I have started going to Schmoozeday Tuesday, an event that happens every other Tuesday, where Jews from all over Berlin get together at an Israeli (delicious) hummus place.  I have met some cool people and have met up with a bunch of them! It's interesting to learn about other people Jewish experiences and other Jewish impressions of Berlin.

A typical East German living room

Special East German lighting found in the Palace of the Republic

A couple of weeks ago I went to the GDR (German Democratic Republic) or the DDR (Deutsches Democratisches) Museum.  It was a fasinating museum about a the GDR culture, a life style that I know very little about. I learned through the museum and my classes that there was something called "ostnostalgie" or "East nostalgia."  This meant despite the communist dictatorship in the East, after The Wall fell in 1989, East Germans, longed for the elements of their lifestyle from the GDR.  They had ostnostalgie for GDR brands that vanished right after The Wall fell, universal chilcare, virtually free housing and many other things.  The museum focused on the special culture that was produced in East Germany and the oppressive things that the GDR did to their people.

Palast der Republik

Stadtschloss

If you do not know what the Palace of the Republic or the Palast der Republik, it was a multifunctional building, which is where the parliament was held and many other cultural events.  Before the Palast was built, the Stadtschloss stood there, however, the communists designed to blow up the stadtschloss and replaced it with the Palast, a building that would represent the GDR.  After the unification, the Palast still stood and at certain points there were political artistic statements that adorned the facade of the Palast like the word Zweifel which means doubt, done by a Norwegian artist.  In 2003, however, the German Parliment decided to demolish the Palast because of its symbol of communist Germany and because it had asbestos in the foundations of the structure. Today, where these two building stood is an gigantic empty lot. There is a Stadtschloss movement to try to get the German Parliment to rebuild the Stadtschloss because of its beauty and granduer, however, many people think it is a waste of money and the space could be put to better use. The space functions as a wide open space where large gatherings can take place. The rebuilding of the Stadtschloss would cost a whopping $4 billion!

The open field in the middle of Berlin where the Stadtschloss and later the Palast stood.