Tourism at the Revolution

This is about my May 1 adventures, which happened about a week ago.

The First of May or International Worker's Day is a big left/socialist/communist holiday around here. It was a big day for the good old German Social Democrats (SPD), who, I want to note, are a mainstream political party, one of the nation's largest, who put on a well-attended street fair with free concerts, Turkish food, and a booth where you could write an answer to: "Why are you celebrating the 1 of May?" People wrote: "Because I love vacation!" and "Because I want free childcare!"

Right, so before I get to the riot: the socialists around here come in many varieties.

The First of May is maybe the biggest day of the year for rioting by the anti-fascist left--the German Communist Party (Yes, they're still around!), Antifascist Action, those folks. The anti-neo Nazi punks. Who, as I found out, seem to be mostly under the age of 17.

They kicked things off with a march, which I filmed! (Below.) The anti fascism march, as you can maybe tell from the video, seemed from the outset to be organized in anticipation of violent clashes with the Berlin police, who showed up in their usual large numbers and also in full riot gear (sort of like football pads, with a motorcycle helmet). The anti fascist kids wear all black, black hoods and sunglasses (apparently the police photograph them and try to arrest them later). Some seemed to be wearing multiple sweatshirts, for extra padding.

This was all somewhat out of tune with the democratic socialism street fair taking place in the same neighborhood (Kreuzberg). On the sidewalk with me as I filmed the passing demo were street-fair goers, one of whom was sipping a mojito. An antifascist teenager in all black ran by us, shouted something like "down with capitalism!", and knocked her mojito out of her hand.

She was like, "Hey, my mojito."



I guess I left before things got real lively. The next day the overly conservative newspapers proclaimed it the worst 1 May riots in years, with hundreds of police officers injured (injured anti fascists didn't make the newspaper headlines.) But they were gearing up to proclaim it the worse 1 May riots in years the day before. And having police in riot gear there from the get-go doesn't help things, right?

I did see one dumpster that'd been set on fire. I stopped to take this picture of it:


As I was lining up to take this picture, a little boy rode past me on a bike. I tried to get him in the picture too, but as I was focusing, the fire in the dumpster caught his attention and he wiped out, flipping over his handlebars and landing in the middle of the street. I ended up with a picture of this, too:

The boy got up and ran toward the fire--I guess it was in his apartment building, which may be why he wiped out on his bike when he saw it. He stood and watched the ambulance crew drag the dumpster into the street, where it burned.

This made me feel sad about the whole demo.

Night of the spooky bike tour

Yesterday, April 30, was a creepy evening here in Berlin. It was Walpurgisnacht, the festival of the witches's dance, and also the anniversary of Hitler's suicide.

When the sun set, I went on a bike ride to a) look for witches and b) look for neo-Nazis discretely observing the anniversary.

First stop: Hitler's bunker, the site of his and his wife Eva Hitler (formerly Braun)'s suicide and the erstwhile site of their graves.

As you can see, it's now a parking lot. (The bunker was mostly destroyed by the Soviets and later by the East German government, though the floor and walls are apparently still down there.) For years there was no sign. From what I've read, the city didn't mark the site to keep it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine.

But according to the sign pictured above, since the movie Downfall came out, there's been so much interest that they put up said sign.

So, is it a neo-Nazi shrine? Well, there weren't any neo-Nazis lurking around. (I may have missed their real holiday, H.'s birthday.)

There was that guy with a camera and microphone just sitting by the sign (pictured). Hmmm, what was he up to? Waiting for a ride? Surreptitiously recording what was going on?

Sorry--I have no idea because I didn't ask him.

Additional Hitler/Braun trivia: Burned and then buried in the garden above the bunker, their remains did not rest there for long, but were dug up by the Soviets, identified with dental records and x-rays, and shipped to a KGB barracks near Magdeburg, Germany, where they languished until 1970, when the KGB fully cremated them and tossed the ashes in a river. The Soviets kept the story of the remains secret, and until the end of the Cold War a mystery surrounded the final whereabouts of the bodies.

Next stop: The search for witches!

Walpurgisnacht is an ancient pagan spring festival that involves witches jumping over bonfires. In Berlin, it got mixed up with May 1, which is the next day. May 1 or International Worker's Day, which is today (!!), involves left demos and rioting.

There used to be a big Walpurgisnacht party, which I guess often turned into a riot, in a park in the neighborhood in which I'm staying. I biked over there (pictured below).

It was pretty cool! I did see one little kid dressed as a witch. Lots of people where there, all drinking beer--punks, parents, people my age, older folks, little kids (they did not appear to be drinking beer). Also a bunch of bands. And fire juggling. And a bonfire.

Walpurgisnacht I guess is tamer than it once was. No rioting that I saw. But a whole army of police were in attendance, as they have been at every gathering of more than twenty people that I've ever been to in Berlin.

These police are the "Anti Conflict Team." They wore these vests. I was unsure whether the vests were working or not.