"Up until the fall of the Wall, I hadn't had much occasion to visit the Eastern part of the city. No relatives, no friends or acquaintances over on the 'other side'. And why, therefore, expose myself to a humiliating trip over the border crossings? I did have the occasional evening out at the theatre, or when feeling too hemmed in the city and in urgent need of escape, I'd go up to Prenzlauer Berg or to the Müggelsee. After the Wall fell, I really got into exploring the unknown territory behind the inner-city border. I wanted to go places that lay in the shadow of those put on view, such as Unter den Linden, Karl-Marx-Allee and Schönhauser Allee; places where everything certainly didn't sparkle. There was much bleakness and dereliction. Here and there, one could still see the as yet unhealed wounds the city had suffered at the hands of the war. I'll never forget my first visit to the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park. Here, the conquerors had imprinted an indelible mark on the city's landscape which could leave one in no doubt as to who was in charge in the country that lay between the Oder and Elbe Rivers."
Gottfried Schenk
