FT245

Despite living in a city burd­ened with such a vividly bloody history, Berliners are characteristically reluctant to invest much credence in the possibility of paranormal signifiers of death. While the equally historic Edinburgh has created an entire tourist industry from its grisly past, in Berlin the terrors of the last century are still too recent to be trivialised by such paranormal joviality.


Here, amongst the bustling coffee shops, elegant bars and red-faced currywurst vendors, very real bullet holes indiscriminately scar the scenery and put anything too metaphorical or ethereal firmly in its place. And while Berlin may be mutely respectful of its lost souls, it manages to get on with living in their shadow.