BBC Travel Show - Berlin (week 47)

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this week on the Travel Show I find out

how Punk helped to end the Cold War Kids

the numbers Kazuto and Leon boy the

apply I tried also on this weekend

special program we're off to Bulgaria to

visit an iconic relic of its Communist

Party

powerful powerful education

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and we meet the people in Latvia

recreating a good night out Eastern Bloc

style

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Wow well I gotta warm me up

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this weekend marks the 30th anniversary

of the fall of the Berlin Wall

back in November 1989

Poland was the first Eastern Bloc

country to turn its back on communism

earlier that year but those iconic

images of the wall coming down here in

Berlin really did confirm that the Cold

War in Europe was coming to an end

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on the evening of November 9th 1989 the

whole world watched the destruction of

the Berlin Wall

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a structure that divided not just the

city but families nations and

superpowers stretching over 80 miles the

wall was built to divide the communist

East and the capitalist West today only

small sections of it still remain and

crossing it is no trouble at all

many cultural and political factors

contributed to the destruction of the

wall but few captured the mode of the

time as much as music in the West mega

stars like David Bowie and Bruce

Springsteen both played protest gigs by

the partition

but in the east under the watchful eye

of the secret police an underground

scene was forming it was angry

it was anarchic and it was a break away

from control it was punk music

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chaos was the front man for Boonton fell

one of the scenes top bands kids the

novice kazoo and rebellion boy nearby I

toyed with an alpha I was on the force

with owner Reagan and a Tamiya wallets

and he knew I was my own was for extreme

consequence in disorder in conceived

allegation - the ads on different shaft

gesellschaft will be done about via

tankage my having for the system's

Wisconsin East Germany secret police the

Stasi regularly targeted define

anti-authoritarian punks on multiple

occasions Kaos was imprisoned and

brutally beaten me Adan and SWAT Zack

evil in complicates own water and

Manhattan mission and whites took a farm

I was go ahead and try - Suzanne katrien

each meat hunter and that's one momento

is dr. D playing midgets

as well - hostage kite mine mine

building Davila mindfulness for thriving

solacing back then

the intense scrutiny of the Stasi meant

that gigs often had to be held in the

unlikeliest of location

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Wow this is pretty spectacular yeah it's

a church

I can't imagine hundreds of Punk's

coming to a church for a concert yeah

but hundreds of beer

but Nordica the algorithm shoots and

ordinates of a feeble misled as Yoda

ensue fear of sin of a lotta money in no

corrosion I wish don't tell myself shown

below it evolved into what was the vibe

and the energy like in here listed

parasites relatively consuming punks but

he was nice he doesn't consult don't

bother is monetary your feed

hippies longer ago and Lord house yum

combined it are inclusive it of haha sub

marty was nominally she's of versus

estar en el awesome when you think about

those times those difficult times during

the GDR period where you were

intimidated by the Stasi and the the

problems that you had amongst the people

industries would you do it again

absolutely as well formation dear how to

stir about sure instead side

Punk was the soundtrack to an era of

mountain defiance against the GDR an era

that culminated with the destruction of

the war now 30 years on this underground

history is finally surfacing in the

aptly named punk bar curve on inton or

the church from underground a band is

rehearsing for a start a two-day

festival taking place this weekend

designed to pay tribute to the

subculture that provided a lifeline for

so many in order of the anniversary of

the fall of the Berlin Wall

it's a good chance to to to get the

younger people in touch with the with a

history yet it's not like I have to read

some books or whatever you can feel it

for me the real punks were in the GDR

not in the Western because they had

really to deal with repression police

and it was really a big thing to do this

there the stakes were much higher for

the punks in in the GDR

today's been really surprising and it

makes me think of what it must have been

like in this city on the night that the

Berlin Wall came down the energy that

must have crackled through it and how

much of that energy was driven by punk

music but you know what else is also

cool is the fact that the next

generation here are putting on events

like the all-star festival which is

helping to keep the memory alive of that

counterculture the counterculture of

punk music that had to fight so hard

just to exist

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now this weekend there are dozens of

anniversary events taking place all over

Berlin but if you're planning a trip

later than that don't worry because

there's still plenty of things to see

and do at the new time ride Berlin you

have the chance to tour a VR recreation

of the former divided city following a

walkthrough exhibition you can board a

bus all the way back to the 1980s taken

in GDR landmarks like checkpoint charlie

and the old parliament the palace of the

republic or you can explore some of the

incredible tunnels that helped over 300

East Berliners escape under the wall the

Berliner Hunter Felton museum hosts

exhibits and tours but being underground

their accessibility is limited November

also sees the planned completion of the

Berlin hand shape project a collection

of almost 11,000 clay molds one for each

day since the wall came down

Berlin Han ship projects is shown at the

documentation center at the Bernauer

Strasse it's bringing two people

together and ask them to shake hands and

in this handshake we put a bowl of clay

your other hand you can also so we

squeeze it

and out of 11,000 of these hand shapes

we build a wall of unification we have

the prototype here and in the future

there will also be something outside to

see it

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still to come on the Travel Show coming

up we've got more from two former

Eastern Bloc countries who are forging a

new future 30 years on but still

remember their past

so don't go away

well if you come to Berlin you'll find

some parts of the Berlin Wall standing

and being used as backdrops for tourist

selfies but across the former Eastern

Bloc there are other buildings and

structures that nobody quite knows what

to do with maybe because their history

is still too raw and some countries

aren't so comfortable confronting their

past

a few years ago we sent Mike to Bulgaria

to take a look around an iconic building

that was left abandoned when the

communist regime collapsed

at 70 metres high and 60 metres wide

boos litter looks out across the Balkan

Mountains completed in 1981 it was built

as an iconic National Monument to

glorify the Communist Party it's here

because this was the birthplace of the

Bulgarian Socialist Movement if this is

powerful powerful architecture following

the collapse of the regime the building

was abandoned and later shut off to the

public as it fell into disrepair

recently the only people who have seen

inside have been a select group of photo

hungry urban explorers who have broken

in illegally this is a really big deal

today the Travel Show is the first

international TV crew to be allowed in

the front doors of bulges so we are very

excited we are very lucky to be able to

do so and that's the time you ready

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oh wow

here it is me first welcome

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seen better days hasn't it it costs the

equivalent of 35 million dollars in

today's money to build blues legend

since it was abandoned the years they

haven't been kind

Dorai it's it's incredible there's some

work to do obviously but it's still very

impressive

look at these 50 square meters of

mosaics right on top there is the symbol

of always I'm actually with hammer and

sickle in the ceiling but the entire

perimeter is also covered in mosaic we

have actually more than thousand square

meters of Mazak inside those no jobs out

of all of these which one is your

favorite over there is people defeating

the Dragon and the dragon should

represent capitalism monarchy and the

fascism all the elements of communism

and it's defeated by the communist

people

when the monument opened thousands came

from all over the country to marvel at

its beauty there were sound and light

shows and talks from well-known

communist artists and poets

one person who remembers that time well

is fed roses in yen he and his father

were the official photographers for the

building

veterus you were here you saw this room

in this building when was at its best

what was that like Billy Chester wishes

greetings fellow privileges public

dominoes strim not architecture

aquariums as - is community picasa

enough in cookware to notice of

servicing he would dump sieve is the

ship together

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really all that's left is mosaics and

the mosaic in the ceiling here and here

the rest all of this white is now and

what do you feel seeing what it's become

as some resolve of Tosa family press

they said good Dini in eastern of sacred

chrism Osterman developed to watch a

prostrate the push not to punish that

the capitalist attack were to reach them

and to kinetise nunca put those in

action the Buddhist Regina time could be

running out for booster chair if the

roof collapses the walls will go to and

the building will be lost

there's now an urgent debate about what

exactly to do with the money

those who remember the repressions and

the hardships the communist era would

like to see it destroyed others want to

restore it to its former glory but Dora

is working on a proposal to preserve it

as a museum and a place where Bulgarians

can discuss the past it was built to

represent and glorify the communist idea

and we don't want to do this nowadays we

just want to know the history want to to

understand why it was built but if we

keep it intact and and let leave the

symbols in their present condition I

think this will be much more powerful

and meaning for the next generation to

understand it'll be a symbol of much

more than just like it was communism is

more symbol of Bulgaria and the ups and

downs and the roller coaster the

country's been through there's no doubt

that this is a controversial but very

powerful and iconic building and because

of that alone to me it feels worth

preserving

in whatever form but ultimately it's

down to Bulgaria itself to work out how

it remembers its past going into the

future

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what to finish this week we're off to

Latvia it's a country that turned its

back on the old Soviet Union and won its

independence back in 1990 but although

it successfully made the transition from

communism to capitalism some people are

still kind of nostalgic for certain

elements of the old days as Christopher

doubt when she visited the capital Riga

earlier this year the Russian bear still

projects its shadow over the tiny

country but it's also part of its DNA

about one in four Latvians are ethnic

Russian and amonth is one of them a few

years ago he opened a bar for those

nostalgic for their youth under the

Soviet regime and it had to include one

of Latvia is most popular games the

novus I must hit that one and hit those

into the pockets this is embarrassing

we wait for this

professionals now I think applicable

again

attaboy mr. Liu ji which are a mystery

Charlie's Charlie's euros Guevara is the

China car bombers demolished or concepts

boolean Sridevi bully stars - losers -

my momentum speculative normal age or a

cat or a hatchet - needed car at the

Holly with the ceramic Aditya so I've

got all sorts of Soviet goodies here it

used to be served up during that year

we've got salami cheese herring and

Spratt with egg all served on bread and

I used to come like this so you would

order 100 mil of vodka and one of these

snacks would come with standard just to

make sure you didn't get too drunk in

1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and

Latvia regained its independence finally

enjoying the freedom to travel and

settle abroad many young Latvians chose

to leave Riga has lost almost a third of

its population since independence a

consequence of this exodus is that it's

left an extraordinary number of

buildings across the city empty like

this one a former ambulance depot but

one a group of activists is trying to

change this

I was one of the founders of this

initiative in 2013 working with owners

and the municipality free Riga turns

derelict buildings into social and

cultural venues so what do we have here

now so this is a straight foot place and

I was there there is a bar with concert

venue then there is a co-working so tell

me about some of the events that you

hold here mostly during the summer I

guess it's a bit cold in the moment

these are all kind of activities

starting from concerts exhibitions

workshops yeah the building looks a

little bit rough so the atmosphere is

more this area not rough but easy easy

going yeah I'm more informal exactly

maybe this will become a New Berlin or

something

going into the bar next door there's

definitely a Berliner vibe in the air

only the drinks are local very little

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Wow

well we gotta warm me up sadly that's

your lot for this week and don't forget

you can follow us on social media to

keep up with us on all our adventures

but until next time from me

I do deputing and all the Travel Show

team here in Berlin it's alveta fair

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