Berlin has changed significantly over the past three decades. When I hitchhiked there from West Germany in the early 1980s, it wasn’t the easiest place to visit.
Marooned in the center of East Germany, it was only possible to visit West Berlin, and visitors by car could only secure a visa that applied for the road from the border to the city’s entrance. If you left the road, you faced arrest.
For those who lived in East Berlin, the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 defined their lives. It cast another iron window behind the so-called Iron Curtain that descended across Europe after World War II. More than 5,000 tried to escape over (and under) the wall — and hundreds died doing so.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Can Berlin Replicate the Silicon Valley Model?
