Category Archives: History

Berlin, History, Personal Journal, Songs, Video

DSOB Symphonic Mob – Verdi’s ‘Va, pensiero’

Before coming on this trip, I developed an unrelated obsession with Verdi’s “Va, Pensiero”. I had it on perpetual loop once we got here, and then later learned that it had been adopted as a sort of anthem in East Germany about how they yearned to be reunited with their homeland. My computer finally blew up and I couldn’t do any work until I got a new power supply, so my flatmate and I went to the Tiergarten to bum around nature since it was a holiday and nothing was open. On the way back, I saw that the Mall of Berlin was busy and decided to stop and see if the Saturn was open (Saturn is like the German “Best Buy”.) It turned out they were having a “symphonic mob”… and the second they started playing I recognized it. I almost cried. Literally one of the most unreal and beautiful moments of my entire life.

RELATED: Urban Folklore: “Va, pensiero” and East Germany

Berlin, History, Photos, Urban Nature

Gallery: Treptower Park & Soviet War Memorial

Berlin, History, Urban Nature

Gallery: Dorotheenstädtisch-Friedrichswerderscher Friedhof

Dorotheenstädtisch-Friedrichswerderscher Cemetery is just up the street from our apartment here in Mitte. It has many famous graves, including Bertolt Brecht. It also has a mausoleum that still has bullet holes from WWII. I found the various places where you can still see the bullet holes like this to be among the saddest signs of the war. You can see the furious intent behind the scars and know that they were aiming to kill someone. Sometimes Berlin feels like a great Necropolis, filled with monuments, cemeteries, and the scars of war at every turn.