Our week felt a bit more structured this week as though we have finally started to fall into what resembles our old routines back in California. Obviously living in a city vs. the country changes our day to day life but we’re starting to see some similarities which is a good indicator that we are getting settled into to our new lives.
For the past few weeks the cherry blossoms have been in full effect and are littered throughout the city. Each area has it’s own specific history of how the cherry blossoms came to be but for the most part the trees in Berlin are all new post WWII. Even the main city park, Tiergarten, doesn’t have trees older then the 1950s. What wasn’t bombed out during the war was later used as fire wood in the proceeding years as the residents that remained had little resources and primarily lived in complete devastation. Residents would spend at least two winters in the bombed out city before coalition forces would finalize the Marshall Plan and be able to truly begin the rebuilding process of the country. Even so, then the plan focussed on rebuilding economies and not cities - with the exception of a section in West Berlin for clear political reasons.
Never-the-less, the trees, like many of the buildings, are fairly new. Unlike the buildings, the trees in many cases were gifts post war from neighbouring communities and in several instances Japan was the source of the gift - similar to the gift of cherry blossom trees in Washington DC. It’s hard to get the specific history in many of these Kiez' because it hasn’t been passed down through the gentrification. Often we end up wondering what stories these streets could tell if they could talk. There is something powerful about seeing the trees blossom at this stage in their lives - not too tall, not too big, still full of fruit - as if that’s the vision of the tree the original planter would have envisioned but never lived to see it.
One of the really cool things to find in the city is an old Markthalle. These buildings were constructed in the late 1800’s during the peak time of the industrial revolution in Germany and shortly after the country was unified. Kaisers Wilhelm I & II knew that funds needed to be provided to support infrastructure as the population of Berlin was growing at an alarming rate during this period. One of the major concerns was feeding this rapidly growing population. The answer, Market Halls. These beautiful late 19th century buildings are simple in construction but decadent in design. The level of detail from the grand rafters to the smallest carving at the end of a post can occupy your eyes for hours. All Market Halls needed to follow the plans set by the city building counsel Blankenstein but the differences can always be seen in the details of each one.
This particular Markthalle, Arminius Market Halle, was opened in December 1891. It had space for 425 stalls. In 2010 it was renovated and still serves as a market today but with some modern twists like a popular brunch spot and food truck that specializes in poutine. We took our time walking around and taking it all in eventually settling on individual spots for lunch - Doreen with some German street food and Chad with a massive fish sandwich. We did some shopping for the week and then took a nice stroll back to our Kiez.
In Berlin, like many European cities, there are a ton of churches, and unlike America, they are OLD churches. Berlin has so many that you find yourself getting used to seeing these massive structures. We never want to get so acclimated that we forget just how impressive these buildings have been throughout their history. As a part fo The Mcneill Experience, we are going to feature some of these churches from time-to-time. We’ll take an agnostic perspective with respect to the religious purposes of these buildings. Rather, we are fascinated by the power of these institutions over time and the vital roles they played at different critical parts in history. We figured there was no better place to start this reoccurring project then with the first church we saw in Berlin - the church atop the hill next to our first temporary flat on Invalidenstraße.
Atop the largest natural hill in Berlin, where there once stood a vineyard named Zion, sits a massive structure at the centre of a 5 way circular intersection. Obviously the intersection was built around the church but you can imagine just how central the church was to this community when it was constructed. On October 16th, 1866 the corner stone was laid for Zion by Christian Wilhelm Griebenow’s widow. Christian Wilhelm Griebenow was the founder of Prenzlauer Berg and the largest land owner in Berlin after his marriage into the Zernickow family. Coincidentally Christian was also responsible for the donation of land for the Reichstag building.
Over the previous 30 years the number of parishioners had grown so large due to the industrial revolution that the St. Elizabeth parish could no longer support its nearly 20,000 souls. The church elders released a decree to the Kaiser stating in part, “The city’s largest proletariat and poverty can be found here. We most graciously ask the Kaiser to grant a portion of the land and funds to support our great need.” While the myth of the letter being the convincing factor persisted for many decades it was rather a failed assassination attempt in 1861 on Kaiser Wilhelm I that the church owes it’s existence. Kaiser Wilhelm I convinced Christian Wilhelm Griebenow to donate the land and funded the early stages of the project. However, the church would largely sit unfinished until 1871 due to a lack of funds. In 1871, with the victory over the French in the Franco Prussian war, the French repatriation funds were in part redirected to support what was becoming known as the “Cathedral of the North.” On March 2nd, 1873 Wilhelm I and Chancellor Otto von Bismark presided over the opening of Zion.
“The domestic conditions are mostly indescribable: poverty, disorder, and immorality.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
In 1931, at the height of the financial and political hardships in Berlin, the working-class Kiez of Prenzlauer Berg was a rough area. Crime was high. Fights and brutality were a common occurrence - even during the day. It was with this atmosphere that a young, freshly ordained, minister named Dietrich Bonhoeffer would come to Zion in November of 1931. His immediate task was to takeover the youth conformation class. At the time most church leaders did not live in the area sounding Zion due to the nature of the neighbourhood. Dietrich broke rank and moved into a rented apartment around the corner at 61 Oderberger Straße so that he could be in close proximity to the youth and their parents. He would later write in his journal, “…but what currently most occupies my mind is the conformation lessons that I am giving to 50 boys in the Month of Berlin, suffering the city’s most difficult social and political conditions. At first the boys behaved just appallingly - to the extent that I expected real discipline problems for the first time. But one thing helped here too; that I simply recounted biblical material to the boys.”
Dietrich would go on to be a vocal anti-Nazi voice in the late 1930’s from his position seminary leader at the Confessing Church in Finkenwalde; eventually being banned from speaking in 1940 and banned from writing in 1941. On April 5th 1943 he was arrested and executed two years later at the direct command of Hitler for the famous assassination attempt of July 20, 1944. Dietrich is the only soul to lie in eternal rest on the Zionskirche grounds.
The second World War brought some really dark times to Zionskirche. Bombs rained down on the building destroying the roof and other parts of the structure that wouldn’t be fixed until the 1980’s. Aside from the obvious struggles, the church did little to shield its largely jewish neighbourhood from the constant torment, arrests, and general unforgivable hardship. They would later make the argument they did not agree with the Fascist regime and were merely living in a time of self preservation. Some parishioners would actually deny miss treatment of the jews in some years post war. That argument is hard to imagine considering today there are countless placards lining the streets of Prenzlauer Berg marking where jewish residents lived before they were taken. A reckoning on the role the church played wouldn’t happen until the 1990’s.
Zionskirche would attempt to redeem it’s mistakes of the 1930’s over the next 50 years. With new leadership and a different set of oppressive conditions the Umwelt-Bibliothek [Environmental Library] was formed in 1986. The political and social conditions were shifting away from the DDR controlled East side of Berlin. The Umwelt-Bibliothek quickly developed into an important centre of opposition. The Library provided a safe haven for networking among alternative political groups that was forbidden by the DDR. They began printing a magazine, Umweltblatter, with the purpose of spreading ideas and information to the resistance. The library also gave access to literature and art the Socialist government had previously banned. The church was under constant monitoring by the Stasi. This friction came to a head on November 24th, 1987 when agents of the states security forces raided the church and library. The Stasi violently forced their way into the rectory, aggressively searched the perish and took 7 people into custody. The raid set off a hornets nest of protests around the city that got international attention. International pressure was so great that the DDR was forced to release the 7 parishioners which in-turn empowered the civil rights movement and helped turn the tide of public sentiment. A few years later the wall would come down due in part to organisations like the Umwelt-Bibliothek.
Today the church stands as a place of worship and marks a long and complicated history. Services are held every Sunday and events of all kinds are held during the week. It is a beautiful reminder that good people doing good acts can promote positive change while ambivalence can wreak havoc on the weak.
Until Next Time,
The McNeills