Going further south you reach the Brandenburg Gate, another monument with a high symbolic meaning, witness of many historical events. Originally a gate - a triumphal arch, modeled on the propyles of the Acropolis in Athens, became later, similar to the Reichstag, symbol of German unity. From under the gate, you can see the Siegessaule Column, and on the East Berlin side it looks out onto avenue Unter den Linden, extension of the Strasse des 17 June. W 1806 year, Napoleon marched at the Brandenburg Gate, taking with him the quadriga - the gilded chariot on its top. It was returned a few years later, and revolutionists gathered in its shadow 1848 i 1918 Year. Later, the Brandenburg Gate became a favorite backdrop for Nazi torchlight marches; even today this sight can make you shudder.
Go to the north side of Strasse des 17 Juni to have a look at the Monument to the Soviet Soldiers who died in the Battle of Berlin, which was built of marble from the bombed Hitler Headquarters in Berlin and the Reich Chancellery. There are two tanks on both sides of the monument, which were among the first to reach Berlin, and two Soviet soldiers watch over them.
A little further south, the wall turned east. We approach the Tiergarten forest and enter a half-abandoned area, who never really rose from the devastation of war. One of the exceptions is the wonderfully restored Martin-Gropius-Bau, which today houses a design museum and hosts the most important exhibitions in the city.
The cafe located in the building of the museum is a perfect place, where you can gather strength before visiting the adjacent exhibition, Topography of Terror (codz. 10.00-18.00; Free entrance). The exhibition is located in a newly constructed building not far from Gropius-Bau, because nothing in this place is left of the old buildings. On Niederkirchenstrasse, which was formerly known as Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse was the seat of the Gestapo, SS and Reich Security Office; in these buildings, Himmler developed the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question."”, that is, a plan for the deportation and genocide of Jews and organized the Gestapo, the dreaded secret police. The exhibition is located in the former seat of the Gestapo, underground, in which important prisoners were interrogated and tortured.
The area behind Gropius-Bau is undeveloped, where novice drivers learn to drive a car. After ten minutes on foot (you can also get there by bus #29) Friedrichstrasse is reachable on foot via Wilhelmstrasse and Kochstrasse, once one of the main arteries of the city - a street full of cafes and shops, now a dusty avenue with numerous traces of bomb explosions.
Tangible evidence of a tragedy, contributed by the wall can be found at Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (codz. 9.00-22.00; 3.50 DM, students 2.50 DM; the nearest U-Bahn station - Kochstrasse), where the story of the wall is told with the help of photography, tunnels dug by fugitives, and (authentic) converted cars and self-made flying devices, with which people tried to get across the border with disastrous results. The films show the story of some of the seventy-five people murdered by East German guards, there is also a section on human rights east of the Iron Curtain, but the collections are messy and rather outdated.