Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
big-time hotels (such as the Hilton and Regent)—is attempting to replace Ku'damm as the
grand commerce-and-café boulevard of Berlin. More recently, western Berlin is retaliating
with some new stores of its own. And so far, Friedrichstrasse gets little more than half the
pedestrian traffic that Ku'damm gets in the West. Why? Locals complain that this area has
no daily life—no supermarkets, not much ethnic street food, and so on. Consider detour-
ing to Galeries Lafayette, with its cool marble-and-glass, waste-of-space interior (Mon-Sat
10:00-20:00,closedSun;checkouttheverticalgardenonitsfrontwall,bellyuptoitsamaz-
ing ground-floor viewpoint, or have lunch in its recommended basement cafeteria).
If you continued down Friedrichstrasse, you'd wind up at the sights listed under “South
ofUnterdenLinden,”on
here
—includingCheckpointCharlie(a10-minutewalkfromhere).
But for now, continue along Unter den Linden. At the corner, the
VW Automobil Forum
shows off the latest models from the many car companies owned by VW (free, corner of
FriedrichstrasseandUnterdenLinden,VWartgalleryandhandyVWWCinthebasement).
As you explore Berlin, you may see big, colorful
water pipes
running overground.
Wherevertherearebigconstructionprojects,streetsarelacedwiththesedrainagepipes.Ber-
lin's high water table means that any new basement comes with lots of pumping out.
Continue down Unter den Linden a few more blocks, past the large equestrian statue of
FredericktheGreat,andturnrightintothesquarecalled
Bebelplatz.
Standontheglasswin-
dow set into the pavement in the center.
Frederick the Great—who ruled from 1740 to 1786—established Prussia not just as a
military power, but as a cultural and intellectual heavyweight as well. This square was the
center of the “new Athens” that Frederick envisioned. His grand palace was just down the
street (explained later).
Look down through the glass you're standing on: The room of empty bookshelves is a
memorial repudiating the notorious Nazi
book burning.
It was on this square in 1933 that
staff and students from the university threw 20,000 newly forbidden books (like Einstein's)
intoahugebonfireontheordersoftheNazipropagandaministerJosephGoebbels.Aplaque
nearby reminds us of the prophetic quote by the German poet Heinrich Heine. In 1820, he
wrote,“Wheretheyburnbooks,attheendtheyalsoburnpeople.”TheNazisdespisedHeine
because he was Jewish before converting to Christianity. A century later, his books were
among those that went up in flames on this spot.
Great buildings front Bebelplatz. Survey the square counterclockwise:
Humboldt University,
across Unter den Linden, is one of Europe's greatest. Marx and
Lenin (not the brothers or the sisters) studied here, as did the Grimms (both brothers) and
more than two dozen Nobel Prize winners. Einstein, who was Jewish, taught here until tak-
ing a spot at Princeton in 1932 (smart guy). Used-book merchants set up their tables in front
of the university, selling books by many of the authors whose works were once condemned
to Nazi flames just across the street.
