This song literally, metre by metre describes the Berlin of my youth and my former neighbourhood and its special energy. Being a smaller metropole and totally enclosed by the East, gave it some weird strange and electric atmosphere, a siege mentality. As I opted for a German passport once I hit 18, I was not allowed to use Checkpoint Charlie and like all West Berliners was denied and lost the right to cross into East Berlin to visit friends through an Allied checkpoint. Instead, I had to go through one of the most absurd and “eery” commutes via Berlin Friedrichstraße, not to be recommended for those suffering from claustrophobia. You crossed the border via the ancient underground tube system and had to enter an old clapped out tube train with the windows blacked out, seeing just some glimpses of the ghost station underneath what was called the death strip, a wasteland that was completely mined and where anyone who tried to cross was either blown up or shot from any of the nearby watch towers. One vast open air prison. I could see the border guards with their machine guns from my flats windows. Sometimes theyd pointed their flood lights towards me. I ended up getting an eye mask to sleep... lol Once you arrived at the Border station in the eastern side of Berlin, you entered a hall with extra bright lights that sort of blinded you, and then were faced with masses of East German guards with machine guns and could only pass via single file, being thoroughly searched for contraband etc. No matter how many times I went, it still felt menacing. https://youtube/watch?v=tYyZaoVT3WA
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 15:20:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015