Up one level antonipildid.net (nightclub & event photography by Anton Klink) » Berlin - The Museums, the Exhibitions and the Past, Aug 2006
Berlin - The Museums, the Exhibitions and the Past, Aug 2006
Bullet-ridden buildings and the Luftwaffe HQ vs buddy bears and model railways



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The luxurious Hotel Adlon, the home of the stars. Refer to my other Berlin gallery for a comparison between the even more luxurious (but cheaper) Ritz-Carlton and Adlon. Adlon is where the popstars, moviestars and other celebrities stay. This is where Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg and Madonna hang out. This is where Michael Jackson dangled his baby from the 6th floor balcony. The original hotel was bombed to the ground during WWII, but was now been rebuilt as an identical copy. Nextdoor are the French, US, UK and Russian embassies, nearby is the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag - you can't get more upscale than this in Berlin. Of course, phtography was not allowed - again. Here the security was more laxed than in Ritz-Carlton though, where the guards caught me at the door and I only managed to have a nice chat with the floor manager about the differences in pricing between Adlon and Ritz-Carlton. Here at the Adlon I was able to stroll around quite freely. Hotel Adlon in Berlin. Hotel Adlon in Berlin. Hotel Adlon in Berlin. A waist level-shot. Whereas I was able to frame my shots more freely in the emtpy corridors, I had to be more careful in the lobby. Especially since I was standing next to the The courtyard of the German Historical Museum. The new wing of the German Historical Museum. Hitler's plans for a Congress Hall in Berlin. Berlin itself was to be renamed Germania after the victorious war. This building was to be monstrous in size, with the top part of it extending through the clouds. Militarily this would have been an easy target, since a building that extends above the cloud level, especially a building of this size, would have been the easiest of bombing targets. But I imagine it was supposed to be built when Germany's world dominance would already have been secured. However, as actual tests conducted by Hitler's architect and later armaments minister Albert Speer concluded, the swampy soils of Berlin would not have been able to hold a building of such massive weight. In practice quite possibly the building would have started sinking, resulting in cracks and a possible collapse. But we'll never know. To give you an idea of the scale of the building, the black dot on the stairs represents a human. Walking through Berlin I felt bad for the city so severely damaged in the war. Then again, Hitler had plans for clearing out the city center to make room for all the future megalomaniac buildings of Germania, so many of the historic buildings would have been lost anyway. Hitler even remarked to Speer, his architect, that the British and the Americans are doing his job for him by bombing the city. Hitler's personal desk from the Reich Chancellery. It has been put on display only recently. Hitler's globe, also recovered from the Reich Chancellery. A hole where Berlin used to be. I can quite imagine an enraged and frustrated Red Army soldier punching it during the last days of the war or soon thereafter. The former Luftwaffe building is one of the biggest buildings in Berlin (and was the biggest in its time). It is also one of the few Nazi built buildings still standing (the others being the Olympic Stadium and Tempelhof airport). It was an official policy to raze all Nazi-built buildings to the ground after the war, usable or not. However, the Luftwaffe headquarters with its 2000 offices and absolutely monstrous size proved just too valuable for the occupying forces, so instead of demolishing it, the Soviets just moved in. Today the building is probably even more feared than during the Nazi era, since it now houses the Tax Office of Germany. How fitting. Another angle of the Luftwaffe building. These pictures do not do justice to it's size, since what appears to be a complete building is in fact only about 25% of it. Being the largest building in Berlin during the war and very clearly visible from the air, you'd expect it to have been damaged a lot during the air raids. Well guess again, only a single stray bomb hit it during all the countless air raids over Berlin, whereas a lot of the surrounding buildings were completely demolished. Consider that during the Battle of Britain not a single German bomb was dropped on the Royal Air Force headquarters either and you'll probably start getting the picture. What admirable gentlemenly comradrie. A mural from the side of the Luftwaffe building. The soviet regime tried to spice up the building. When the air raids started in 1941, Hitler commissioned the building of air-defence fortresses all around Berlin, four of which were built. The ones that did get built, were universally feared by Allied pilots. These monstrosities completely dominated their surroundings, were virtually indestructible and had immense firepower. Even direct hits by Allied bombs hardly put a dent on these things whereas the anti-air firepower brought down almost any plane that came within range. As a consequence, Allied pilots simply started avoiding the areas protected by these fortresses.
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Event - I was sent to Berlin to take pictures of Love Parade but decided to stay a bit longer and endeb up staying for three weeks.

In this gallery you'll see: the luxurious Hotel Adlon, Hitler's peronal artifacts, the huge Luftwaffe building, the towering air defence fortress of Berlin, bullet-ridden facades, the cold war era nuclear bunker for 40 000 people, the set of of a submarine movie, United Buddy Bears, the biggest model railway in the world, the Berlin Zoo and highlights from the best museums of Berlin.