Despite the fact that twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye since the fall of theBerlin Wall, and many scars of division have been covered up, not all wounds have healed or ever will heal.
The Berlin Wall Memorial (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer) recounts the memories of this physical barrier in a unique and educational way. The site is comprised of three main features: the Documentation Center, the Wall Memorial and the Chapel of Reconciliation. Historically located on Bernauer Strasse, in the western district of Wedding, visitors receive an intimate account of the events that took place not just along the Berlin Wall and divided neighborhoods for 28 years, but also the people of a city and nation.
The Documentation Center – an In-depth Look into the Berlin Wall
Opening ten years after the fall of the Wall, on November 9, 1999, the center provides audio, visual and listening mediums to reveal an intimate account of the beginning stages of the Berlin Wall in August 1961. On the ground floor, an array of archives allows visitors to take a closer look into the past of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR/DDR). Documents include minutes from meetings of communist party members, plans for the building and expansion of the Wall, recorded incidents at the border and the discovery of tunnels that linked the two Berlins. A half-hour video, from the spring of 1990, also provides fantastic aereal views that follow a stretch of the Wall from the city of Potsdam to the Bornholmerstrasse Checkpoint in north Berlin.