Berlin general

See the comments about missing parts with the adjacent picture. Particularly interesting to me here is the depiction of the caring of the wounded soldier. To me the depiction is quite suggestive of various depictions of Christ being removed from the cross.

From the Victory Column looking towards Brandenburg Gate, a distance of 2km (1.2 miles)

A group of Trabants, the car built by East Germany -- no, they didn't build them in these colors (See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant ) Trabi World is a commercial, guided, tour where you drive your own Trabant. Note also the Aeroflot building in the background, this was taken near the Russian Embassy.

Volkspark [People's Park] Humboldthain is one of many public parks in Berlin, but with a particularly noteworthy attribute – a very large Flak tower. The Flak tower was one of three built around Berlin by the Nazis in the first years of WWII. The towers are very tall, originally with anti-aircraft guns and radar at the top and a very large civilian bomb shelter below that could hold up to 20,000. The concrete walls are up to 11 feet thick, thus plans to demolish the towers after the war were largely shelved. (Flak is an abbreviation of the name of the maker of the anti-aircraft guns). Sources: en.tracesofwar.com/article/1679/Flakturm-III-G-Tower-Humboldthain-Flak-tower.htm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_tower

The Flak towers are popular for wall-climbing. See following for history of park: www.ipernity.com/doc/donbrr/38888966

From atop the Flak tower, looking basically north. The very large high rise housing complexes in the distance appear to be Wilhelmsruh in the Pankow burough. From here it looks like a much larger and more densely populated area than central Berlin.

A heavily graffitied symbolic statue on top of the Flak tower.

Looking down from the Flak tower, the bridge is over the S-bahn tracks, above it is Magic Mountain which is some sort of climbing facility (in a larger version of the picture you can see climbers on the walls). The ornate structure only partially visible, in the upper left of the picture, is actually a district court.

Each Flak tower had 2 components, each of which were also called towers. If you look at the satellite view you can see that this is the western tower.

Detail on the death of a young man (age 21), murdered by the East German guards when attempting to swim the Spree river near this site.

In the northeast corner of the Tiergarten, a memorial to those who died trying to cross the Wall. The memorial had an informal feel that suggested that it was not officially recognized.

Westhafen (west harbor). I never thought of Berlin as a port since it is quite a distance inland, but the canal network does provide an inexpensive means for bulk and container shipments. The port started operation in 1923 and is still in operation. (See: www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/westhafen) This photo is taken through the train window, I only learned about the port because of passing it multiple times on the train.

The U.S. Embassy, just around the corner from Brandenburg gate and across from the Murdered Jews (Holocaust) memorial. If you look at the largest version of the picture you'll see that there is a fiberglass "Statue of Liberty" bear in the corner of the lobby. The bear represents a U.S. contribution to the "United Buddy Bears" campaign to promote world peace (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Buddy_Bears)

Visiting the gate had somewhat of a personal emotional context for me since it was the symbol of the division both for my oldest brother and I. My oldest brother was stationed in Berlin with an Army band not long after the Wall was built in 1961; and I was stationed in West Germany in 1968-69 and unable to visit West Berlin due to gathering intelligence on Soviet operations.

The Quadriga, the statue of a chariot drawn by four horses and carrying the goddess of peace, at the top of the Brandenburg gate. Built between 1788 and 1791, the gate has repeatedly been a political symbol for Prussia and Germany. During the Cold War it was inaccessible, separated from West Berliners by the Wall and from East Berliners by a second wall.

Display of photograph, from 1945 right after the fall of Berlin, of German Army soldiers being taken care of at about the spot where the picture is on display.

Selfie-takers at Brandenburg Gate.

Looking through the Gate to the Victory Statue (see later pictures).