by Katie Gallagher

Click photo to see slideshow

Keeper of the Tower

     Each day, 5,000 to 6,000 tourists ride the elevator to the top of Berlin’s lofty TV Tower to take in the view. But if any of them want to make reservations in the tower’s revolving restaurant, they have to go through Sven Thumm.
     For the past six years, the native East Berliner has managed reservations and party planning from on office in Alexanderplatz at the base of the TV Tower. The restaurant is usually booked six weeks in advance, he said.
     Thumm first started working at the tower in 1989 as a cook in the restaurant’s cramped kitchen, he said. He was 22.
     The tower, built in 1969 to transmit television and radio signals, hasn’t changed much, Thumm said. The décor remains the same, and even the staff, which Thumm described as his family, has changed little since the wall fell. 
     “It’s solid, family,” he said.
     Thumm also likes interacting with the restaurant’s guests, which he does on a regular basis to plan parties and weddings, he said. Even more exciting, he said, is when he restaurant hosts celebrities such as Jane Fonda or the band Genesis.
     As a young cook, Thumm recalls being most excited to meet a German rock group called the Scorpions. Though he spoke little English at the time, he was able to tell them to enjoy their meal, he said.
     The tower itself is a symbol that contains a lot of sentimental value for many Berliners.
     “It’s a sign of Berlin,” Thumm said.  “All Berliners love the tower.”
     Thumm is no different.  He appreciates the opportunity to work above and for Berlin, he said. “I’m really a Berliner,” he said. “This is my heart and my soul.”