day 104 - berlin

this small ten day project is about berlin scars. so an obvious place to start is with the death strip and the berlin wall. in mitte, the geographic centre of berlin, and part of the old east, the wall took a leap into the west to annex this old centre.
after reunification, this part of town became super-hip. brad pitt has an apartment here. but right in the middle of some of the most expensive real estate in town is part of the old no man's land between the walls, which has still not been re-claimed... (click on images to enlarge)







lest we forget: there is no forgetting here. when the wall was erected, all the buildings in this grassy area were removed to make the 'death strip' and the buildings that were left (including these) had their windows blocked up to stop 'escape' - people were even forced to start entering their houses from the back door.

wherever the wall was, the foundations have, where possible, been preserved. this is another angle of the same area on bernauer str. with the edge of the wall scarring across the street as a permanent reminder. this area was one of the most famous streets during the divided city as the walls were so close you could see into the gardens across the 'street'...