The short story “Notes from the Underground,” takes place in the heart of St. Petersburg as Dostoevsky’s anti-hero claims he does not need nor want mankind’s approval. He is proved wrong towards the end of the story proving that no man is an island nor is the murky underground a real home. Beyond St. Petersburg and the fictional story lies one underground world worth visiting – The Berlin Unterwelten – unlike Dosetoevsky’s tragic main character manages to coax more than one curious cat to its underworld offering a dark but interesting perspective of the German capital.

Founded in 1997, Unterwelten functions as a not for profit organization dedicated to both the discovery and preservation of the the vast subterranean Berlin milieu. It sustains itself by giving tours of the underworld that developed during the Nazi period of WWII.

Touring the bunkers, catacombs is unsettling enough but with the U Bahn public transit system bustling is enough to give you goosebumps. Either way, it is an eye-opening and unique Berlin experience composed of history with a slight thrill and insight into an era that certainly changed the city and the rest of the world.