Leipzig and Dresden: The new East Germany

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This was published 8 years ago

Leipzig and Dresden: The new East Germany

By Ben Groundwater
Dresden castle glows in the evening light.

Dresden castle glows in the evening light.

Simone, my guide, stares at the drab building in front of us, a wide expanse of boxy architecture and shuttered windows.

"What were they all doing in there?" she wonders out loud.

Today, that building is a museum. Twenty-five years ago, however, it was the Leipzig headquarters of the Stasi, the secret police force of East Germany. This building housed spies, those who dealt in fear and paranoia. It would eventually become the focus of a peaceful revolution. And it affected everyone, including my tour guide for today.

Water pipes in Kunsthofpassage in the district of Neustadt in Dresden.

Water pipes in Kunsthofpassage in the district of Neustadt in Dresden.Credit: Alamy

"I've read documents that the Stasi kept on me," Simone says. "They were ridiculous. And I discovered that people that I knew had been informants for the Stasi; they had told things about me. I was so shocked, so disappointed."

This is history in the former German Democratic Republic, but it can sometimes feel very recent. When you walk through the halls of the Museum in der Runden Ecke, in the old Stasi headquarters, you can feel the past in the offices and interrogation rooms that have been left exactly the way they were when the wall came down and Germany was reunited 25 years ago.

In some ways it's recent history. But in others it's the distant past. Much has happened in the former GDR in those intervening 25 years, to the point where Leipzig, once a dull East German city of industry, is now nicknamed "Hype-zig", the place artists and musicians are flocking to, reinventing the city, helping it regain its former creative glory.

Cafe in Kunsthofpassage in Dresden.

Cafe in Kunsthofpassage in Dresden.Credit: Alamy

The city might be a former Stasi stronghold, but it was also once the home of the likes of Felix Mendelssohn and Johann Bach. There's a rich culture of creativity and expression here, one that was put on hold, briefly, during the GDR years, but that has again flourished with the fall of the wall.

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The writer Johann von Goethe studied in Leipzig. Bach conducted the local Thomas Boys Choir. Mendelssohn conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Their homes and performance spaces were based in the older part of Leipzig, a place of cobbled pedestrian streets and buildings that were left untouched by bombs during the Second World War.

The seats of Leipzig's modern culture, however, look a little different. They can be found up on Karl-Leibknecht-Strasse, a street popular with students and musicians. They're in the alternative, punky area of Connewitz and the artsy Sudvorstadt. They're in the Baumwollspinnerei, a former factory block turned arts district, a place filled with cutting -dge galleries and workspaces for both emerging and established artists.

Dresden's rebuilt Frauenkirche.

Dresden's rebuilt Frauenkirche.Credit: iStock

And they're in places like Café Cantona, a football-themed pub with exposed light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and old GDR-era furniture on the floor. This stuff is cool now, in a kitschy sort of way. The café is named in honour of the French footballer Eric Cantona, a rebellious, inventive spirit if there ever was one, and on days like today it's filled with Leipzig's young and trendy, the types who would like to emulate Cantona's panache.

Now is an important time not just for Leipzig, but for the whole of the former East Germany. Twenty-five years has passed since reunification, and the anniversary is being treated as a time to celebrate the roles of those who made that change happen as much as to focus on a more exciting future.

A few hours by train from Leipzig lies Dresden, a city that is still feeling the effects not just of the GDR days, but of the world war the preceded it. More than 3900 tonnes of bombs were dropped on Dresden in the space of three days in 1945, and still the rebuilding work continues.

Framed in Dresden.

Framed in Dresden.

I'm walking through town with a local guide, Stefan, when we come across the Frauenkirche church in the middle of Dresden's Old Town. It's a beautiful old building, built in classic Baroque style, all towering domes and intricate decoration, making it stand out even in this city of wealth and history.

"Stunning, isn't it?" says Stefan, as I nod. He adds: "It's now nine years old."

Nine? You forget, of course, that so much has had to be rebuilt, and is still being rebuilt. That goes for the culture as well. The wall came down 25 years ago, but today there's still a struggle to define Dresden's identity. Street protesters have been shifting the sands here recently, as anti-immigration and then rival leftist groups fight to have their voices heard. It adds a little spice, a little context to the beauty of the Old Town and the grunginess of its polar opposite, the Neustadt area.

Connewitz is an alternative area in Leipzig.

Connewitz is an alternative area in Leipzig.Credit: Alamy

This is a city in a state of flux, constantly evolving, rebuilding and changing. Neustadt, or "new town", is where that change can be most easily felt. Gone are the churches and palaces of Dresden's old town, replaced with narrow alleys and cobbled courtyards with modern artworks adorning the walls. This is the area most popular with the musicians, artists and students who would seek to redefine Dresden.

For the visitor it's a vibrant area to wander around, free from the tourist hordes, with plenty of time to check out art galleries and music shops, to eat at restaurants serving Vietnamese food, or Indian food, or vegan.

By night the streets of Neustadt come alive with revellers who flock to blues bars and rock clubs, smoky little cafes and cocktail bars. This is the new East Germany, the bubbling pot of ideas, the affordable home for creative types and progressive thinkers. It's everything the GDR attempted to suppress.

Graffiti art in Dresden.

Graffiti art in Dresden.Credit: Alamy

Back in Leipzig, they're determined not to return to the bad old days. It was here on these cobbled streets that anti-GDR demonstrators first made their voices heard, first held public candlelit vigils outside the 850-year-old Nikolaikirche.

Nothing was broken; no one was injured. But those peaceful demonstrations are widely crdited with setting in motion a chain of events that would end with the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and the end of two separate Germanys.

Leipzig residents are proud of that. They're equally proud of the modern-day iteration of their city, a place where the façade of Paulinerkirche, once the city's main cathedral, but destroyed by the GDR regime in 1968, has been symbolically recreated to form part of the University of Leipzig.

History abounds throughout. It's impossible to escape. Take a short stroll from the city's main square and convert hall and you find Leipzig's main courthouse, where the case of the Reichstag Fire was heard. It was an event that would lead to the rise of the Nazis. A little further along leafy streets and you'll find the Bibliotecha Albertina, a university library where books were hidden inside statues so that they couldn't be destroyed by the GDR regime.

They've had to fight for it, but the culture of old Leipzig remains. It's there at Fleisherei Scheinflug, a little community butcher that sells traditional Saxon meats to grateful clients. It's there in the rich array of cafes that reflect the reputation of the "coffee Saxons", the long-time lovers of a good cup.

It's everywhere in the city, both old and new. As Simone and I stand out the front of the old Stasi headquarters, contemplating what has been in Leipzig, and what is to come, she sighs. "The 20th century wasn't a proud time for Germany," she says.

Maybe not. But the future is looking good.


Five places of interest from the former GDR

DDR Museum, Berlin

On the banks of the Spree River, this excellent museum gives an insight into life in the former East Germany, with everything from food and furnishings to Stasi listening devices on show.

Mauerpark, Berlin

Once a "death strip" separating east and west Berlin, this park is now a hive of activity, with markets and concerts held within site of crumbling sections of the Berlin Wall.

Museum im Stasi-Bunker, Leipzig

About 30km from central Leipzig, a former Stasi bunker has been restored and made into a museum to portray the life of the secret police and politicians who hid out there.

The Brocken, Harz Mountains

High up in the hills of northern Germany, this former Stasi listening post can still be visited, with plenty of the original antennae and radio equipment on display.

Forum of Contemporary History, Leipzig

This museum commemorates the opposition to the GDR regime that began in Leipzig, showcasing the events that led up to the Peaceful Revolution of 1989.

TRIP NOTES

MORE INFORMATION

saxonytourism.com

GETTING THERE

Emirates flies daily from Sydney and Melbourne to Berlin, via Dubai. Phone 1300 303 777 or go to emirates.com/au. For rail transfers to Leipzig and Dresden, see bahn.com.

STAYING THERE

The Pentahotel has spacious, modern rooms in the heart of Leipzig. Go to pentahotels.com.

The writer was a guest of Leipzig Tourismus and Emirates Airlines.

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