Cold War

Located in the hill south of Budapest, Memento Park seems to be the place that communist statues go to die. There, Lenin stands next to Karl Marx and Engels, together with crucial Hungarian communist leaders. All of this behind brick walls that make up a surreal and unique open-air museum that feels more authentic than most sights in the city.

Memento Park: A Surreal Time Capsule of Budapest’s Communist Past

Budapest
6 min read
14/08/201916/07/2024

It weighs more than three tons, and it was buried and almost forgotten deep in a forest around Berlin. But nowadays, you can visit the head of Lenin at the Zitadelle Spandau in an exhibition focused on German history.

The Unearthed Head of Lenin at Zitadelle Spandau

Berlin
5 min read
10/07/201903/07/2023

Back in 1988, one year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tilda Swinton took her bike and cycled round the Berlin Wall, together with the filmmaker Cynthia Beatt. What they created came to be known as Cycling the Frame and it’s a beautiful and surreal document that shows a city scarred by a wall that cut it in half.

Cycling the Frame: When Tilda Swinton cycled by the Berlin Wall

Berlin
3 min read
19/03/201909/07/2024

The public transport system in Berlin is quite complete and includes ferries, buses, trams, and trains split into the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn. But, for a brief moment in time, there was also the Berlin M-Bahn, and we will always regret not being able to take a ride in one since it was made out of service back in 1991, a little after the reunification of Germany.

Berlin M-Bahn: The Brief History of the First Maglev train in Germany

Berlin
3 min read
25/09/201814/11/2024

It’s 2018, and there are still some Lenin statues left around Germany. We visited one of these statues in Berlin, and we continue looking for them around the country. One day we got lucky, and we managed to find two of them on the same day. That blessed day was back in October 2016 when we took our bikes north and went to Fürstenberg to do some urban exploration.

Hunting Down Lenin Statues in Fürstenberg

Urbex
6 min read
14/09/201810/12/2023

Sometimes I go on Youtube and search for movies related to Berlin in any way. This is how I discovered some of the youtube videos I have written about here, and this is how I found out about Background to Berlin, a NATO Information Service movie that explains, in a little less than 30 minutes, the history of the German capital from 1945 to 1961.

Background to Berlin: A NATO Information Service explaining everything about Berlin from 1945 to 1961

Berlin
3 min read
25/07/201808/10/2024

Back in 1999, local historian Christian Bormann found something that it wasn’t supposed to be lost. Nine years after demolition began, he found a piece of the Berlin Wall, somehow forgotten in the woods between a train station and a supermarket. More than 80 meters of the original Berlin Wall, built in 1961, is standing there, some with the V-shaped brackets that once had barbed wire on it. It’s hard to believe that something with this historical importance was lost and this is why we went there to see it with our own eyes.

The Newly Found Original Berlin Wall that was lost in the woods in Schonholz

Berlin
5 min read
05/02/201823/05/2024

Walled in! – The inner German border is a computer animation produced by Deutsche Welle together with the Berlin Wall Foundation to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. The short movie describes in details the fortifications and the way that the border between East and West Germany was set up and it’s an excellent resource for those who want to know more about it.

Understanding the Berlin Wall with Walled in! – The inner German border

Berlin
3 min read
30/01/201820/05/2024

During the years where Nick Cave was living in Berlin, back in the 1980’s, he was filmed for a Dutch documentary called Stranger in a Strange Land. Produced by Bram van Splunteren for the Dutch TV channel VPRO, you get a glimpse of the life of Nick Cave in Berlin even though some parts of the movie are voice-over in dutch. But you don’t need to worry about it, all the interviews with Nick Cave are in English.

Nick Cave in Berlin: Stranger in a Strange Land

Berlin
3 min read
16/12/201713/08/2024

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