Karl-Marx Allee

Once home to many middle-class Berliners, then massively destroyed during the war, and then transformed into "Germany's first socialist street" by the DDR government, this street is famous, yo.

Karl-Marx Allee, which heads east from Alexanderplatz into an eastern borough called Friedrichshain, has a lot of history behind it. In DDR days, it was called Stalinallee and is the best example of socialist architecture in former East Berlin. The building of Stalinallee was a massive undertaking between 1951-1960 that became the focal point of the 1953 worker uprisings I mentioned back in December. In order to build the numerous eight-story "wedding-cake style" apartment buildings that lined the boulevard, "work norms" were increased such that workers were required to work more hours without increased pay. People were understandably displeased. Though the apartments were quite spacious and modern for their time, the over 2,000 apartments mostly become home to higher-ranking members and functionaires of the SED (Socialist Unity Party- main party during the DDR) and not those actually constructing the apartments.

Kelly and I explored the street together and also checked out Cafe Sibylle, a famous cafe that houses a small exhibition about the boulevard's history. I'm a fan of this joint museum/cafe concept, especially in this case where there was more emphasis on the cafe. What? Just walking down the street was enough of a history lesson!

Kelly checking out the cafe menu:

Cafe Moskau, a "national restaurant" from the DDR days that housed salons, lounges, and galleries, among other things, and is now a historic building:

DDR "wedding-cake" style housing complexes:

All smiles in the bitter, bitter cold:

Marx and I getting acquainted:

 

Maybe next time he and I can catch up when it's not -10 degrees Celsius out.