The Divided City

This is my third and last post about Hanburg's Miniatur Wunderland. If you missed part 1 and 2, you can find them here and here. 

After having thoroughly enjoyed Patagonia and Antarctica, we climbed the stairs to the third floor to find out what we can discover there. It was very different from all the theme worlds we had experienced so far. First I need to tell you that this is a post heavy with historical information that not everybody might be interested in. I am not offended if you prefer to skip this post.

There were several dioramas depicting one street corner in Berlin and following its development throughout recent history, starting with the end of World War II in 1945. The first diorama covers the years 1945 to 1949.

There is so much to see in these dioramas - I took photos from only one side, so not everything that is actually "happening" is visible.

Berlin was in ruins at the end of the war. Four powers - UK, France, USA, and Soviet Union - occupied the city. Women worked in the ruins, the so-called Trümmerfrauen (rubble women). They were the first to clean up the rubble and by doing so they received a bigger food ration. It was also mainly women who searched the missing persons wall for their loved ones. There was no water since plumbing was destroyed and water had to be brought in by harnessed horse teams. In 1948 the Soviet Union blocked all access routes to Berlin, so the US initiated an airlift to ensure the supply of the population.

In 1949, the two independent states of West Germany (BRD) and East Germany (DDR) were founded, cementing the division of Germany.

1950 - 1954

Look closely: Do you see a man painting a white line on the street at the left side of the intersection? In 1952 the GDR started to draw lines of demarcation between East and West Berlin. This was their first try to curtail human movement between the sectors (there were four sectors in Berlin according to the occupying powers). In the background you can see that the S-Bahn (suburban railway) was still running between East and West. While many buildings were rebuilt, there was still a lot of destruction to see. On June 17, 1953 a popular uprising took place in East Germany, fueled by an increase in prices for food and consumer goods while increasing the work norm. The uprising was brutally suppresed. In West Germany, June 17 had been a national holiday, our "Day of German Unity" (Tag der deutschen Einheit) until 1990 when October 3, the official date of the re-unification of Germany, became Tag der deutschen Einheit.

1955 - 1960

During these years, West and East Germany drifted further and further apart. Concerning economic growth in particular, West Germany was leaving East Germany behind. Since the borders were still open, people were able to see for themselves the differences in development between the two systems. More and more people were leaving the GDR which prompted the East German government to seal off the sector borders with a barrier - unfortunately you can't see the barrier in this picture since it is on the left side of the intersection, behind the tall building. The group of people you can see in the street represents the student protests that popped up all over West Germany and West Berlin after the  establishment of the Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces) in 1955. Left to the lower end of the protest march you see a white figure at the wall of the cemetery - he was helping academics escaping from the GDR. In particular, many doctors were leaving the country which led to bottlenecks in the East German healthcare system.

1961

This was the year that the Berlin Wall was built, beginning on August 13, a Sunday. This has been such an important date in my country's history that it deserves two photos.

Right after midnight, East German construction workers - under the supervision of Nationale Volksarmee ("National People's Army") and Volkspolizei (East German National Police) started to seal off the Eastern sector of Berlin with barbed wire and roadblocks. The windows and entrances to buildings on Bernauer Straße, near the border, were bricked up. Look at the top section of the upper of the two photos, close to the tracks - do you see people holding a rescue net? Desperate people were jumping out of the windows before they were bricked up. Three of them died. The subway and S-Bahn services between the two parts of the city were suspended. Two days later the first concrete elements and hollow blocks are erected and over the following month a wall was constructed, dividing the city with the first generation of the Berlin Wall.

One of the most famous photos shot was of Conrad Schumann, leaping over the barbed wire. The photo was taken by Peter Leibing. This photo was later called Leap to Freedom.

source

Here is a short video about the photo - worth to watch it.

On August 24, 1961 the first person was shot at the wall while trying to flee East Berlin. Günter Litfin, just 24 years old, was the first one, but by far not the last. Many would follow.

1962 - 1964

In June of 1962 a second wall was erected, the so-called Hinterlandmauer, in order to make escape attempts more difficult. At the same time, the first wall was further expanded. Another important element in securing the border was the Grenzhunde (border dogs), primarily German shepherds. If a refugee managed to get past the fence, one of those dogs would usually stop the escape attempt. It demonstrates how horrible this border had been. 

1965 - 1988

This was already the fourth generation of the wall. The walls were further enforced with concrete, and Tschechenigel (Czech hedgehog), a static anti-tank obstacle, had been added. Between the walls was the Todesstreifen (death strip), littered with landmines. There were watch towers and during the night the length of the border was lit up. In the upper left corner - on the East side - you see a line of people. They were waiting in line at the shops because of the shortages of food and consumer goods. I remember that we regularly sent care packages to a family in East Germany - coffee and chocolate were in high demand. Near the brown bus in the photo you can see a raised platform where people are standing. These were for the Mauertouristen (wall tourists) who wanted to look over the wall. However, it was also used by people who had relatives and friends in East Berlin - they could still wave at each other across the border. This was especially used in the years immediately after construction of the wall had begun. I remember standing on one of them as a child and being really shocked by what I saw. It left a deep impression in me. I also remember the profound sadness of my mom who had grown up in Berlin in the 1920s and 1930s. Through her, our family has always had a close connection to this city.

1989/1990

This, of course, was the fall of the wall. I will never forget November 9, 1989, a Thursday.

Starting in September 1989, people in the GDR were demonstrating for their departure from that country. Especially the demonstrations at Nikolaikirche (Nikolai church) in Leipzig were well known, with slogans like "wir sind das Volk" (we are the people). They were called Montagsdemonstrationen (Monday demonstrations) because they happened every Monday after the Friedensgebet (peace prayer). More and more Montagsdemonstrationen also happened in other East German cities with several hundred thousand people participating. At the end of September, more than 4000 East German citizens occupied the West German embassy in Prague to force their departure. On September 30, the GDR relented and allowed the refugees to leave the country. Federal Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher announced the news from the balcony of the embassy in Prague. This was a moment I will never forget - just a couple moments ago I listened to his announcement again and the cheering of the people after his words "Ihre Ausreise" (your departure) made me cry - every single time. On November 9, 1989, Günter Schabowski, a member of the SED Politburo, announced at an international press conference that, with immediate effect, every East German citizen was now free to leave the GDR via designated border crossing points. We all know what happened right afterwards - several thousand East Berliners marched to the border crossings and demanded that they be opened immediately. The first East German was allowed to travel to West Berlin at the Bornholmer Straße border crossing at 9:20 p.m. Ten minutes later the radio station RIAS reported of open border crossings. People were gathering at border crossings and even stormed the wall to reach West Berlin. At home we were glued to the TV and I still remember this one young guy saying "Wer jetzt schläft, der ist tot" (who is sleeping now is dead).

What a day!

1990 - 1999

The wall disappeared almost completely. There are still some remaining parts - one is the famous East Side Gallery, an open-air gallery on the longest surviving section of the wall. Others are part of the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Straße (a must-see if you ever visit Berlin). A lot of construction was going on (and still is), the S-Bahn tracks were re-built. Berlin became the capital of Germany again and the government moved from Bonn to Berlin. Western companies were expanding to the East. Not everything that happened was good and certainly many things were done the wrong way. But this would go beyond the scope of this post.

2000 - 2009

You almost can't recognize the street corner anymore. But you can see in the back that the S-Bahn is running again and is an important means of transportion. Some parts that were rebuilt - like Potsdamer Platz (Potsdam Square) which was lovely before the war (according to my mom) and a desert during the 40 years of division (the wall was running right through it) - are very modern and, to be honest, not necessarily well done. Nothing is perfect - but the city is no longer divided and that in itself is something very positive. Let's leave it at that.

Thank you for bearing with me - it took me two days to write this. This has been a very long post with probably more information than you care to know. And since there are faces to see, I'm linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off.

A Lot to Discover

 

I-15 at Las Vegas

We are still in Miniatur Wunderland on the second floor with its model railway racing through Germany and some parts of Europe. In my post about Hamburg you've seen the Speicherstadt where the Wunderland is located, how big it acutally is. The entrance is on the first floor; there's also a cafeteria style restaurant furnished with train seats. The second floor houses the model railway with all its theme worlds.

Some of you asked whether it was just one person who built this - no, this has been an entire team. It needs a lot of people to work on such fine details and also to maintain the entire site. It is huge. I think just the operation of the airport alone needs at least a handful of people. Every now and then we could see someone walking through one part or another, fixing something. It's quite the sight to see those big humans in this miniature world. The next two signs give you an idea.

As you can see from the image at the top, Miniatur Wunderland also has a USA section, however, it is very small. Of course there is sin city, Las Vegas - I find this an interesting and telling selection of what to display in a section featuring the US.

Right next to it the Space Shuttle is lifting off.

But there's also the American Southwest to discover - cliff dwellings and the unique landscape of this area of the US (which is one of my favorite parts).

And look who also made an appearance!

Now come with me to South America! For this we have to leave this building of Speicherstadt, cross Kehrwiederfleet on a covered glass bridge and enter another building of Speicherstadt. You bet that the trains are also running along this bridge, connecting the continents! Here is a view from the bridge over Kehrwiederfleet and Speicherstadt.

Welcome to Rio de Janeiro!

Perfect timing! Let's join the famous carnival!

Wunderland made sure to include the diverse neighborhoods.

I took the following photo because of the horse - please look closely. Aren't the details fantastic?

And now we're finally in the part I was looking forward to the most - Patagonia and Antarctica!

What about some glaciers and towering mountains? This is Perito-Moreno glacier. Just like at the real glacier, huge ice blocks fall into the water. A special mechanism lets this happen every few minutes.

Interesting fact: The tracks in Patagonia have a different size, they are smaller. Since Wunderland tries to be as realisitc as possible, this difference in size is incorporated which meant a lot of work since they also had to adapt the size of the trains. It took four years to construct this section of Wunderland.

So now we're crossing the infamous Drake Passage. I hope you're not seasick! True to its nature the water was moving wildly here. I still regret that I didn't take a short video of this.

Here we are in Antarctica with its research station, research boats and penguins.

The penguins... I hope you take a minute and look closely at the next photo. Can you see the rock band? And the guy who sells ice cream to the penguins? Yeah..., but don't you just love this kind of silliness?

I loved this section so much. There was so much to discover.

And we were even able to travel back in time.

I hope you enjoyed this adventurous trip to the Southern tip of our world.

The Smallest State on Earth

 

In my last post I promised to tell you about our "real" reason for going to Hamburg, our destination located within the historical Speicherstadt. The picture above is a clue and those of you who already guess where we went - congratulations!

It's the no. 1 tourist destination in Germany (no, it's not Neuschwanstein Castle!)

Miniatur Wunderland ("miniature wonderland") has been on my wishlist for a long time. Both the Geek and Kaefer had already been there and have raved about it ever since. They really wet my appetite!

The largest model railway in the world started out with three theme worlds in August 2001 (Central Germany, Knuffingen - a fictional town -, and Austria) - by now there are 12 complete sections, spread over two buildings in the Speicherstadt, connected by a bridge over Kehrwiederfleet. The newest section is Monaco (the background in the top photo) which had opened in April 2024. At the moment they are working on the Rainforest and Atacama Desert.

This is a very photo-heavy post. I've tried to consolidate the photos, but it's still a lot. I've decided to divide Miniatur Wunderland in three parts. Today I concentrate on Germany and Europe. Please come with me and let your inner child experience the wonders of this big small world.

Right at the entrance is the big stadium that is crowded for a concert of popular German singer Helene Fischer. In the right hand photo you can see how detailed the audience is created - every single person with so much love for detail. Simply amazing.

We start out with Provence where the lavender is in full bloom at Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque. After that maybe cross the Pont du Gard?

Or do you prefer to go to Italy and visit Cinque Terre and San Gimignano? Or would you rather have an audience with the Pope? Or just tour Rome?

Of course you want to visit Pompeii - just make sure not to be there when Vesuvius errupts (which it does every 15 minutes in Wunderland).

The days in Wunderland are very short - 15 minutes. Then it gets dark and everything is beautifully illuminated for a few minutes until the "new" day dawns. 

Venice at night...

... and during daylight.

The Hundertwasserkirche in Bärnbach, Austria. This is a beautiful church which was built after WWII and then in 1988 rededsigned by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. I have seen the "real" church and can attest that the model is exquisitely done.

And what will we find further up in Northern Europe? A sauna of course!!!

I was thrilled with all the details - no wonder that we spent more than seven hours here, because there was so much to see.

Farmers market and a natural history museum.

Laundry day, plein air painting, a playground and a truck that was losing its wheels of cheese that it had been carrying. Oh what fun!

There is also the opportunity to play minigolf and when you're done you can go to the pumpkin patch.

There was a lot of action going on as well. Here are the fire trucks racing to extinguish a house fire.

It is no surprise that Hamburg plays a major role in Wunderland, but it doesn't dominate it. Here are the Landungsbrücken (embarkation quay):

Of course Köhlbrandbrücke (Koehlbrand bridge) is quite prominent - it's an important landmark of Hamburg.

Remember that in my last post I wrote about Elbphilharmonie, the beautiful concert hall in Hamburg? Of course it's in Wunderland as well, and here you can actually look inside. You just press a button and the building opens up.

Renewable energy is important in Germany and it's no wonder that wind turbines have found their way into Wunderland as well. There are a lot of wind turbines in Germany, especially near and in the North Sea. And do you notice all the roof top solar panels?

The heart and probably most exciting part of Wunderland is the airport.

Some very interesting objects are flying here, like Biene Maja (a children's classic).

But there are also "real" planes landing and taking off at this busy airport.

As a child I loved to play with my brother's model railway. I was actually the one who enjoyed assembling the model houses (these are all HO gauge) and seeing so many of them in Wunderland brought back a lot of childhood memories. I especially liked (and still do) the old timber-framed houses. I had quite a few of the following.

At the top I mentioned that Neuschwanstein Castle - that many in the US only know as the Disney Cinderella castle - is NOT the most visited tourist attraction in Germany, but you can sure see it in Wunderland. Why not turn into a Bavarian beer garden afterwards?

There are a lot of bridges in the mountains and high up you might find some peace in a monastery. It's a long way up there!

So much lovely details in the mountainous world. A bear stealing honey while the beekeeper is taking a nap in the hammock, sheep on a mountain meadow with their shepherd and walking up a winding mountain road (the letter M was part of a game the day we visited).

If you have never seen an Almabtrieb (festival celebrating the return of cattle from high-altitude summer pastures in the Alps to the valleys at the end of summer), here's your chance:

Who is hiding here? It's Fuchur, the luckdragon from Michael Ende's Die Unendliche Geschichte ("Falkor" in English, from The NeverEnding Story).

Of course there are tunnels in the mountains (and elsewhere) and there were many in Wunderland. Again, such love to detail. I think many of the model cars in Wunderland are by the company SIKU from Lüdenscheid in the Sauerland, where I grew up. Summer jobs at SIKU were highly sought after.

And now the details I fell in love with. They show some characters that were highly popular when I was a kid. I think they're still are, otherwise they probably wouldn't have made an appearance in Wunderland.

Pippi Langstrumpf (Pippi Longstocking), the strongest little girl in the world, was my favorite fictional heroine when I grew up. Astrid Lindgren's books were extremely popular in my childhood and I hope they still are.

Käptn Blaubär, an anthropormophic talking bear with blue fur who lives in the very north of Germany and spins tall tales. Oh, and please note the yellow telephone booth - that's a classic by now!

Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer ("Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver"), based on a book by Michael Ende (the Fuchur creator, see above) and lovingly recreated by Augsburger Puppenkiste (marionette theater in Augsburg, Germany). Augsburger Puppenkiste made wonderful little marionette movies based on several children's books, the most popular ones being the Urmel series by Max Kruse and Jim Knopf. I can still hear the Jim Knopf song Eine Insel mit zwei Bergen - here's a short video if you're interested, with characters from the marionette theater. How much we loved this as children (and I still do!).

Sesame Street - or Sesamstraße as it is called in German - was popular in Germany, too. My personal favorite was Oscar, but I also liked Ernie and Bert. Please note who's in their kitchen, eating all the cookies!

If you're still reading this, thank you. No Wunderland would be complete without a German Christmas market. Mhm, I can almost smell the roasted almonds.

Do you think all these tiny faces count for Nicole's Friday Face Off? If not, at least the ones in the first photo.

Next time in Wunderland: The US (very little), Brasil, Patagonia and Antarctica.