BERLIN BRIEFING February 2005

News this month

Remembering them

Berliners are mourning local victims of December's Asian tsunami. At last count, over 600 Germans were missing, and 60 people from Berlin and Brandenburg were either missing or confirmed dead. For weeks, the sunburned and smiling faces of these lost people have led the local news.

Not all stories were tragic. Heike Schultz-Fademrecht and her young sons, Simon and Nelson, on holiday in Sri Lanka, survived thanks to Simon's cleverness. After studying tsunamis at school, he recognised the ebbing waters as a sign of impending disaster, and the family raced for high ground. They returned to Berlin determined to help those less fortunate: by early January, they had raised €56,800 ($74,300) in donations. Overall, Germans have proved very generous. Local radio stations report that every third Berliner has made some sort of contribution.

Piled high

How many monuments does Berlin need? The 1990s saw the city looking ahead, with expansive building projects befitting its new capital-city status. Lately the focus has been on the painful past, commemorating the victims of totalitarianism. So far the only official memorial project under way is the long-overdue “Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe”, on a site the size of three football fields next to the Brandenburg Gate. It is due to be unveiled on May 10th.

Now the city is looking to commemorate those who died attempting to cross the Berlin Wall. A makeshift memorial at the Checkpoint Charlie border-crossing was erected privately in 2004, and almost 200 national parliamentarians have backed a plan for an official monument, also at the Brandenburg Gate. A monument to over 500,000 Gypsies murdered by the Nazis will probably be erected this year near the Reichstag, and Nazism's homosexual victims may soon have a site across the street from the Jewish memorial. Representatives of other victims of Nazism—notably army deserters and Jehovah’s Witnesses—are now calling for their due.

Hot to trot

Since mid-December, Berliners seeking a midwinter tropical holiday need not undertake an arduous air journey. Paradise now lies 60km from the city: Tropical Island is a Disneyland-style melange of white sand beaches, rainforest and lagoons, where the temperature is a constant 25-30º Celsius. It sits in a huge hangar once occupied by an airship business. Romantics can hold hands and watch as the sun rises and sets, projected onto a 150-metre-high screen. There is a nightclub, and visitors can even camp overnight.

Tropical Island doesn’t pretend to be a specific tropical paradise. Instead it borrows elements from Asia, Africa and South America to offer an enjoyable, if somewhat vapid, experience. The €70m undertaking is the brainchild of a consortium led by Colin Au, a Malaysian businessman. Investors hope to draw 2.4m visitors a year, despite scant initial crowds. Still, it's early days, and the project has added a glow to the depressed Brandenburg region. More than 500 people, many of whom were unemployed, now have jobs—and who could criticise the prospect of year-round tans?

Not extinct yet

The much-loved dinosaurs at Berlin's Museum of Natural History are going into hiding for two years, during the building's €17.7m reconstruction. Starting on February 28th, the dinosaurs, including the spectacular brachiosaurus in the museum's entryway, will be packed away, bone by bone.

The skeletons, some of which are close to 150m years old, have been in German hands since the early 20th century, when Werner Janensch, a local palaeontologist, brought them from Africa. Although shifting the dinosaurs is a logistical nightmare, the curators plan to make good use of the opportunity. When the skeletons are returned to their proper place in 2007, specialists will adjust their positioning to take into account new discoveries (the skeletons have not been altered since they were positioned in the 1930s). The brachiosaurus, for one, will stand a full metre taller than its current 12-metre height. The bones will also get a thorough cleaning and repair.

Facing east

A cold war of sorts has broken out at Berlin's prestigious Deutsches Theater. Christoph Hein, a writer who was chosen in 2004 to become director later this year, has bowed out, citing a “hostile climate” at the theatre. The shortlist of replacements has not yet been announced, but speculation surrounds several people who made their name in communist East Germany. The choice will be made by Thomas Flierl, Berlin's culture minister (himself from the former East Germany), who has made clear that he wants an easterner for the job. Bernd Wilms, the current director, hails from the former West; Mr Hein is from the former East.

Mr Flierl says he wants to “renew the spirit of the house”—in communist days, the theatre had an avant-garde reputation. Mr Wilms has pushed the theatre in a more conservative direction. But many are outraged by Mr Flierl's clear preference for fellow former countrymen. Late last year, he appointed easterners to two other top cultural jobs in Berlin: general director of opera (overseeing all three opera houses in Berlin) and director of the Maxim-Gorki Theater.

Catch if you can

February 2005

Time of the Dawning: Japanese Archaeology

Until January 31st 2005

This comprehensive exhibition about Japan’s pre- and early history is a must for anyone interested in archaeology. The display covers 40,000 years, from the earliest settlements on the Japanese islands through the introduction of Buddhism in the 6th century AD, and then the Asuka and Nara periods in the 7th and 8th centuries. Some 1,500 objects are on display, including tools, fine ceramics, undecorated pottery, weapons and armour, jewellery, clothing, simple household goods and precious burial objects.

Charts and audio guides are available in German and English.

Martin-Gropius-Bau, Niederkirchnerstrasse 7, 10963 Berlin-Mitte. Tel: +49 (0)30 254 860.

See the museum's exhibition information.