Berlin is tearing itself apart over a concrete relic. The decision to demolish a Nazi-era flak bunker in the heart of the city has sparked a row that, predictably, no one can resolve. The bunker, a monstrous grey block near the Reichstag, is either a symbol of tyranny to be eradicated or a historical artefact to be preserved. Both sides are correct, which is why the Germans are flailing. They need us.
The Flakturm IV, also known as the Humboldthain bunker, is a survivor. It endured the bombing of Berlin. It housed refugees and later became a nightclub and even a climbing wall. Now it is deemed a safety hazard, a cost too high for a city that wants to forget. But forgetting, as any British schoolboy knows, is not an option. We have the National Trust. We have English Heritage. We know how to curate our bloody past without sentimentalising it or shredding it.
The Germans are paralysed by their own history. They cannot decide whether to worship or excoriate these ruins, so they dither. The result? A bad compromise. The bunker will be partially demolished and buried, its remains entombed under a park. This is intellectual cowardice. It is the architectural equivalent of sweeping dust under the carpet.
We should not be smug. Britain has its own problematic monuments, from imperial statues to slave trade memorials. But we have framework. We debate, we contextualise, we preserve, we explain. We do not pretend that ugly history disappears if we hide it. The Berlin bunker should be kept, not as a shrine to Nazis but as a warning. Turn it into a museum. Make it a monument to folly. But do not erase it.
The row has exposed a deeper malaise: modern Germany’s inability to reconcile its heritage with its identity. It is no accident that these debates arise now, with Europe fractured and nationalism on the rise. We need standards, and those standards should be British. We invented the idea of the historic building as a public good. Let us export it.
Of course, the usual suspects will cry cultural imperialism. To them I say: look at the alternative. A bunker half-gone and a city half-resolved. That is not progress. That is a mess. Britain can offer a clear head in a muddled debate. We have the experience. We have the institutions. Let us lead.
