The Anniversary of a United Germany – 25 Highlights

On the 3rd of October Germany will be celebrating the anniversary of its re-unification. Wait, didn’t we do that last year with the balloons and all? No, that was the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall which happened about one year before the actual re-unification of Germany. So as you can imagine this is a pretty special day for us here, especially for those who were born in the time when the country was still separated.

As in previous years the “Tag der Deutschen Einheit” will be celebrated with a big street festival at the Brandenburger Gate that is free for everyone to join.

Since the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall we have been publishing a lot of features about Berlin’s pre- and post-wall history here on the blog. This has been a very educative process for us as we learned so many things about the city that we live in that we didn’t know before. For the anniversary of the re-unification of Germany we want to give you another history lesson by collecting 25 highlights of the united Germany. We picked both big and small happenings, personal and general events that were important to us. Join us on a trip down memory lane after the jump. For more of those moments come to Brandenburger Tor on October the 3rd!

Brandenburger Tor, 1990, photo: igor Griffiths

1990 My First Trip to Berlin

I grew up in East Germany about 2,5 hours North of Berlin. I didn’t understand much about what was going on then, but I did feel that something special was happening. In 1990 when the country was united the first thing we did was take the car to Berlin with our “Welcome money” and see the Wild West that we had so long been shut out of. West Berlin was the closest piece of the West for us, but it still felt like an endless ride to me. I don’t remember much, but I know we went up the TV tower (the only time I ever did that in my life) and I bought my first toy in the West which was a Pumuckl doll (a character from a TV show that I loved).

Greifenhagener Str, 1990, photo: pardonreeds

1991 Go Trabi Go

Go Trabi Go was a pretty iconic movie for us at the time because it’s about a German teacher from the East who takes his family on a road trip to Naples in his Trabant car. He takes Goethe’s Italien Journey as his road map. Seeing a naive Ossi going to Western countries for the first time was simply hilarious.

Go Trabi Go, 1991

1991 Love Parade

Technically the first Love Parade already took place in 1989, but it was more like a little private birthday party in the streets by Dr. Motto. In 1991 it had for the first time the status of a street parade with techno fans from all over Germany joining in. In the following years the parade grew to one of the biggest techno parades and shaped Berlin as a city for electronic music. I personally saw the Love Parade in the early 2000s for the first time and was pretty overwhelmed by the amount of people in the streets. The bigger it grew, the more problems it encountered until it ended in tragedy 2010.  Only a few months ago a new parade with a similar aim marched by my balcony: The train of love.

Love Parade, 90s, photo: Juska Wendland

1992 The European Union

As if the German union wasn’t already enough of a culture shock only 2 years later the European Union was founded and united a large amount of the European country. For us it was already great to even be allowed in the West of Berlin, but of course even better to move so freely into the other countries. Regardless of the problems the EU and especially the Euro currency that was established in 2002 have brought upon us, the idea of a united Europe is something that I have always been in favor with.

1992 The first Vacation in Western Europe

In 1992 my family and I made the first vacation abroad in a Western country that we were previously not allowed to go. We chose the island Malta in the Mediterranean Sea as our first destination (with other Southern countries to follow in the coming years). For us never having seen much outside of East Germany this was pretty mind-blowing and I still have the most vivid memories of excitement from this trip.

Reichsbahnbunker, photo: Lian Chang

1992 Banana Bunker goes Techno Club

The Reichsbahnbunker at Reinhardstraße has a strange story really. In the GDR time it got the nick name Banana Bunker because it was used to store bananas (a rare treasure in the GDR) as well as other tropical fruits. In 1992 it was used as a techno club under the name Bunker. The first Snax parties took place here which was hosted by the same people that later founded the Ostgut and Berghain. The Bunker also served as a fetish and sexclub until about 1996 when it was shut down. In 2003 the art collector Christian Boros bought the bunker, completely remodeled it and shows his private collection there since 2007.

Mauerpark, photo: Mika Stetsovski

1994 The Mauerpark

The Mauerpark we know today was vor decades part of the so-called “Death Strip” which is the empty space between the two parts of the wall. In 1994 it was completely remodeled and re-opened as a recreational park. Since 2004 the popular flea market is taking place there and since 2009 the public Bearpit Karaoke show run by Joe Hatchiban that has made this place one of the most iconic ones for the Berlin youth culture.

1995 Wrapped Reichstag

The Wrapped Reichstag by artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude is probably one of the most impressive pieces of public art that I can remember. In a process that took almost 24 years of planning they literally wrapped the entire Reichstag building (before it got its new glass dome) into white fabric.

Wrapped Reichstag, 1995, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, photo: txmx 2

1996 The Sophiensaele

In 1996 famous choreographer Sasha Walz together with Jochen Sandig, Jo Fabian and Dirk Cieslak founded the theater Sophiensaele inside the old craftsman union house in Sophienstraße in Mitte. It had its break through thanks to Sasha Walz’s play Allee der Kosmonauten and later become one of the most important houses of the independent theater scene.

Sophiensaele, photo: Joe Goergen

1998 My School Trip to Berlin

I returned to Berlin when I was a teenager. It was in 1998 and it was a school trip with my class. We visited some event at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. I have no memory of what was going on in there, I just remember the “free time” we got to explore the city. I followed a friend to the Gesundbrunnen Center to go shopping. An odd choice as I later found out… 😉

HKW, photo: Annie Dalbéra

2000 Moving to Berlin

In 2000 I moved to Berlin to study Media and Computing. I moved to Friedrichshain close to the former Kosmos cinema (which was a really awesome one, so sad when it closed) because it was close to my university the HTW. Friedrichshain was not at all like it is today of course, only a few bars on Simon-Dach-Str. it was a typical student district like Prenzlauer Berg used to be in the 90s and like Neukölln was maybe 5 years ago. I liked it a lot there and it was nice to see it develop in the coming 9 years that I lived there. It inspired me a lot to start iHeartBerlin.

2003 The Hebbel Am Ufer

In 2003 I noticed a really provocative and violent looking poster campaign advertising the opening of the HAU. It’s the union of three previously seperate theaters in Kreuzberg that now formed the Hebbel Am Ufer with three stages titled HAU1, HAU2, and HAU3. The first creative director was Mathias Lilienthal who was leading this theater to become one of the biggest stages of the independent theater scene of Berlin.

Hebbel am Ufer

2003 Goodbye Lenin

Another iconic film about the re-unification came out in 2003. In Goodbye Lenin a whole family pretends to their sick mother that the re-unification never happen to protect her from grieve. This was of course hilarious but also very moving and sweet.

Good Bye Lenin, 2003

2004 Berghain

It’s very unusual for a club in Berlin to exist more than a few years, and more importantly stay relevant and cool for so long as Berghain has managed now. It opened in 2004 as a follow-up to Ostgut and is probably one of the most famous clubs in the world. When I entered the place for the first time I was pretty stunned and impressed by the location, the music and the crowd, I think this feeling remains until today for everyone on their first visit.

2004 Helmuth Newton Foundation & Museum for Photography

In 2004 the former Landwehrkasino in Charlottenburg was re-opened as the Museum for Photography that shared the space with the Helmuth Newton Foundation that shows a permanent exhibition of one of the most notable photographers of our time, Helmuth Newton.

Exhibition View, Helmut Newton Foundation

2005 Fraktale 5: Tod at Palace of the Republic

When I moved to Berlin I was lucky to see the final years of the once so glorious Palace of the Republic. The building was long time abandoned, but towards its end it was suddenly used for parties, events and exhibitions. The last one was a really impressive one called Fraktale IV: Tod. It was a big group show with many gigantic pieces that made use of the space. I never saw an exhibition as impressive ever again in Berlin. Later the palace was demolished and the old Stadtschloss that was destroyed in the war is being rebuild in its place.

Palast der Republik, photo: Peter

2007 The Beginning of iHeartBerlin

This is another personal highlight that would have never happened without the re-unification: The founding of this blog iHeartBerlin. It started as a small side project where I collected my personal recommendations about Berlin. But it somehow took off and became a big success for me. It has completely changed my life.

2008 Scala

I could have named a couple of other legendary clubs here like Cookies or Picknick that started even earlier than 2008, but I picked Scala that operated for about a year in 2008/9 because it was an important period for iHeartBerlin. We basically covered the club on the blog from the opening till its closing and it was our special place somehow. It was only one of a series of clubs run by party king Conny Opper who also was responsible for the Rio Club, Flamingo, Kind Size Bar, Broken Hearts Club, and the Berlin Festival and now runs the Konzulat. I love to look back at the photos I took in Scala, it was a great time of Berlin nightlife.

Party at Scala, 2009

2010 Designer Scouts

Designer Scouts was a fashion project of mine that I started in 2010 with a friend. Our first event was a big fashion show with 9 designers that we organized in the HBC (a place we dearly miss) the former Hungarian Cultural Center. It wasn’t my first event, but certainly my first hugely successful one with over 500 people showing up wanting to see our designers. We did more events like this in 2010, also one big charity event inside the gorgeous Stadtbad Oderberger with almost 1000 attending guests. It was a great experience. The project continued until around 2013.

Designer Scouts, January 2010

2010 Lena wins Eurovision Song Contest

2010 was not only a big year for me, but also for Germany. For the first time in what feels like forever we won the Eurovision Song Contest thanks to Lena. I didn’t care much for her back than (now I do) but it was a nice feeling to see Germany united in celebration like this.

2013 David Hasselhoff and the Berlin Wall

Considering he gave a concert at the Berlin Wall in 1989 in support of its destruction it was kind of ironic that he returned in 2013 to join the demonstration that was fighting for the preservation of the wall as a memorial. But to see David Hasselhoff, the 90s TV show star with that one hit that we Germans loved so much, was fascinating nonetheless.

David Hasselhoff during demonstration in Berlin, 2013, photo: Juska Wendland

2014 Re-Opening Bikini Haus

The original Bikini Haus was a built in the mid 50s by the Americans as a production place for clothes. In 2010 the renovations and modernizations began to change it into a modern mall and design hotel. The new Bikini Berlin re-opened with stunning architecture and design and houses shops of mostly Berlin-based companies. The style of the concept mall is significantly different from traditional malls, completely avoiding high street fashion and mainstream shops.
Bikini Berlin

Bikini Berlin, April 2014

2014 Public Vote about the Tempelhofer Airport

Since the airport of Tempelhof was closed there was an instant quarrel about what would happen with the huge field. A group formed that wanted to fight against the plans to build expensive residential houses and offices on the grounds. They managed to push a public vote through, the first one of its kind in a very long time, and the public decided against the construction plans. This was a very symbolic vote that was about much more than just the airport field because it was the first time that Berliners could express their frustration about the bad city developments of the recent years.

Tempelhofer Feld

Tempelhofer Feld, 2013

2014 Germany wins FIFA World Cup

Germans are known to not feel a lot of national pride, but this of course changed in the moment their country won the FIFA World Cup in Brasil.

2014 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

For the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall a chain of floating light balloons was lined up along the old course of the wall. In a nightly ceremony the balloons where let into the air one by one to symbolize the dissolving of the wall into thin air. It was a great and moving moment and the idea was simply brilliant. I was so happy that I could see this special moment live.

Lichtgrenze at Berlin Wall, November 2014

And this was already the last one of my 25 highlights of a united Germany. I hope these bring some memories back in you as well. Please feel free to share some of your highlights in the comments below.

Watch the video below to see what memories the participating artists of the Festival der Einheit are sharing. See you at the Brandenburger Gate on the 3rd!

Diesen Artikel auf deutsch lesen.

<a href="https://www.iheartberlin.de/author/admin/" target="_self">Frank</a>

Frank

Author

Frank is the founder and editor-in-chief of iHeartBerlin. He takes photos, makes videos, and writes texts mostly about what's going on in Berlin. His vision and interests have shaped iHeartBerlin since its conception back in 2007 - and he hopes to continue bringing you the best of Berlin for many years to come.