Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
their arrogance and materialism. Feelings got worse as it became apparent that the
ever-increasing cost of reunification had pushed the German economy into recession. As
the instability of the transitional period began to ebb, witch-hunts for those responsible
for the crimes of the GDR's repressive regime began in earnest, many resulting from an
increasing access to old Stasi files.
Trials
throughout the 1990s brought Politbüro
members, border guards, and even sports coaches who had doped players without their
knowledge, before the courts. On June 20, 1991, a Bundestag decision to relocate the
national government to Berlin ushered in a new era: a tremendous task, and one
undertaken in the late 1990s with the usual German thoroughness.
Berlin today
Since the start of the twenty-first century Berlin has been a city on the move, with
building sites
everywhere, particularly along the old east-west border. Today the city
is finally coming out of an era of transition and beginning to complete the rebuilding
work that began in the aftermath of World War II and the Cold War. Magically this
has almost wound back the clock to the 1920s, before Nazism struck, with Berlin once
again a cosmopolitan and upbeat
city
. But also like the 1920s, the city is plagued by
economic and social problems
to which there are no easy solutions. Berlin's
underperforming economy is perhaps the hardest nut to crack, despite signs that things
are improving, with the hope that the knock-on effect will be to stem the small-scale
resurgence of
neo-Nazism
and improve the lot of the city's marginalized
immigrants
.
Party capital
As host of the 2006 football
World Cup finals
, Berlin was able to project its friendly
and youthful dynamism to the world, hosting several games, including the final, in
the fine old Olympic Stadium. Visiting fans quickly realized that the city deserved its
reputation for partying hard - earned in part as a consequence of the annual
Love
Parade
(see p.271) - and since then barely a week has passed without a big event.
Twenty-somethings from all over Europe continually jet in on low-cost airlines for the
all-night club scene that continues to be as wild and cutting-edge as it ever was. he
gay scene too is thriving, and Berlin's sociable, gay mayor
Klaus Wowereit
or “Wowi”, as
Berliners call him, has become one of Germany's best-known public figures (see p.239).
The economy
Greatly weakened by the costs of pulling the two Germanys together, and heavy
investment in construction projects like the Hauptbahnhof and the much-delayed
Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, the city has long been teetering on the edge of recession.
Almost half of all Berliners live on benefits, despite the rich political elite at the city's
heart that now controls Europe's mightiest economy.
Part of the problem has been the
death of manufacturing
which now employs fewer
than 100,000 of a population of 3.4 million. Meanwhile, the legacy of state subsidies
that once shored up uncompetitive firms on both sides of the city has been
detrimental to entrepreneurism and new initiatives tend to be mired by a huge
bureaucracy. Even so, Berlin is helped by its increasingly central location as the
European Union has expanded east and by the fact that Berlin has an increasingly
2009
2010
Celebrations mark the twentieth anniversary of the fall of
the Wall. Work begins on a major restoration of original
paintings at the Berlin Wall's East Side Gallery.
The original date for the opening of Berlin-
Brandenburg airport comes and goes.
