Well, I'll try not to make this too long. You people know my posts, so I'll probably not succeed.
I like to think that I live in one of the most diverse places in the world. As I said, Berlin covers a larger land area than New York City, it's got 3.5 million people, and those key events in the history of the 20th century that weren't set off here at least left their mark. In terms of ethnic diversity, I suppose only Amsterdam and New York beat Berlin. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations, one of the most renowned centres for artistic creativity, and one of the most talked-about cities in the world.
However, if young urban people from all around the world talk about the city, they talk about something different than what I identify with it. Sure, I go clubbing, although almost exclusively rock and metal. I have friends in the hip areas of the city, and the area I live in is becoming increasingly popular. But all that doesn't have terribly much to do with the city I grew up knowing as my home. As most here know, I grew up in many different places around the world, and I have spent less than half my life in Berlin. Yet, my family comes from here, and I have always considered this my hometown. When I visited the town with my family when I was young, we would always stay at my grandparent's place, so that was where I always felt at home. They lived in a suburban district in the southwest of the town, called Lichterfelde - so I'll talk about that here.
The district was largely built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in the Wilhelminic epoch. It was a colony of villas for the wealthy elite of the Prussian state, especially members of the military caste. A barracks was built there, and many streets have very martial names. The area is particularly notorious for its eccentric medieval architecture. A few examples:
Many of those villas were designed by the architect Gustav Lilienthal, a native to the area. His brother, Otto Lilienthal was probably the most famous resident of the district, and he conducted some pioneering flight experiments nearby, and constructed one of the first aircraft worldwide, before the Wright Brothers. The test grounds are now a memorial site:
The barracks was originally home to the 1.
Gardeschützenbattalion, then the 1.
SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler, the headquarters of the United States occupation forces in West Berlin, and is now used by the
Bundesnachrichtendienst, Germany's inefficient secret service:
When I was very small, you would see American G.I.'s playing baseball there.
Part of the so-called Westbazaar by the train station.
Another one of those houses.
The Johanneskirche, where I was baptised. It's just down the street from where my grandparents used to live.
My grandparents bought a property that had been destroyed by a bomb during the war, and a new house was built there, in convenient distance to the university where my grandfather was a professor, and where I now study. After my grandmother died, the house was sold and I have never been there since. It still is the only place in the world I feel at home at, and it is one of the most beautiful urban places in the world to me.