Berlin Gets its Glamour Back

By Emma Krasov

From the Brandenburg Gate to the Museum Island, and from the Berlinale to three active opera houses, Berlin offers plenty of cultural attractions and happenings to tourists from all over the world. The largest department store in continental Europe, a century-old Berlin’s KaDeWe and thousands of restaurants, cafes, and bars open around the clock don’t hurt either. A record number of visitors, around two million, came last year, when Berlin celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall. To keep the momentum going, Berlin Tourism Marketing organized a media luncheon with a comprehensive presentation on the city’s highlights on Friday at The Waterfront Restaurant in San Francisco.
“The Germans got rid of the Wall in a very German way,” said Burkhard Kieker, CEO, at the presentation. When the Wall was being demolished without a trace on November 9, 1989 no one could anticipate that years later the tourists would want to see the remnants of it. Now, from Checkpoint Charlie to biking rides along its former perimeter, this part of German background is being preserved and memorialized, same as the tragedy of the Holocaust, and much brighter moments of the country’s long history. By looking back into the free-spirited, open-minded, and utterly cosmopolitan feel of the city in the 1920s, Berlin is now reviving its atmosphere as it used to be in times of Bertold Brecht and Max Reinhardt theatre, Georg Grosz and Otto Dix art, and Marlene Dietrich, Asta Nielsen, and Emil Jannings silent films. Extravagant parties, swing dance evenings, variety theater, silent movie shows, and city tours are bringing back the glitz and glamour of the bygone era. To give the Bay Area residents a sampling of the on-going celebration of Berlin’s pre-war glory, on Saturday, picture perfect and musically stunning singer/emcee Max Raabe and Palast Orchester performed in concert at Night in Berlin in a historic Art Deco Paramount Theatre in Oakland. The concert, featuring numerous German and American swing hits, and thoroughly enjoyed by the public, mostly dressed in period costumes, was followed by a reception with the artists, sponsored by the German Consul General of San Francisco.
To learn more, and to visit Berlin, go to: visitBerlin.de.
Images courtesy of Berlin Tourism Marketing. 1. Brandenburg Gate 2. Checkpoint Charlie 3. Holocaust Memorial 4. Berlin Cathedral