Had a chance today to do a little bit of exploring in Berlin today, when I came across this lone tower, one of three remaining East German watchtowers in Berlin. I immediately thought of the amazing Bob Dylan song, All Along the Watchtower (oh, you thought it was a Jimi Hendrix song). It was the first two lines of the song’s lyrics that really spoke to me for this shot: “There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief.”
The government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) called it the “Antifaschistischer Schutzwall” (Anti-Fascist Protection Wall), a supposed barrier to protect the people of the GDR from the evils of the West. Make no mistake; the Berlin wall was meant to keep the people of the GDR in! In the photograph I’ve created for this blog, I show you a wall and a watchtower. Those familiar with the Berlin wall may notice something odd about this particular wall; this wall is actually the inner wall on the East German side, the initial barrier that one would have to cross on the way to the taller wall almost 100 meters across what was known as the “death-strip”. The death strip, which you can see if you peek through the gaps in the wall, was exactly what it sounds like: a no-mans land laden with sensors and landmines, and guards, in towers like this one, with orders to shoot to kill. On this side of the wall were thousands no doubt thinking “there must be some kind of way out of here…”
"There must be some kind of way out of here..."
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