Last year I found some slides in an old, rusty metal box in the closet, and I had them turned into digital photos. To my surprise, there were many photos from my mom's first trip to Europe; several were from Berlin.
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| Mom (right) on her European tour, 1966 |
Once I knew I was moving to Berlin, I thought it would be fun to take the same pictures that Mom did and compare them. That might be simple in other European cities, but Mom was in Berlin in 1966, only a few years after the Wall was built. These photos are mostly from East Berlin (taken from a train or bus tour, judging from the noticeable glare in a few of them), which is an area that has gone through a lot of transformations since then. A few of the places were obvious, like the Brandenburg Gate:
Brandenburg Gate (the east side)
Berlin Cathedral
The Berliner Dom has undergone a facelift since 1966, but it looks largely the same. The domes of the Cathedral were bombed during WWII, and were restored after reunification. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (below) was almost completely destroyed in WWII,
but rather than rebuild, officials chose to leave the tower standing as it was--a reminder of
the war. Mom's picture is better, since you can see the light come through the tower. That is no longer possible; another modern building behind the church blocks the afternoon sun.
Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche
Some buildings weren't quite as obvious; I almost missed this one. This Humboldt University building in the Bebelplatz was just a facade in 1966. I think Mom took this picture for the square's historical significance; it was heavily bombed during WWII, but it is best known for being the site of the largest Nazi book burning in 1933.
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| Humboldt University Law School |
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Those trees now block the view of the building. Before WWII, it was all on a square, Wilhelmplatz. During the time of the German Democratic Republic, the East German government renamed it "Thälmannplatz" after a German Communist leader. Well, the "Platz" is no more; it has government buildings and streets in its place. The former Goebbels office and "Nationalrat" building is now just another government building; it houses the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
I'd love to know the story behind this picture! These guys are long gone from Berlin.
The closest I could get was this fake memorabilia in Alexanderplatz.
Mom visited a small border crossing in what was an American section of Berlin (Kreuzberg). The wall was not very old, and was still crude in some places. This crossing is the current intersection of Bethaniendamm and Köpernickerstrasse. It's hard to imagine that the wall went down one of these streets.
Mom in bottom right corner; guard behind her 
Border crossing spot, August 2017
There is no way to know what happened to the parts of the wall Mom visited, but it's good to know they are all used for a better purpose now. ❤️
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| The Berlin Wall, 1966 |
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The Berlin Wall, 2017
