Berlin

“GRAU UND REGNERISCH” was how the German forecaster described the weather in Berlin during my visit there last month. But “gray and rainy” is typical for most of Germany this time of year. It’s the kind of weather that makes a café warm and cozy inside, what is known as Gemütlichkeit. But it also creates a somber mood if you happen to be standing outside–which for a good part of the day I was, under an umbrella in the pouring rain, able to see my breath in the chilly air, and surrounded by rubble.
So why wasn’t I basking in the Gemütlichkeit of a café or taking a steam at the Hotel Adlon? The rubble surrounding me was not from the usual construction found throughout the city. Rather, it dated back to the Second World War. The buildings that once stood here, on a city block along Niederkirchnerstrasse, Wilhelmstrasse, and Anhalter Strasse, were once home to the most feared addresses in Europe: At 102 Wilhelmstrasse stood the Reich Security Service (SD). At 8 Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse stood the Reich Security Main Office and the Gestapo. The rest of the SS leadership resided next door at the Prinz Albrecht Hotel.