Walk in the Park

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My final day in Berlin was short, I had to be to the bus station by 1:30 PM. The Resistance Museum opened at 10 AM, so I woke up early walked around Tiergarten (Berlins Central Park) and enjoyed a super sugary pastry, and headed off to the museum. I of course spent far too long at the museum and almost missed my bus. It was an excellent day, and free hot cocoa while watching Sherlock Holmes on the bus was the perfect way to relax after an intense and unforgettable 5 days in Germany.

Fear is the Path to the Darkside

Learning about history through books and films can be really powerful, but learning about history as you stand on the spot it took place is a completely different experience.

As you walk towards Checkpoint Charlie, one of the three remaining checkpoints from the Berlin Wall, you walk along where the wall used to stand; and in its place is an exhibit on the Berlin Wall and the Cold War. I slowly walked where the former wall stood and read about the suffering and turmoil of a nation who had just endured the horrors of WWII. It was overwhelming. I can’t accurately explain how emotionally powerful the experience was. I was amazed at the impact it had on me, and I know it was because of where I was walking.

After walking through Checkpoint Charlie I went to The Museum of the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie. The museum featured memorabilia from the wall, historical facts, stories of attempted escapes, the brutality of the guards, the innovations that allowed many to flee from East Germany, and much much more. One wing of the museum was dedicated to those that risked their lives in order to help others have freedom. The vast majority of these people did not do it for personal gain, and many did it for complete strangers. One man personally helped over 1,000 people escape.

One area was dedicated to a pilot who logged the most air lifts to East Berlin. He was once asked why he did so much, and responded with the words of Shakespeare, “A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero makes acquaintance only once”.  This seems to be the perfect quote for this period in history, to me one of the greatest things we can learn from the rise of Nazism and the events that followed is the power of fear. Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS, said this in one of his addresses to the SS ‘Never let this weapon become blunt, this excellent weapon of fear and terror…let it only be sharpened still more’. I often have asked myself why didn’t people say no? Why didn’t people fight? How different would things have been if everyone had refused to give into the fear? Would it have made a great difference on the global scale? I think it would have made some. Hitler used individuals bound by fear to carry out the work of the party, to work in concentration camps (Jews and soldiers alike), to inform on and turn in neighbors and family members, to betray their religion and their religious brethren in order to preserve themselves,… but even if it had not made a difference on a global scale, what about the lives of those individuals? It makes my heart ache to think about the regret and guilt that so many people carried with them for the rest of their lives because they gave into fear. Several years ago I read an excerpt from a mans book, a Jewish man who worked in the gas chambers at a concentration camp. The rest of his life he was in anguish as he carried the guilt for what he had assisted in. He ended up committing suicide by asphyxiation in a gas stove.

I expect a lot of challenging and quiet possibly terrifying times in the future, and if there is anything I hope I always remember is to never let fear rule my actions. I expect to be afraid at times, I’m a pansy- I was afraid to go roller skating for crying out loud. Fear is normal. However, it can be overcome. It is by facing those small and scary things, by overcoming them, that we establish a pattern of controlling our fears instead of our fears controlling us.  So while my life is peaceful and calm, I will take every opportunity fear hands me to become stronger, more courageous, so I can look back on my life and never regret having given into fear.

The Power of the Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum is probably one of the most incredible museums I have ever been to. The architects of the museum are brilliant, and made the architecture an integral part of the experience. Some of the my most memorable moments in the museum were because of the architecture.

The overall design of the museum plays with voids and open spaces, representing the void in the German nation due to millions of Jews that were killed.

As I walked through the first exhibit on the bottom floor I saw a sign pointing down the long corridor to the ‘Holocaust Tower’. There was a large door and a sign next to it, stating that the tower is empty and outside sounds and noises are audible while in the tower, but the meaning of the tower was to be derived from each individuals experience. I walked in and all it was was a 3-4 story  triangular concrete tower, nothing special. But as that large steel door clanged shut behind me, the foreboding sound reverberated off the walls, and my stomach started to churn. I looked up toward the ceiling and a tiny sliver of sunlight came filtering down, giving the illusion that the tower was much taller than it actually was. My mind instantly went to the gas chambers, to those individuals who heard the metal doors shut behind them and seal their fate. That small sliver of light offering peace and freedom, but so far out of reach. My mind started reeling, and I could feel my breathing quicken. I felt like I was on the verge of an anxiety attack. Even though I was in this huge open room all by myself I felt extremely claustrophobic. I had to leave the room immediately, for fear I was going to be sick. I was in the tower for less than a minute.

Branching off another corridor on the main floor is the ‘Garden of Exile’, 49 concrete columns coming out of sloped ground. The garden is supposed to represent the disorientation the Jews felt as they were driven out of Germany. I walked out and looked down a row and thought, how are these straight rows supposed to disorienting? Why I doubted the design after such an intense experience in the Holocaust Tower, I don’t know. I started walking down the row and within in a few seconds I was stumbling around. It was so strange to walk down between these strong, solid, straight pillars, that looked so upright and in place, and feel like you aren’t walking on solid ground. It reminded me of being on a cruise ship, as you walk down the long halls lined with doors you can’t see that the ship is moving but all of the sudden you run into wall or you stumble as you take your next step. I walked through the garden for a couple minutes and became increasingly dizzy and nauseated.  It was the strangest experience.

Besides the incredible design of the museum offering intense and emotional experiences, the Learning Center was one of my favorite things. I spent about 45 minutes at a computer watching videos of Jews talk about their customs, values, and beliefs. One of the segments I found most interesting was about eating and drinking rituals, and the overall question for the section was ‘do the rules still apply?’. Each person expressed what the rules and rituals meant to them and why they followed or didn’t follow them as outlined. The question itself was interesting to me, why would you question whether or not the rules were still relevant just because they were old? What about their belief in where those rules came from? Some felt that the rules were regressive and outdated, and others talked about following the rules because its in the Torah, and they love the Torah. I was fascinated as I listened to these people share their thoughts, and admired the dedication and faithfulness of the many individuals who displayed such strength and determination to do all they believed God wanted them to do. My time spent there has led to pages of thoughts and insights scribbled in my journal.

The museum is extremely big and packed with so many incredible things, unfortunately I only made it through a small fraction of the museum. Next time I am in Berlin I will definitely spend some time at The Jewish Museum, and I recommend you do too.

Museum Hopping

My second day in Berlin was one of the busiest days, and by far my favorite. I walked through the city a bit, passing through Gendarmenmarket on my way to Check Point Charlie, the Topography of Terror (former Gestapo headquarters and now a museum), and the Jewish Museum. Since I usually spend 3-6 hours in each museum I go to, this was a lot to pack into one day but totally worth it. I ended the evening strolling along the East Side Gallery (longest stretch of the Berlin wall still standing) with one of my roommates from the hostel, and was treated to a lovely dinner by the river where I had the most delicious sauerkraut I have ever tasted-which is saying a lot since I am not a big fan of the kraut. Nothing like a fantastic meal with beautiful views and good company to bring an end to an incredible day.

A Little Taste of Berlin

Berlin is a pretty large city, a city with lots of incredible history. Spending two and a half days there was no where near enough, which means that each day there was jam packed with things to do and see. Here was Day One:

• The Infamous Third Reich walking tour
• The Holocaust Memorial
• Reichstag
• Bradenburg Gate
• Stroll down Unter Den Linden
• German Cathedral
• Museum Island and the Pergamon

It was a busy day, filled with a lot of walking and getting my bearings of the city. Let me tell you, after riding the 3 line metro here in Prague, getting handed this map at the Information Booth in the Train Station at midnight was a little overwhelming. Easy enough to navigate, but when you get off to change to another line and that line isn’t running,…you can run into some issues. Always a good time using public transportation.

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The Third Reich Walking Tour was a great way to start my time in Berlin. The tour guide has his masters in History and is a professor, but does tours in the summer part time just because he loves doing them. Berlin was pretty much destroyed during WWII, so most Nazi sites are no longer standing. It was cool to stand in the places where these buildings once were as our guide showed us pictures of the buildings and area, and to see what the area had become. Perhaps my favorite moment of the tour had nothing to with Nazi sites. We crossed from East Berlin into West Berlin and passed a remnant of the Berlin Wall. Our guide, even though this was not part of the tour, stopped to take a minute to talk about Germany and national pride. He said that Germans don’t wave their flags around or over stress nationalism- they had tried that once before and it was a catastrophe. But October 3, is different. This day that marks the reunification of Germany is one day where nationalism is embraced and celebrated, because this day is too important, and the event so recent. The guide, who was about my age, said that he was born in West Berlin and his wife was born in East Berlin. If the wall hadn’t come down they never would have met. They never would have married. Their son never would have been born. The Berlin Wall came down when I was three years old, so for as long as I can remember Germany has been unified and the Berlin Wall was a thing of the past. To stand there and listen to someone my age talk about the direct effects these events have had on his life, changed my perspective. As I looked around I could now see a city, and a nation, still rebuilding and recovering from WWII and Soviet rule.

The Holocaust Memorial (also known as The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) has an above ground memorial, and museum underground. I was extremely disappointed with the visitors at the memorial. Kids were running through the memorial playing tag, teenagers were were being boisterous and disrespectful, and adults were sitting and laying on the columns in the memorial. I was appalled. It is hard to feel the spirit of a place when all you really want to do is shank everyone around you. Needless to say, I spent a very short amount of time walking through the memorial before heading underground.

Once in the museum, the respect and reverence was felt.  The exhibit starts with the quote “It happened, therefore it can happen again:this is the core of what we have to say.” -Primo Levi. The museum was extremely moving and very powerful. They had a section with excerpts from diaries and letters of individuals as they knowingly awaited their deportation to a concentration camp, letters scribbled and thrown out the trains as they pulled from the station, and memories later recorded. My heart ached as I felt the pain, sorrow, and regret that filled their letters. I spent a few hours going through the museum and easily could have spent more.

The rest of the day was spent walking the streets of Berlin viewing the sites, and ending the day at the Pergamon. Another great day in Germany.

I Like the Night Life…

Berlin. I am sold, what can I say. The city is full of energy and life, at all hours of the day- except early mornings on Saturdays apparently. I got into the city at midnight on a Wednesday night, and was amazed at how busy the S bahn (metro) was. It was out of control. Then getting off the S bahn was even more insane. Apparently I chose a hostel in an area in East Berlin that has the highest density of night clubs out of the whole city. It was like a big concert had just let out down the street and everyone was continuing the party wherever there was room. It was young, vibrant, laid back, and unlike any other city I have been to.

There are not many foreign places I have been to that I find myself saying, I would love to live here (Switzerland, that’s about it). I absolutely love travelling the world, but I love America too much to want to pack it all up and move some place else. Berlin though, had me totally wanting to move there. There is such an atmosphere of carefree and casualness in the city. It is a city where history lives- even though the buildings are new and the city is moving forward-there is such a deep sense of history, and to me,  it was incredible to see this city that is still rebuilding itself.

Preserving Freedom

My love of history, and fascination with WWII and the Holocaust were the things that pulled me to Nuremberg. It is a city that holds in its buildings and streets the horrific memories of Nazism and the National Socialist movement. My second day in Nuremberg I dedicated to spending at the Nazi Documentation Center, and the remnants of the former Nazi Rally Grounds.

View of Nazi Documentation Museum from across the lake

The Zeppelin Field

Where Hitler delivered his speeches, looking out onto what was Zeppelin Field

I arrived at the museum just after it opened at 9 am and walked out of the museum at 3 pm. It was the 4th of July, and as people back home spent the day celebrating our nations independence and rejoicing in our freedoms, I spent the day reading about the process of a nation losing theirs. It was scary to see similarities in their road to dictatorship, and events or attitudes currently in the United States. I know that some might think that is far-fetched, to compare the USA to Nazi Germany, but is I read about all these individual events that Hitler used as means to legally neutralize the Constitution and set himself up as dictator, I couldn’t help but think of our nation.

One of the turning events for Hitler was the burning of the Reichstag, Germanys parliament. The building was set on fire, and Hitler tried to convince people that the communists had done it and they were out to destroy Germany. Did people think he was crazy? Yes. Did most people believe him? No. But he convinced a very powerful, popular politician and former general that it was true. Germany was declared in a state of emergency, and the Reichstagbrandverordnung (Reichstag Fire Decree) ‘an emergency decree for the defense of the nation and state’ was put into place. This decree allowed for personal freedoms and freedom of speech to be abolished, for the sake of the nation of course. Hitler used this power to arrest all the communist members of parliament, days before elections in parliament.  The communist party members were not there to vote that day (shocking, where ever could they be?) and Hitler gained control of parliament and set out on the road to dictatorship. Hmmm…lets see, a prominent and important building is attacked (world trade centers and pentagon), the nation goes into an emergency state and passes a law that gives up basic rights of privacy and speech (The Patriot Act). Yeah, the comparison between the two nations is really far-fetched isn’t it?  Hitler started out by exploiting the loopholes in the laws and Constitution until he had gained too much power and it was too late. As a plaque at the museum said, he ‘followed the words and not the spirit’. Sound like anything currently occurring in the US?

The similarities not only between the actions of the political leaders but the attitudes of the masses, seemed to be endless.I spent hours in the museum taking notes, writing down thoughts and feelings, and contemplating the need to fight and preserve freedom.  It was an extremely enlightening and powerful experience that perfectly set the stage for the time I spent in Berlin delving deeper into WWII and the Cold War.

Strolling through Old Town

My Czech family headed to the Alps to do some hiking, which meant I had some free time to do exploring of my own. Since Germany is just a short bus ride away, and I somehow never managed to make it there last year, I decided to spend a few days exploring a couple historical cities. After a lovely bus ride through the Czech and German country sides I arrived in Nuremberg. I checked into the A&O hostel, dropped my things in my room (it had an en suite bathroom!), and headed into Old Town. Old Town was small, charming, and most of the people seemed to be locals. The city had a distinctly different feel from any city I have been to in the Czech Republic, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Both had some similar architecture, and the winding cobblestone streets- but Nurembergs Old Town had a more Bavarian feel. It was more than that though, and what it was I am not sure. Old Town had lovely churches…

…the Fountain of Virtues (which did not seem very virtuous with water shooting out of the figurines boobs)…

… charming side streets and alleyways…

…big weird rabbit sculptures…

…the Imperial Castle…

…shiny gold fountains…

…a Ship of Fools…

… and quaint buildings and bridges.

In the midst of exploring Old Town I snuck in a few hours at the Germanic National Museum. I spent my time looking at old maps and globes, beautiful paintings, tapestries and clothes, and much much more. I even got to experience a lock down at the museum. I was moving from one exhibit to another when a large alarm sounded and all the doors into exhibits were shut, locked, and guarded- as well as the entrance to the museum itself. Wherever you were, you were pretty much stuck. So I hung out in the main lobby for 20 minutes, and had no idea what was going on. I still don’t know what happened. Nothing like a little lock down at the museum to add excitement to your day.

I ended the day chatting with my hostel mates from Taiwan, and feeling like a kid again as I  climbed on to the top bunk. Great start to an awesome trip.