Berlin

In this chapter we will tell you something about Berlin in general. In October 2023, our class went to Berlin for their final trip.

The final trip lasted five days from Monday to Friday. We learned and experienced a lot during this time. We looked around the city and learned a lot while we were there. We will now tell you about this knowledge. Berlin is the capital of Germany and also a federal state. With around three and a half million inhabitants, Berlin is the largest German city and the largest city in the European Union. It is located in eastern Germany and is surrounded on all sides by the state of Brandenburg. South of Berlin lies the Brandenburg capital Potsdam.

Berlin-Mitte: The television tower is in the back. In front is the Nikolaiviertel, which is supposed to look a bit like the old Berlin before World War II.

Because Berlin is the capital, many important buildings of the German state are located there. An example is the Reichstag, the parliament building. In addition, many sights and museums and other things attract tourists. Many companies also have their main headquarters in Germany in Berlin.

Today many people live in the city who were born in other parts of Germany or in other countries around the world. This makes Berlin a very colorful city with very different districts. While in some areas a lot of people live together in narrow streets with tall houses, in the outskirts it sometimes almost looks like a village.

Back in the day: Berlin was founded almost 800 years ago. It became the capital of Preußen and, from 1871, also of Germany.

Much of Berlin was destroyed in the Second World War. Because after the war everything had to be rebuilt as quickly as possible. The city doesn’t look particularly nice and there are hardly any very old buildings left. The winners divided Berlin: the west was occupied by Great Britain, France and the USA, the east by the Soviet Union. The German Democratic Republic oppressed the inhabitants. Many wanted to escape to the west of Berlin or to the west of Germany. The DDR had already built walls and fences everywhere that were strictly guarded. But she didn’t dare to do the same between West Berlin and East Berlin. She didn’t want any trouble with the protective powers of the West.

Finally, a specially large number of Germans escaped to West Berlin, around 1,000 a day. In 1961, the DDR built a wall to prevent this. The DDR government claimed that this would protect the DDR from evil people from the West. People were still trying to escape across the borders between East and West. Over 1,000 died. Some have succeeded. Overall, however, the government gained with the Berlin Wall what it was built for.

After the wall fell, the city expanded quickly at that time because many factories were built and more and more people moved to the city to work and live. So that people could get to work more quickly, the first trains in Germany were built in Berlin.