A popular tourist attraction is the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, which sits on what used to be a main border crossing between East and West and chronicles resistance against the Berlin Wall. A jumble of exhibits details the heroism of those who escaped to the West. To my delight, the museum is more than an orgy of crude anti-Communism, but also showcases nonviolent resistance, from Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. to Solidarity's Lech Walesa and the monks who burned themselves in protest in Vietnam in 1963. It even includes a sympathetic statement by East German border guards who say that many refused to shoot to kill citizens running away. Perhaps because of its independent stance, the museum had been threatened with closure and enjoys no official support.
Escapism remains a big deal here.
I was in Berlin to speak to RIAS , the successor to a Cold War radio station in the former American sector that promotes exchanges between German and American journalists and encourages more reporting in America about Germany. They were holding an awards ceremony honoring radio and TV shows that promote intercultural understanding. One award winner, a CNN correspondent, gained applause when it was announced that he would donate his award to an orphanage caring for victims of the war in Rwanda. Another honoree, American independent documentary filmmaker Lisa Lewenz, said she wished she could afford a similar contribution. It ultimately got on PBS after 17 years of effort.