Reflections from Berlin

Or what I did on my holidays...

May 02, 2025

This is something quick to read as we wait for the full picture on the local elections. I am in rehearsals all weekend, but will try and write a full response to yesterday’s elections though.

It is fair to say that I had a fantastic time on my recent city break to Berlin. I don’t intend to write a full report and, frankly, you wouldn’t understand most of it anyway (not because you’re dumb, but because the dumb sense of humour of me and my best mate means that we renamed many of the places we talked about - so, for example, while I had a lovely breakfast, I couldn’t tell you where it was, because as far as we were concerned it was in ‘Morton Harket Market’).

But one thing we did on our first morning was a walking tour that took us from that market square to Museum Island, through Lustgarten (yes, we giggled), down to Checkpoint Charlie and past bit of the wall, to the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe, and finishing at the Brandenberg Gate.

We had a great tour guide (We called him Alexei - as his name badge read Alex E, one of the more easily explainable of our shorthand), and it was the approach that he took to Berlin’s history that I found so interesting, as it matched the way the city presents itself too.

It would be impossible to tour Berlin without a discussion of the history of the 20th century and the damage done to the city and its people by the Second World War and the division of the city. And Alexei didn’t shy away from describing the evil of the Nazis or the cruelty of the Soviets. Equally, he was clearly very aware that he didn’t know the politics of his audience and that the politics of modern Germany is more complex than anyone examining that history might hope for.

This is what I found throughout our trip to Berlin. It is a city of contrasts and heavy history that it doesn’t shy away from. There are bullet holes in every building and monument. As someone said to us, “Don’t ask if any building was bombed or not, just assume the answer is yes”. The city has (largely) moved on from both parts of its dark past, but it has not forgotten it. It is a city of memorials as well as memory-making experiences.

There is much discussion about how any country deals with its past. This is obviously sharper in Germany than it is in the UK where discussions are more removed from living history. With only a tourist’s eye view, it seemed to me that Berlin does it very well. It faces its past with honesty, but also nuance. It does not claim that all its people were uninvolved heroes during its dark periods. It tells the story of resistance to authoritarians alongside the story of the repressors and their collaborators. Berlin is a city that is open and honest about its past, but equally seems to be comfortable with the vast contrasts of its present and reaching for its future.

There were darker signs. On our second day, we decided to walk three miles from the centre of town to the East Side Gallery (the part of the wall with the famous murals). Sadly, we ended up having to walk four miles as we were diverted by a far right rally (as the lovely German woman who we asked what was happening said, it was not “one of the kind ones”). The police presence was big, and some streets were shut. But the Berliner’s attitude was one of getting on with their lives around it, resisting its politics while being aware of its presence.

In the museum under the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe, there is a heartbreaking museum telling the stories of some of the victims of the holocaust. In it is the quote from Primo Levi:

It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere.”

That quote, in that place, in that city brought me to tears thinking about the politics we currently face. A sobering and important moment in an otherwise fun holiday.

We didn’t see all of the aspect of Berlin that tourists travel for. There were, for example, lots of jokes before we went about going to the famous Berlin sex club Berghain. But the truth is that my friend has been happily married for about 20 years and I can’t imagine anything less sexy than techno. Come back to me when you have a folk-pop sex club.

But we did try to see some of the more boho aspects of the town within our comfort limits. Alexei recommended some very cool bars with the slightly complex brief that my friend wanted something “laid back” and I wanted something “more bizarre”.

We ended up following his lead and going to a rooftop bar in the rather trendy area of Neukölln. To get there we had to go through a multi-storey car park above a shopping centre. Giving us the sense that we were finding something special and hidden.

It was the perfect place to watch the sun go down over a city we were just getting to know and love. And going there on the same day as crying in a museum seems, strangely, to exemplify the lesson I took home from Berlin. Rememberance is vital. So too is living joyfully now. It is in balancing both of these aspects of life that Berlin feels like it is largely getting it right.

My new play, Four Weigh-Ins and a Funeral is happening on NEXT WEEK. I’m so excited about this piece. It’s absolutely NOT a play about losing weight, but a play about finding community. I’d love you to come and see it. Click the poster for a link to buy tickets!