BERLIN INTRODUCTION, Introduction

Hi, my name’s Rick, and I’m your personal guide. Along with MyWoWo, I’d like to welcome you to one of the Wonders of the World: Berlin.

The city was created in 1237 from two settlements dating to the end of the 12th century: one named Cölln, on an island on the Spree River today known as Museumsinsel for the museums there, and one called Berlin, in the present-day neighborhood of Nikolaiviertel.

In 1415, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and today it is the capital of Germany.

As you’re no doubt aware, the 20th century has been the most significant century in Berlin’s history. From 1933, the city was the capital of Nazi Germany which brought about the Second World War.

During the war, the city suffered heavy bombing and widespread looting, and many neighborhoods and monuments that were destroyed were rebuilt after the war.

Nazism was also responsible for the persecution of the Jews, something the Berliners are acutely aware of, as can be seen in the Jewish Museum, the Holocaust Memorial and the Topography of Terrors. 

In the post-war period, Berlin came to symbolize the division of the world into blocs, when it was split in two in 1961 by the famous Berlin Wall. The western part of the city thus became a small area belonging to the prosperous Federal Republic, but located in the middle of the Democratic Republic, while East Berlin remained the capital city of a poor, oppressed country under a dictatorship....