The Cold War tunnels that were built to escape from the reign of communist rulers of East Germany are coming into the tourism scene of Berlin in a remarkable way.
December 28, 2010 by Hengul
They say- 'History Repeats Itself'. And, it does! Germany is playing witness to such a restoration of time gone by, sans the evils and trauma, nevertheless. It has been almost 20 years since the demolition of the Berlin Wall that split West Germany from the East Germany. But, still it manages to make a mark in recent past, courtesy its tourism angle!
The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 prevented the citizens of East Germany to escape from the clutches of the communist system. Yet exodus happened and the means were varied. Some sailed along the Baltic Sea, some took resort in the secret compartments in cars and some even opted to fly out in hot air balloons. But several hundred others decided to hit the ground (quite literally) and dug out some tunnels on the soft and sandy soil beneath Berlin in order to escape from the East German government.
...And, it is these tunnels that are fast becoming one of the major historical landmarks in Berlin. Going by the numbers, in the past 2- 3 years, thousands of tourists explored the underbelly of the German capital, touring through the deserted bunkers and tunnels. The length of the tunnels vary from 100 feet to 557 feet; some are like small tubes, barely big enough to crawl through, while others were tall enough to stand up in.
The tours normally begins at a Cold War bunker in the bustling immigrant neighborhood of Wedding. The bunkers are dim lighted and the fluorescent paint on the walls transforms the atmosphere to a grave and eerie domain. Another very important tunnel destination is the Bernauer Strasse in Mitte neighborhood.
Though they are also from past, but these war bunkers and tunnels differ from other historical monuments as they epitomize human survival and yearning for freedom!
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