Berlin,
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For my generation, Berlin will forever have a special significance. We were raised in the reality of a divided Germany, of a divided Berlin, and there was no reason to think that this situation would not rest for the remainder of our lives. Being children of the Cold War, the world seemed to be defined for a long time to come. However, nothing would prove to be less true. Just a few years after I visited Berlin on both sides (yes, you really needed to pass immigration to go from one side of the city to the other!), the idea of the wall was challenged, and shortly thereafter, the whole thing was destroyed, except for some parts here and there, as evidence of the fact that one country had really been split into two.
When I visited the city, it was still very much two cities. Actually, if you arrived by car or train, you had to drive through East-German territory before reaching the West-German part of Berlin. Walking through the city quickly made me realize that the situation was not only extremely strange, but also inhumane, and it really gave me a feeling of absurdity. Although the historical reasons were of course easy to imagine.
In several parts of the city, destroyed houses and churches have been preserved to remind mankind of the atrocities of war, and of the fate the Germans chose when they tried to establish themselves as a world power. After the wall actually came down, I have never been back, and I am not sure whether to go or not. On one hand, I would like to preserve the images that are still there in my memory, on the other hand I am curious to see what became of the city since 1989. Because one thing is sure: it will not even remotely be as the Berlin I saw.