The Pope's Revenge: How East Germany's TV Tower Backfired

When East Germany decided to build the tallest structure in Berlin, they wanted to send a message to the world: communism could reach higher than capitalism. The Fernsehturm (TV Tower), completed in 1969, was meant to be the ultimate propaganda tool — a 368-meter steel needle piercing the sky over East Berlin, visible from every corner of the divided city. But fate had other plans.

What was supposed to be a triumph of socialist engineering became one of the Cold War's greatest ironies. And to this day, the story makes visitors laugh, shake their heads, and reach for their cameras.

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Why the GDR Built the Tower

By the mid-1960s, East Germany was desperate for a symbol. The Berlin Wall was up, the economy was struggling, and the regime needed something to prove that socialism was working. The answer? Build the tallest structure in Germany — taller than anything in the West.

Construction began in 1965 and took four years. The tower's design featured a massive steel sphere near the top, intended to house a revolving restaurant and observation deck. The sphere was clad in stainless steel panels designed to gleam in the sunlight — a shining beacon of communist achievement. At least, that was the plan.

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The Cross That Wouldn't Go Away

Almost immediately after the tower opened, people noticed something extraordinary. Every time the sun hit the sphere's steel panels at certain angles, a massive cross of light appeared on its surface. Not a subtle shimmer — a bold, unmistakable Christian cross, blazing across the sphere for all of East Berlin to see.

In a proudly atheist state that had spent decades suppressing religion, this was nothing short of humiliating. West Berliners quickly nicknamed it die Rache des Papstes — the Pope's Revenge.

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The Failed Attempts to Fix It

The GDR government was furious. They consulted engineers, considered redesigning the sphere entirely, and explored special coatings that might diffuse the reflection. Some accounts suggest they even thought about adding additional panels to break up the pattern. Nothing worked.

The cross remained, shining brightly over East Berlin for decades. It became one of those open secrets that everyone knew about but no one in power would acknowledge. Meanwhile, West Berliners and visitors from around the world found it endlessly amusing — proof, they joked, that even God had a sense of humor about communism.

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The Tower Today

Today the Fernsehturm is Berlin's most recognizable landmark, attracting over a million visitors a year. The revolving restaurant at the top still operates, and the observation deck offers a 360-degree view of the city. But for many people, the best part isn't the view from up there — it's the story down here.

On a sunny day, if you stand at the right angle near Alexanderplatz, you can still see the cross shimmering on the sphere. It's a small, beautiful reminder that history has a way of writing its own punchlines.

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Hear the Full Story on Our Tour

The TV Tower is one of the first stops on our free walking tour. We start right at Alexanderplatz, beneath the tower itself, where you can hear the full story with all the details that didn't make it into this article — including what the official GDR response was and how ordinary East Berliners reacted. Book your spot at berlinwalk.com and discover the stories behind Berlin's most iconic landmarks.