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Berlin Nordend
Nordend is located in the district of Pankow and was incorporated into Berlin in 1920. I started shooting there in spring of 2008. Nordend can not be reached with the S-Bahn, but only by bus or tram. And in contrast to the other ends of the city, it truly lies on the edge of the metropolis.
For years my parents drove with us children along the former highway F96 (today’s federal highway 96a) out into the green countryside, to gather mushrooms or to visit friends in the north. The buildings of Berlin and the fields started after Niederschönhausen and its palace. On the left side of the street before reaching Blankenfelde we saw barracks. My father told us that this had been a reception camp (until 1972) for West German citizens who wanted to move to East Germany.
I was not aware of the botanical garden near here – at the time still used by the Central Station of Young Naturalists – because we always drove past it. I first discovered the grounds after the fall of the Wall. When I finally did, it felt like I had discovered a secret garden, an enchanted, magic place, which I then began to visit frequently, because of the sweet cherries in the summer and the Queen of the night (a night-blooming cactus), which bloomed once a year in the dilapidated greenhouse. In the moonlight white blossoms flowered on the garden-hose-like cactus; their perfection short-lived, as brownish spots soon heralded their decay. Once – in the old millennium – we threw a company party at night by the Queen. I found the carousel hidden under trees.
Since 1987 I have followed the industrial railway |
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