Here are some images of Volkspark (public peoples park) Friedrichshain, Berlins oldest public park. Although it is a nice and green setting in the summer, I´ve made some photographs in the winter season, without the leaves and the obvious visual effect of local recreation. The park is used a lot in the winter months as well. Walks and especially sleigh rides are popular, albeit the absence of snow this season. Historically the park has a few interesting facts to offer. Its name and the name of a Berlin District is derived from the Prussian King Frederick the Great. The park was established in 1846 and served multiple purposes. The obvious was to offer a recreation area for the densely populated eastern part of Berlin, but after the revolutionary turmoil of 1848, a part of the park was used as a cemetery for the slain. A hospital was added later on, and in the 1940s two flak-towers/bunkers were erected. The bunkers were blown apart with explosives after the war, and the ruins were filled with bomb rubble from around the city (as was done in most other Volksparks in the city and in Grunewald in the western part of town). Hence the two hills in the park that are now overgrown by nature and offer viewing platforms on their tops. The bigger of the two hills was named Mont Klamott by locals, proving that Berlin humor survived the dark age of the thirties and forties. There followed more features and memorials during East German reign, which are being preserved, and offer an interesting glimpse at the socialist view of how to shape public space.

The Interbrigadist monument for the Germans who fought the dictatorship

during the Spanish Civil War in the late thirties.

On the top. The viewing platform lost some of its charm due to the obstruction of view caused by

shrubbery and trees that seem to thrive and flourish on war rubble.

Parts of the old flak tower still peek out near the top as a reminder of the past.

The parks restaurant and cafe has all the features of beautiful(!) socialist architecture.

The memorial for Polish soldiers and German underground fighters who fought Nazism.

Mother and child statue in the garden for the blind, a part of the park.

Berlin wouldn´t be Berlin if there was no rubbish or crap lying around. Berliners seem to have a love-hate

relationship with the concept of beauty and aesthetics as this abandoned shopping cart very

symbolically shows. Believe me: it belongs there.

A bust of the name giver was re-erected in 2000.

More pics of Berlin-Friedrichshain.