6/15 Journal
Today I spoke with Paul, our native Berliner and expert
guide, on the subway. I learned about how East Berlin and West Berlin are still
separate and transit between the two sides isn’t as efficient as it could be
because of the independent development that each side went through during the
cold war.
We arrived at the Center for Metropolitan Studies for a
lecture by Jan Behrends, a Professor teaching at the Potsdam Centre for
Historical Research. He had published two comparison papers/books on Berlin and
Moscow and the other on Chicago and Moscow. The interested things delivery
regarding his talk was the level of organization in presenting the arguments
and the facts. It seemed very German in the logical presentation style, clearly
stating “my argument here was ….” and then following it up with supporting
evidence.
In his talk, he stated that the socialist city of the East
Europe was created in order to accelerate the rate of modernization. Unlike a
city like London, which developed organically through private enterprise, the
socialist cities consolidated all the capital and developed under heavy government
guidance . The appeal of the socialist city was the alternative growth model
that it gave in comparison to the capitalist model, which seemed faulty because
of the crash of the stock market and the resulting depression in the 1930s.
Much of the urgency behind the growth was catching up with
this idea of the “Imagined West”. The Eastern Cities were desperately
struggling to figure out how to surpass the west and an interesting point brought
up during discussion was how in Eastern European socialist cities there was the
need to industrialize, but in Asia there was a de-urbanization movement like in
the Khmer Rouge.
An interesting aspect regarding Russian Socialism and the
city was the difference between the countryside and the city. In Moscow, where
socialism thrived, there was no private property in the city. However, in the
countryside, there is a Dacha which is a small piece of private property that
serves as the outlet for the muscovite to be able to have their own property
and leave the city and socialist mindset.
After the lecture we went to the KaufHausdeWestens KaDeWe,
which is the biggest mall in all of Europe according to Professor Nepomnyashchy.
It was an incredible mall with an open layout. They had Gucci, Prada and many
of the different top brands in an open floor plan. The sixth floor was just as
incredible, but with FOOOOOD. I had a smoked salmon sandwich, which used very
fresh ingredients and the only word I can use to describe it is the Japanese
descriptive adjective shisennaaji (新鮮な味). The currywurst on the other hand had a
softer texture than a regular hot dog and the curry had a full flavor and the
curry powder on top added just the right amount of spice.
Stay Classy,
JR
Stay Classy,
JR
KaDeWe
The illsest of the malls
Smoked Salmon Sandwich
新鮮
Curry Wurst
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