was trapped in the death strip between the walls, and was eventually torn down for better patrolling visibility. The wall exists still in fragments, including a big chunk that has been rebuilt to depict the size and intimidation of the death strip that divided Berlin during the Cold War (see photo below).

We watched two quick videos that were surprisingly capitalist propagandistic. It was disappointing that the museum didn’t present the information more critically. It is clear that that the construction/maintenance/elaboration of the wall was oppressive literally and figuratively, but during this time presently when there is a rising and threatening conservative right-wing extremist movement in the East of Germany it is important to pay attention to both sides of the wall. Most of the viewing happened from a high tower in the West, looking East.