Berlin Then and Now

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Pricy but fascinating book for all interested in WW2 history - Rated
Looking at modern Berlin today after looking at the wartime pictures it's hard to believe it's the same city. One looks down Oranienburger Strasse today and sees lots of smiling happy tourists and locals eating, drinking and enjoying themselves. Then one looks in this book at a black and white picture of the same place in 1945, one or two buildings clearly recognizable as the original structures, the street covered with the bodies of several soldiers and a burnt-out armoured car. The contrast is just incredible. Tony Le Tissier did a good job in locating some of these places in the modern Berlin, as so much has been rebuilt. Here and there the pockmarks of bullet-holes on the sides of buildings are still evident, and in some outlying suburbs there are still deserted buildings which still show signs of the heavy fighting, but much has been renewed in the new Berlin since the fall of the Wall, the Socialist authorities not having done much since the war in the war of renovation. My first flat, in the old East Berlin, still had on old half-burnt down building behind it, not in use and overgrown with plants as no-one had the funds for renovation. These are now being cleaned up, but history is disappearing, despite the efforts of German archaeologists to preserve some evidence of Berlin's recent history. Worth getting, and if you ever visit Berlin, you'll find the book makes a walk around the city a lot more interesting.

Pictures of Berlin during a turbulent century. - Rated
As a trained historian, I have always felt that I probably should not relish the pictures in the books I purchase as much as I do. But, there it is. In my opinion, ANY history or biography can be improved by a good selection of photographs or drawings. As a student of German and military histroy, few places have interested me as much as Berlin. For years I wondered what the city looked like. This was particularly so when reading about the last days of World War II and the postwar period. No book has ever filled a "need" better than "Berlin Then and Now."

The author, Tony Le Tissier, is a retired British Army officer who served (in a civilian capacity) as the last British Governor of Spandau Allied Prision. After his tour of duty ended with the death of Rudof Hess, Le Tissier stayed in Berlin as a writer and historian. He has created a great tribute to the city he obviously loves.

The "Berlin Then and Now" is particularly valuable (and made far more interesting) because of the many maps that are included (again, now and then) as well as building layouts, such as the German Army Office on Bendlerstrasse (the center of the July 20, 1944 plot against Hitler).

Le Tissier takes the reader on a tour of Berlin and shows him/her how the city has evolved over the years. For example, despite Allied bombing and comunist destruction, many parts of the city remain similar to their appearance over a century ago. From the Unter den Linden, the Kronprinz Palais, Neue Wache, Cathedral and the Zeghaus look remarkably the same. Even the clock tower of the Berlin City Hall is visible. Unfortunatley the tower no longer peaks out over the Schloss but rather over the East German People's Palace. The Lichterfeld Barracks are shown as they looked in 1920 as well as druing the Nazi period and later as American Army Headquarters. No matter how much one reads about the damage caused by the Allied bombing and Russian shelling of Berlin, it is hard to belive the destruction portrayed by the picutres. Paradoxically, it is amazing how many buildings--the Schloss, Reich Chancellery, Air Ministry and the Olympic Complex, to name a few--were damaged to varrying degrees but survived. Some were later torn down for political reasons (the Scholss and Chancellery) while others found new lives (the Air Ministry and the Olympic Complex). The Oranienburger Strasse Synagogue survived Kristallnacht and British bombing to be restored as a Jewish culture museum.

Only parts of some structures were retained post-war. The communists completed the demolition of the Kaiser Wilhelm I Memorial except for its base and steps. They were incorporated into the entrance to the GDR Foreign Ministry. Parts of the 1912 German Opera House were used in its reconstruction but the building is basically unrecognizable from its original form.

But as good as the pictures and drawings are (and they are wonderful), Le Tissier's meticulous text and captions mark "Berlin Then and Now" as a noteworthy history book and not just a collection of pictures. The text and the pictures melded particularly well in the author's vivid description of the Battle of Berlin. Le Tissier does justice to the heroism and sacrifice of the Red Army. Similarly, the post-war division and reunification of the city are covered in great detail.

When the German Republic voted to move its capital from Bonn back to Berlin, many people of goodwill both in and out of Germany objected strenuously. After reading "Berlin Then and Now," the reader will understand that Berlin's unique standing in the history of Germany, Europe and the world made the move both natural and inevitable.

I cannot rate this book too highly. This is a "MUST BUY" for your library.