7 must-see Berlin locations revealing its Cold War history

Berlin has a fascinating and tragic post-war history of division, segregation, surveillance, physical and psychological torture under the Communist regime that ruled until 1990.

Following the end of World War 2, the city was divided up by the former allies, with Stalin’s Communist Soviet Union taking charge of the northeast quadrant. We in The West knew this as East Germany until the reunification of Germany in 1990 which followed the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9th November 1989.

A concrete wall and a watchtower in Berlin — Watchtowers were an all too familiar sight for the citizens of East Berlin

The German capital, despite being geographically located deep inside the Soviet occupied northeast quadrant, was divided up into four distinct occupation zones ; British, French, American, and Soviet. This resulted in a bizarre situation of a small area of Western held territory being deep inside the Communist bloc.

As the tensions between east and west escalated into what became known as The Cold War, the Communists famously built a huge wall to divide off the East German held parts of Berlin from The West.

A patterned concrete wall at Stasi HQ in Berlin — Concrete is another familiar sight in the East side of Berlin, as seen here at the Stasi Museum

East Germany was run very very differently from West Germany. Political imprisonments were commonplace, and espionage was carried out against its own citizens on an enormous scale by the infamous secret police known as The Stasi. Attempts to escape over (or under) the Berlin Wall were ruthlessly cracked down on by the authorities, with watchtowers and checkpoints all around the city to prevent East Germans from fleeing to The West. I highly recommend the movie The Lives of Others (Das Lieben der Anderen) to get a feel for the atmosphere of oppression and paranoia in those times in East Germany.

Flags and a Karl Marx statue at The Stasi Museum, Berlin — Karl Marx in the entrance hall of the Stasi Museum

I took a solo trip to Berlin one cold December specifically in order to educate myself further by visiting some of the sites and museums relating to the Communist era in Berlin. Read on for my recommendations of things to do in Berlin to explore it’s Communist history.

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Table of Contents

Stasi Museum

East Germany’s notorious secret police had their HQ in this huge building. Marx and Lenin have pride of place in the entrance hall. Give yourself half a day here to explore the various floors full of meeting rooms and offices, and to explore the numerous exhibits which showcase all the ingenious spying equipment which was utilised by the Stasi (very often to spy on its own citizens).

Furniture inside Stasi HQ, Berlin — Stasi HQ, Berlin, Germany

A spy camera in Berlin, Germany as used by the Stasi — A buttonhole spy camera on display at The Stasi Museum

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Hohenschoenhausen Prison

Now known as Berlin-Hohenschoenhausen Memorial in memory of those who suffered within its walls. Take a tram from Berlin’s centre (around 45 mins) to this former secret prison which used to appear on East German maps only as a blank space.

To visit here is to learn about the horrific treatment of prisoners which took place inside its walls. Various forms of psychological torture took place, such as keeping electric lights on in the cells 24/7, and waking prisoners up every 20 minutes for checks. In the early days of the prison the torture was more physical, such as having an inch of water present on the cell floor to prevent prisoners from being able to lay down to rest.

Hohenschoenhausen prison exterior, Berlin, Germany — The prison appears to be an innocuous building from the outside

I highly recommend booking a guided tour in your own language to fully appreciate the history of this former prison. Be prepared to be both horrified and educated in equal measure.

Hohenschoenhausen prison exterior overlooking a normal street in Berlin, Germany — The exterior of the prison, where a watchtower looms over a row of residential houses

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The East Side Gallery (The Berlin Wall)

The construction (1961) and later tearing down of the Berlin Wall were defining moments in Berlin history. To this day, the wall remains perhaps the most famous element of the city.

A section of the Berlin Wall covered with colourful artworks — Photo by Rikin Katyal on Unsplash

A visit to the East Side Gallery to see a remaining section of the wall is one of the essential things to do in Berlin. Here you can see a 1.3Km stretch of a surviving section of the wall.

Artwork on the Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany

As soon as the wall fell in 1989, 118 artists from 21 countries began work on the East Side Gallery. Perhaps the most renowned being Dmitri Vrubel’s famous Fraternal Kiss, which is based on a 1979 photo and depicts Communist leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker celebrating the 30th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

The Berlin Wall Memorial

A more sobering visit to another section of the wall, is to visit the Berlin Wall Memorial. Here a section of the border strip (often called “death strip”) is preserved along with a watchtower.

The grass on the death strip would contain buried spikes (nicknamed “Stalin’s lawn”), spot-lamps would illuminate to track anyone attempting to escape, and the border guards would be prepared to shoot-to-kill anyone trying to flee the GDR.

A strip of land from Communist Berlin, known as the death strip — This section of the “death strip” has been preserved as a grim reminder of Berlin’s past

Looking down on the death strip from the tall observation deck in the museum above gives an opportunity to pause for thought and contemplate how recently in our European history a regime was prepared to go to such lengths to prevent people from fleeing their own nation. 130 people were shot or killed on the wall.

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The World Clock and TV Tower at Alexanderplatz

These two attractions in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz are a must if you are interested in design and architecture of The Atomic Age.

The TV Tower of Berlin, seen from below — Berlin’s TV tower offers epic views of the city below

The TV tower was built between 1965 and 1969 both as a functional building for broadcasting, and simply to tower over Berlin and represent communist power. Today it remains the defining element of the Berlin skyline, and now houses a restaurant and bar, from which you can experience stunning panoramic vistas of the sprawling city below.

Its two passenger lifts can carry 12 people each, taking around 40 seconds to reach the 203 metre high top of the tower. Capacity is limited, and it is highly advisable to book ahead with a timeslot.

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Also in Alexanderplatz is the World Time Clock, which was unveiled in 1969. It has remained a major tourist attraction ever since. By reading the markings on its circumference, you can read the current time for 148 major world cities.

The World Time clock in Alexanderplatz Berlin — The World Clock’s design evokes The Atomic Age

The mechanical clock is constantly moving, although its motion is too slow to be registered by the human eye. It has commonly been used as a meeting place, although it has also been the site of protests over the years.

The statue of Marx and Engels

A short walk from Alexanderplatz is the statue erected during communist times of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of The Communist Manifesto and revered during Communist times as founding fathers of the ideology.

The statue of Karl Marx in Berlin, Germany — Marx and Engels. Note the rose petals, and the TV tower behind

Away from the busy touristic area of Alexanderplatz, this was quite a contrast during my visit, being in a quiet park area. Location map here.

There was a strange atmosphere of hushed reverence here, that perhaps I had not been expecting. At Marx’s feet, rose petals had been thrown. Several tourists here were paying their respects to these two, many of them Chinese visitors.

Pedestrian crossing signs (everywhere!)

Among some of the imposing brutalist concrete architecture of the former East side, the jolly figures on the traffic lights of the pedestrian crossings of the former East side are a welcome relief, and remain much loved today.

A green light at a pedestrian crossing in Berlin, Germany — Photo by Philippe Oursel on Unsplash

The symbols on the crossings are called Ampelmännchen, and following campaigns in the 1990s it was decided to keep them rather than standardise to a West German form. To some they symbolise a nostalgia for some of the more positive aspects of the former life in Communist Berlin.

Checkpoint Charlie

The famous former border crossing post between the east and west sides is a famous tourist hotspot. Included on this list for completeness, I’m not counting Checkpoint Charlie as a “must see”. It’s basically a small wooden hut in the middle of the road, hence I would not advise that you need to allocate a lot of time here. Location here.

Worth seeing briefly if you’re passing through the area, however the Berlin Wall sites, Stasi Museum, and Hohenschoenhausen Prison will provide you with a much more in depth and immersive sense of the history of the Communist era.

Be careful when taking photos here as it is in the middle of what remains an active and busy road!

Final thoughts

The Communist years were times when many East German citizens suffered greatly under the brutal regime and their secret police, the Stasi. A tour of the Communist history of Berlin will reflect this and probably shock you to discover the horrors that were taking place in a European country in the 20th century.

A brutalist style concrete building in Berlin, Germany — Stasi HQ, Berlin

My recommendation is to visit the Stasi museum and Hohenschoenhausen Prison in one day as part of your Berlin itinerary, as these require more time to take in, as well as a little travel from the centre. Following this chilling education, find some relief in spending your second day seeing the re-purposing of the terrible Berlin Wall into a showcase for art, seeing the jolly figures on the traffic lights, and marvelling at the atomic age style of the TV Tower and the World Clock at Alexanderplatz.