1 - Lange Nacht der Museen

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Berlin turnS 775
The East and West Berlin Bears during the 750 year celebrations in front of the Brandenburg, 1987 © Landesarchiv Berlin, photograph: Günter Schneider
bition »City of Diversity« visitors can walk through a
giant map of Berlin on Schlossplatz, bringing the
(hi)stories of immigration to a wider public including,
artistic, religious and scientific diversity. It
was at Rosenthaler Platz, for example, that the philosopher
Moses Mendelssohn, coming from Dessau
in 1743, entered the city – at that time the only
entrance gate for Jews. In his backpack he had the
ideas of the Enlightenment, which he proceeded to
spread in Berlin. Around the corner in the Torstraße
Wladimir Kaminer’s »Russendisko« presents an
image of recent Russian influences. In Charlottenburg,
moreover, the first Turkish Berliners were not
Gastarbeiter (post-war guest workers) but the
»Kammertürken« (Chamber Turks) Aly and Hassan,
in the service of Queen Sophie Charlotte 300 years
ago. There are in total 100 representative stories,
which explain how immigration is interwoven into
every corner of the city. Complete with light projections
on the influences of immigrants on science,
music, literature, sport and other areas, the exhibition
offers a powerful panorama on the theme. .
WHere it All Went DoWn
Berlin has celebrated its birthday only twice before,
and each time it was a particularly political
event. Many will still remember the 750 years celebrations
in the divided city – either those in the
The city map you can walk through at Schlossplatz
East or the West. In 1937 National Socialist Berlin
celebrated 700 years of the city. The first exhibition
to compare Berlin cty jubilees, located outside
the Marienkirche, is an interesting exploration of
the interaction between the city’s perception of
itself and political display. It shows that how the
Nazi celebrations were relatively traditional and
carried out at a community level, whereas the environment
of political competition fifty years later
led to many tensions and curious displays.
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