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Berlin: City of Culture; Place of Intrigue A capital of culture; The Wall; a city of East-West intrigue; a showcase of capitalism in a socialist wasteland; a wide-open homosexual scene; a bastion of the German middle class; a landscape of rubble leveled by bombs; divine decadence. Perhaps no other city in the world brings to mind so many images, creating a virtual kaleidoscope in the mind as flakes of fantasy merge with bits of fact. Recently, we visited Berlin to sort things out for ourselves. We found that Berlin is a beautiful, modem, 40-year-old city with an 800-year history.. Of all the cities on the continent, Berlin feels the least European. It could be New York, Chicago, or Tokyo. This is, of course, because Berlin was almost totally destroyed by bombing during World War II and had to be completely rebuilt. Part of the rebuilding included a subway system that is nothing less than wunderbar. The trains are clean, quiet, and frequent Color-coded maps make it easy for visitors to find their way around. Showcase of the West Amid the modem city of gleaming skyscrapers is one bombed-out monument to the horrors of wan the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church of the Kurfurstendamm. This street, often called Ku'damm for short, is West Berlin's main street It is lined with shops, theaters, and at least 125 coffeehouses, the most famous of which is Cafe Kranzler. The Ku'damm goes day and night By day it is a wonderful place to shop for just about anything at any price. At night in good weather it becomes an enormous sidewalk cafe illuminated by neon signs that hang on almost every building. Shopping is a wonderful thing to do in Showcase Berlin. In Berlin's west end, on a major shopping street called Tauentzienstrasse, we found perhaps the most spectacular department store in the world, Kaufhaus des Westens (or Ka-De-We), which makes Bloomingdale's look like K-MarL We have never seen so much quality merchandise so beautifully displayed. But the centerpiece of this store was its food. One whole floor was devoted to more fish than we've seen in any fish market; more sausages than in any meat market; produce we'd only heard about, but never seen, coupled with breads, cheeses, and all sorts of confections. There were little lunch counters where we could have some of these goodies prepared and served to us. And we returned several times just to gape. Despite its modem look and feel, Berlin carries deep within a sense of history. It has been, after all, the site of a great European capital since the 1400s, when the royal Hohenzollem family-which was to dominate Germany until after World War I-chose Berlin as the capital of its province, Brandenburg. Frederick the Great made Berlin his capital after he crowned himself King of Prussia in the 1700s. Then in 1871 Berlin became the capital of the German Empire and home of the Kaiser. Charlottenburg Palace Some sense of Berlin’s past glory is preserved in Charlottenburg Palace, one of the few magnificent structures dating from the reign of Frederick the Great to survive the bombings of World Warll. Though it was badly damaged, the rooms have been restored to their original splendor. The palace was built over a period of 100 years and was named for Sophie Charlotte, the first Queen of Prussia and Frederick the Great's female wife. (He was reputed to be gay.) One wing of the palace houses the art collection of Frederick the Great. His court was exclusively male; something to think about while admiring the paintings. In the surrounding park stands the Belvedere Tea House with a magnificent collection of porcelain, not to be missed. You will miss it if you visit on Friday, however, because this is the day all museums in and opposite the palace are closed. Other Monuments to History In the district of Krcutzberg, we found a fairy-tale monument topped by slender spires on a small hill. Down the hill flows a charming waterfall. This is the national monument commemorating the defeat of Napoleon in 1812. This district also contains houses built by wealthy merchants in the 1800s, their ornate facades being faithfully restored. The period of greatest historical interest to gay men and lesbians centered around the so-called Weimar Republic which followed the fall of the Hohenzollems and the German Empire after World War I. The Weimar Republic lasted from 1918 to 1933, and during this period an impressive gay-rights movement and openly gay culture flourished. Unfortunately, so did inflation, unemployment, and world-wide depression, allowing Adolph Hitler’s Nazis to gain a political foothold. In America, our impression of those Weimar dys are encapsulated in the film Cabaret. But another film of much greater importance was created in Germany during this time called Different From Other People, the first known gay-liberation film. It opened to the public in 1919, but was banned by the German government in 1920. The Scientific Humanitarian Committee was Berlin's major gay rights organization for 36 years until 1933, when Nazis raided its headquarters and destroyed all its books and other records. Nazi storm troopers then crushed the gay rights movement and sent countless homosexuals along with millions of Jews and other ethnic minorities to death camps. The Sparatuo Guide listed a gay museum which we hoped would commemorate some of this history. We were disappointed to find that the "museum" is little more than a room of books with a few tables at which one can drink coffee. To Americans, the most powerful historical images of Berlin are, no doubt, The Wall and Checkpoint Charlie, immortalized by countless spy films and novels as the spot where the hero makes a mad dash for freedom from the Soviet sector to the West The division exists because after the Nazi defeat, Berlin was carved up into four sectors-Frcnch, British, and American (West Berlin) and Russian (East Berlin). As such, it was the main stage of the Cold War of East- West propoganda from the late 1940s through the 1960s. In 1961, the East Germans built The Wall that divides East and West Berlin. One of the most moving experiences for us was a visit to the permanent exhibition at Checkpoint Charlie, which is actually a museum that chronicles the history of The Wall and the people who tried to escape over it. Lesbian & Gay Pride '88-BerIin Style At Potzdamer Platz, once the busiest part of Berlin, is a viewing platform where you can see over The Wall into East Berlin. You can also see a small hill, the site of the underground bunker where Adolph Hitler lived during the last days of the war and finally committed suicide. The Wall extends for about 28 miles and cuts off the Brandenburg Gate, symbol of the city since 1791, when it formed the western gate to Berlin. Gay Activities The gay scene in West Berlin is very heavily leather. People should be forewarned that some of the shows arc not for the faint hearted. In fact, many Americans would be shocked or even offended. Some of the most popular leather bars are Knast at Fuggerstrasse 34, Horst's Laden at Rankestrasse 14, and Tom's Bar at Motzstrasse 19. The oldest men's bar is Elli's Bcirbar, a pre-war establishment at Skalitzerstrasse 102. There are also several high-tech discos, such as Querlelle, at Matin- Lutherstrasse 19. For women, there is Pour Elle, a dance bar at Kalkrcuthrasse 7. Berlin has three gay guesthouses: Pension Brenner, 15 rooms in a large house built in 1900; Petit Hotel, a classic German establishment built in 1890; and Tom's House, catering predominantly to a male leather clientele. Berlin also has several gay restaurants. We recommend that gay/lesbian travelers to Berlin purchase a Spartacus Guide. Like all cities, Berlin has a changing gay scene, with establishments opening and closing. But Spartacus seems to provide the most up-to- date information and at least some places where a foreigner can begin investigating the gay/lcsbian scene. On our return, people asked if we had a "good time." A totally fascinating experience is a better way to describe our excursion to this modem city with a buried past From Envoy Travel Features NO COVEI $1.50 cocktails Open 24 hours on weekends! Only at Atlanta's Premiere Photo by John Williams