EUROPA-CENTER
see also: Schnuppe!
EUROPA-CENTER is supposed to be a 'modern' sounding name for a truly 'modern' complex: an institution of consumption - with shops, bars, restaurants, cinemas and other business.
As well as this concern with 'modernity' both the place and the name attempt a gesture of western-european unity [seen by some as synonymous with the former] in the midst of eastern-bloc solidarity [which, despite brief and often seminal affairs, remains largely pre-modern].
West Berlin is presented as a modern and eccentric centre of Western-Europe, culturally and territorially the avant-garde of the western world. It is therefore only apt that the german Zentrum is displaced, and significant that the 'modern' american version of the truly european 'centre' is preferred for our Europa-Center.
