The Needle: Berlin

Karl-Marx Allee

It was a place to walk through, and stare. Built in the early fifties, Karl-Marx Allee, leading into Alexanderplatz, with

This stretch of Urbanstraße is clogged with four lanes of traffic and is not far from the discordant

Pass by in the evening, and look into the picture windows illuminated by candles. Perhaps you will see a penumbra,

Germany’s bold confrontation with its past, its sometimes self-flagellating intent to imprint guilt and scars onto its official history, marks

Dear Berlin-Mitte, We need to discuss our relationship. We’ve got problems. I suppose it’s inevitable after our years together. I’m

I was used to the Museum Island as building site. The edifices were interiors, not exteriors. You negotiated your way

These photographs taken last autumn I found unbearable to contemplate only a few weeks ago. But now, with warmer days,

It is 1933 and Hitler has come to power. You are Jewish and live in Berlin. Do you have the

Most of my German friends are pacifists. They do not like seeing Germans involved in foreign wars. The

In front of Friedrichstraße station, along the Spree River, the Tränenpalast or ‘Palace of Tears’ has reappeared out of the

The beginning of the 21st Century in Berlin may well be remembered for its outpouring of creativity –like Vienna in