Haunted by its history, Berlin debates restoring the kaiser’s gilded cross
Berlin is a city haunted by history. It is constantly debating what to do with the reminders of its Nazi past, its communist legacy, or its Prussian kings and imperial kaisers. Now there’s a dispute about one of its oldest symbols of all: a cross.
The debate arose because the reconstruction of the City Palace (Stadtschloss), a residence of kings and kaisers, which was heavily damaged in World War II and demolished by East Germany’s communist leaders in 1950, is moving into its final phase.
The foundation overseeing the project announced recently that an unnamed donor has pledged funds to top off its cupola with a gilded Christian cross, like the one that stood there until the old palace was torn down.
