And such signs of reaction can be seen in Bowie’s performative self, particularly in his allusions
to fascism in his Thin White Duke persona during the Station to Station era, shortly before
arriving in Berlin. We also see this form of reaction it in his Berlin trilogy in his allusions to the
past Nazi and Weimar regimes of Germany and similarly, later on in his work, in his 2013
comeback single Where Are We Now? Here we follow Bowie on a nostalgic look back at his
time in Berlin, he does not acknowledge the Berlin of the present day – He looks back at the
Berlin frozen in time, littered with the artefacts, symbols and landmarks that only exist in his
memory. Which is why I see the song is a romanticised, western view of the political and social
climate of Berlin during the late 1970’s. Bowie’s work was of a more jagged, dystopic tone
when he was actually living in Berlin – as opposed to the affectionate, frilly nostalgia that
presents itself on Where Are We Now .
The song’s opening line talks about getting the train to Potsdamer Platz, which is situated in
walking distance from Hansa Studios where Bowie had composed a lot of the trilogy. However,
I feel that Bowie’s reference to Potzdamer Platz is rather, a nostalgic look back to Berlin's most
extravagant square during the city's most vibrant period, during the golden 20's as opposed to
the no man's land of the 70's or the demoralizing rows of overpriced restaurants, shops and
hotels that branch off the landmark today. It was, of course, Bowie's fascination with Germany's
affluent Weimar past and the with the expressionists that drew him to Berlin in the first place.
Like Christopher Isherwood, Bowie was drawn to the capital because it was permissive and
cheap. Perhaps Bowie saw a lot of himself in Isherwood, the themes of alienation, hedonism
and isolation exist within the outsider narratives of both Bowie's Berlin trilogy and Isherwood's
Goodbye to Berlin . It is as if Goodbye to Berlin documents both the antagonisms of the socio-
political context in which it was set – in the pervasive and increasingly threatening climate of
anti-Semitism that was to follow it. Whereas Bowie’s work deals with the aftermath of Nazism.