[ 09.2014 | Berlin ]

Brandenburger Tor is lo­cat­ed on Pariser Platz in the his­toric quar­ter of Doro­theen­stadt in the mid­dle of Ger­many’s capi­tal. it was built as a sym­bol of peace by Carl Lang­hans between 1788-1791 on the orders of Prus­sian king Fried­rich Wil­helm II. after World War II the gate of tri­umph (26m high, 64m long, 11m deep) marked the bor­der between East and West Berlin and thus the fron­tier between the Warsaw Pact and NATO coun­tries. as long as the Ger­man re­union in 1990 the gate was the sym­bol of the Cold War – but after­wards repre­sented the unity of Ger­many and Europe.

during one of my visits to Berlin I decided to do one of the most tour­isty things one can do: go on a guided bus tour. I was lucky to hop on a bus where the famous land­marks were intro­duced in an experi­mental/­inno­vative way – in an expres­sive &animated lan­guage with allu­sions to his­tory and cul­ture. Ger­man author Alfred Döb­lin wrote his pop­ular novel Berlin Alex­ander­platz in 1929. I felt as if the main char­acter, Franz Bieber­kopf, had held my hand and per­son­ally guided me through Berlin.

the picture how­ever isn’t about the Weimar Repub­lic. it is about today and how people tend to take pic­tures of every­thing instead of liv­ing and enjoy­ing the moment. and share it. instantly. in real life. not insta­gramly.
insanely busy. driving people up the wall. search­ing for social recog­nition. #LikeMe

October 3rd is German Unity Day that com­memo­rates the reuni­fica­tion of East and West Ger­many in 1990. the public holi­day remem­bers the day of the formal comple­tion of the uni­fica­tion (not the day the Berlin Wall came down on November 9th 1989). the end of the divi­sion of Ger­many is usu­ally cele­brated with a festi­val around Branden­burg Gate.

sources: brandenburg-gate.de | inhaltsangabe.de | berlin.de