A Monument to the Porajmos: Sinti and Roma Holocaust Victims Remembered in Berlin

The memorial in Tiergarten to the some 500,000 Sinti and Roma murdered by the Nazis in the Porajmos -- the Romani Holocaust.

From the memorial you can see the Reichstag and it's just near Brandenburger Tor.

"It is a German and a European task to support (Sinti and Roma) wherever they live, no matter what country" (Angela Merkel - German Chancellor).

This memorial is bigger and more central of the previous one, made in Marzahn (dedicated to the memory of the Sinti Camp - originally called the "Zigeuner-Lager" or "Gypsy Camp"- that the Nazis had built in the area).

Map: http://goo.gl/maps/j1tbO

All images are under CC Creative Commons (Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivative Works), please refer to " darioj laganà | www.norte.it "

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Fighting against the East Bloc: Hansaviertel (Tiergarten)

The Hansaviertel, between Tiergarten and Moabit, was one of the most devastated neighborhoods in Berlin at the end of World War II, so devastated to provide a unique opportunity for planners to rebuild an entire area from scratch.

In '53 the city sets an international competition for the design of a large residential area surrounded by green areas, to represent the supremacy of the West against the DDR construction project of Stalinalle (today Karl-Marx Allee).

It was completely rebuilt at the IBA (Internationale Bauausstellung - International Building Show in 1957).

Architects as Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, and Arne Jacobsen were invited to design and build the district in the style of modern architecture, along with various sculptors such as Henry Moore.

More infos: WIKI (german)
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/AA5Yl

All images are under CC Creative Commons (Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivative Works), please refer to " darioj laganà | www.norte.it "

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Curiosity: the Soviet War Memorial in the British Sector

Copyright: Cold War Warrior Migrated to Ipernity |http://www.flickr.com/photos/16498755@N07/

We already talked about the The Three Soviet Memorials - Ehrenmal from the Red Army built just after the end of the WWII to bury the Russian soldiers who died during the Battle of Berlin.

Of the three memorials, two were built in districts of the city that then became part of the Soviet Sector, but one, the Tiergarten one, was built not far from Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag.

The question that was rising then was: how was then possible for the Russians to go there and to guard the Memorial? Where they were coming from?

The answer comes partially from this picture, made by a former british soldier in Berlin at one of the parades made by the russians in the area.Three times a year, the Soviets held a military parade there - February (Red Army Day), May (Great Victory over Fascism), and November (the October Revolution) and they were usually taking pictures together.

When i've asked him about the Changing of the Guard, he told me:

"As part of the Quadripartite Agreement, the Soviets retained the right to provide a permanent guard at the Tiergarten Memorial which was de facto, Soviet territory.

The guard was provided by the Ceremonial Battalion of 6th Independent Guards Motor Rifle Brigade based at Karlshorst; these troops also supplied the Spandau Prison Guard when it was the Soviets' turn. They were brought in each day by military bus through the Invalidenstrasse Checkpoint. The British Royal Military Police Wall Patrol used to escort them to and from Invalidenstrasse, and the RMP maintained a police post by the rear entrance manned by two NCOs."

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Itinerary #12 - Savignyplatz

This Itinerary is a short but somehow intense one with a lot of possible detours (being in a very west-central busy area). Let's try no to get lost with the big venues, then.

Full map: http://goo.gl/maps/6OFXh

As always you can start it both sides, from S-Savignyplatz or from the S-Tiergarten (1). I've decided to end in Savignyplatz because then you can relax and have a look at the nice bookstore under the arches.

Following the Strasse des 17. Juni on sunday you can have a look at the Flohmarkt (3) and at the Charlottenburg Tor (4), but if you have a look on the river side, you'll notice this very special building, the Umlauftank (2), called the Rosa Röhre ("Pink Tube") - a circulation tank of the Laboratory of Hydraulics and shipbuilding.

From here you can choose different ways, but maybe you can follow the main street till Ernst-Reuter platz and then down to Hardenbergerstrasse. On your left you'll find the univestities buildings and on your right the Renaissance Theater (5). Among the buildings of the University there is the Universität der Künste Berlin - Fakultät Gestaltung (6), where you maybe can go in and have a look.

Here one possible detour is to go the the Helmut Newton Foundation (aka Museum für Fotografie), or just keep on going to the Ludwig Erhard Haus (7), a contemporary building made by elliptical arches on the Fasanenstrasse.
On the same street you'll find also 3 different buildings from the architect Bernhard Sehring: Theater des Westens (8), the Delphi Filmpalast (8) and the Künstlerhaus St. Lukas (9) - which has a very nice courtyard.
Just on the other side of the S-Bahn bridge, on the same street, you'll find the Jewish Community House Portal of the former synagogue (10).
From here you can go finally to Savignyplatz (12) passing near the arches of the S-Bahn e through the Diener (11) theater-pub (a former boxers meating point) with the "Tattersall des Westens" still visible on it. It was in 1900 a school for riding and horses, not far from the stables that were in Ulandstrasse.

Delphi Filmpalast (8)

Jewish Community House Portal of the former synagogue (10)

Ludwig Erhard Haus (7)

Künstlerhaus St. Lukas (9) 

Theater des Westens (8)

Universität der Künste Berlin - Fakultät Gestaltung (6)

Umlauftank (2)

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Bauhaus Archiv (Tiergarten)

The Bauhaus Archive was founded in Darmstadt in 1960 by Hans Maria Wingler, in order to give a new home to the material legacy of the Bauhaus which had been strewn all over the world after 1933. With the support of Walter Gropius (the same architect of the Gropiusstadt) and other members of the Bauhaus, the Bauhaus Archive started building up a collection in 1961 in the Ernst-Ludwig-Haus on the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt.

The collection had by now grown so much that the idea of a museum building was born, for which Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus, developed plans. The project to build the museum in Darmstadt failed, however the Land Berlin declared its readiness to take on the Bauhaus Archive, providing financial means together with a building plot for the museum.

In 1971, the institution moved to Berlin, with a first address in the Schloßstraße in Charlottenburg. The collection was growing rapidly and was presented in theme exhibitions. In 1976, the cornerstone for the new museum was laid, an event which attracted, once again, Bauhaus members from all over the world. The building was finished in 1978 and the museum moved in the following year.

The Bauhaus Archive is now not only treating historical themes from the Bauhaus context, but also actual questions concerning contemporary architecture and design.

Mor infos: http://www.bauhaus.de

Map: http://goo.gl/maps/RMv1w

All images are under CC Creative Commons (Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivative Works), please refer to " darioj laganà | www.norte.it "

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