Memories of a Divided City

Vestiges of the Cold War are still to be found in many parts of Berlin and in the minds of those who lived through it

- Kalpana Sunder

WALKING INTO THE "PALACE of Tears," or Tränenpalast, with its huge glass windows, steel pillars and 1960s design, is like taking a journey back in time. Adjacent to the Friedrichstraße train station in Berlin, it was used by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) or East Berlin dictatorship, as a departure point with passport control, for those leaving for West Berlin. And this is where people bid tearful farewells to loved ones emigrating to the West, not knowing if they would see them again. Constructed in 1962 and preserved as a museum since 2011, the palace still has the dingy booths used for immigration from the East to the West. Interviews with contemporary witnesses, biographies and 570 original objects showcase the region's painful history.

A Troubled History

I am taking a Cold War tour of Berlin that throws light on a dark period of history where tensions ran high between the communist East (the Soviet Union and its allies) and the capitalist West (the US and its allies) from the end of World War II to 1989. Berlin was at the front line of the Cold War, where there was no warfare, but repression, espionage and excesses by the secret police. Our tour starts at Friedrichstraße station and ends at Checkpoint Charlie.

"Today Friedrichstraße station is a bustling transport hub, but it was considered an oddity in the past. The station was in East Berlin, but some of its platforms and all its underground services were for West Berlin," says our guide Jorg, a "history nerd" who lived through the division of Berlin as a boy.