Forum: travel.stackexchange.com
Tags: <sightseeing><germany><architecture><photography><berlin>
Title: Communist architecture in Berlin
Question: I am going to be in Berlin for a weekend and would like to photograph and tour some  Bismarck  structures, underground bunkers or any industrial complex. What are my options?

Answers:
sents: text: For general communist architecture I would start at Alexander Platz and walk down the 'Karl-Marx-Allee' all the way to 'Frankfurter Tor' in Friedrichshain.
text: There is nothing super special there, but the street was used for the big parades and still has a bit of an 'East German' feeling to it.
text: As for bunkers, there are still many around, some of them from the World War 2 era, others from the East German times.
text: The site ' Untergrund Brandenburg ' (in German) lists many bunkers in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg.
text: They have many photos, so if you find something you like, you get at least the name of the place and can research it further.
text: BTW, Hitler's underground bunker does no longer exist.
text: As for 'industrial complexes', I don't know any first hand.
text: The Berlin Branderburg film commission has a database of sites to use when you are looking for a location to shoot a film.
text: That should work for photos too.
text: Start on their search page , select an era like 'Sixties/East' and a style, or jump straight to their industrial buildings category .
text: If you want more communist architecture, go further east.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/1317/Peter Hahndorf
score: 18
sents: text: My favourite communist architecture in Berlin is definitely the Frankfurter Tor and the rest of the "Stalinallee ensemble" .
text: Frankfurter Tor: Thanks to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons Stalinallee / Karl-Marx-Allee: Thanks to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons Building on Stalinallee / Karl-Marx-Allee:
text: My own photo
text: I'm not sure if this is exactly what you mean by "Bismarck structures" though.
text: These are normally described as Stalinist architecture.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/140/hippietrail
score: 10
sents: text: One amazing Soviet structure is the World War II memorial in Treptower Park , in the southeast of Berlin.
text: (There are several Soviet war memorials commemorating WW2; another is in the Tiergarten .
text: I haven't seen that one so have no idea
text: what's
text: it's like, but the Treptower one seems to be more well-known / renowned, in my experience.)
text: Many people seem to like the immense statue in the centre, but I personally find the friezes depicting the struggles of war very powerful and worth seeing.
text: This page has a lot of photos , some of which are: A frieze Overview of some of the memorial.
text: I don't think these photos nearly do it justice, but unfortunately I don't have any of my own I can upload.
text: The artwork in the friezes is astounding, and, even though you can view it as propaganda for the Soviet Hero, moving.
text: Nearby is Spreepark , an abandoned amusement park built in the Soviet era .
text: Since it's an amusement park, it won't have 'standard' Communist-era architecture, but is an amazing place to visit.
text: It is privately owned and fenced in, but ahem very fun to explore.
text: It's like being in a post-apocalyptic world:
text: ruined structures, trees, silence apart from the birds (it's in the middle of the forest!), rusting structures like roller coasters and other rides silently soaring through the trees.
text: Don't get caught inside.
text: Image from Wikipedia .
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/1841/David
score: 9
sents: text: Take the brown U5 metro out towards Hönow.
text: Built by East Germany (the only major new line they built in 50 years, as it happens), the line's sole purpose in life is to serve huge housing complexes, which are about as Communist in style as it gets.
text: This thread on SkyscraperCity will give you some idea: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=482518 Search for "commieblocks" for plenty more.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/1893/lambshaanxy
score: 6
sents: text: You can book an "Underground Bunker Tour" here: Berliner Unterwelten .
text: There are several options to see bunkers or subway tracks that ran from east to west with underground checkpoints at the fromer border.
text: There is also the Gesundbrunnenbunker where you can book a tour.
text: And you can see the Flakturm in the Humboldthain near by.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/27181/user937284
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
For general communist architecture, start at  Alexander Platz and walk down the 'Karl-Marx-Allee' all the way to 'Frankfurter Tor' in Friedrichshain to see the "Stalinallee ensemble", or see the World War II memorial in Treptower Park, in the southeast of Berlin. While Hitler's bunker no longer exists, you can book tours or view lists of underground bunkers from the WW2 era and East German times, as well as subway tracks that ran from east to west with underground checkpoints at the fromer border.
Frankfurter Tor and Karl Marx Allee are exmaples of communist architecture in Berlin. The city also features many bunkers and it is possible to book a tour of some of these, for example the "underground Bunker Tour". However, Hitler's bunker no longer exists.