Berlin, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Memorial-Church

Where the Kurfürstendamm (Boulevard of the Electors), usually called the “Ku-Damm,” nears the Tiergarten (the Berlin Zoo) at Breitscheid Platz, there stands the remains of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Memorial-Church), built in the 1890s. This Protestant Cathedral was destroyed by bombs on November 23, 1943. The last sermon preached in this church had the theme “All passes away,” and it sure did. Due to the look of the damaged tower, Berliners sometimes refer to the remains as “The Broken Tooth.”

The tower is kept as a remembrance of the havoc of war, and a museum is located in a small room called the Gedenkhalle (Memorial Hall), that remains next to the tower. Here, one special photo, with a message that really stuck in our minds, shows the desolate, bombed out city with a dejected, disconsolate man lying on a bench. It was entitled with but one word, “Wohin?” “Where to.”

As its replacement, right next to the ruin, on December 17, 1961 the new church was consecrated. The ultra modern octagonal church and a 172 foot campanile containing six bells, were built with 20,000 dark-blue windows.