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Originally Posted by Linton
The city in the West reminded me of a set from a spy movie.There was an atmosphere that everybody was being watched.
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Strangely, Berliners in the 80s saw it differently. Due to being an island effectively, one felt "inside" when being there, and that added to the German's "Gemütlichkeit". the limited boundaries kept people together, so to speak. That feeded back onto general attitude, behavior, and the way in which things were done. even the radio programs were different, somehow.
I left Berlin three weeks before the wall came down. sinc ethen, it had chnaged massively, and I must say: definitely for th worse. there is a massive migration taking place, with Germans moving out and foreigners moving in. high unemployment now, and a drop in the level of social structure. The city has the highest debts in all Germany, and the private households again ranks at the top when it comes to private debts of households and families. Many places have changed their faces in favour of soul-less modern architecture and radical business-silhouettes, which do not match well with the traditional atmosphere of these places before. Social climate has become extremely aggressive and cold, crime went up drastically, and last time I was there i saw peopole moving around like with fists in their pockets. It also has become an even more dirty city than it was back in the 80s.
My relation to it is ambivalent, therefore. I hate what it is, but I spent the ten most influencing years of my life there, which keeps me attached to it, somewhow. but that is a very melancholic relation at best.
there are better tourist-attracting places than berlin. If you miss it, I would not rate that as a loss, but as happy fate. Try Hamburg, or my beloved Lübeck, Marburg maybe, and the old town of Heidelberg, of course.