December 11 - 15: Berlin Germany...So much history!

Berlin has been an eye-opening, educational and rather heavy experience.  I knew coming here that I would be exposed to a lot of war and unrest history so I’m not surprised.  And I don’t regret the information that I came across in my exploration.

But you have to ask yourself, how could this have all happened?  I mean, no judgement against the people (I wasn’t in their shoes so I can’t comment or assume), but there were serious messages and indicators of what was to come…yet it happened.

This was the theme of the Berlin Bunker Story museum, a wonderful, thorough and thought-provoking exhibition of the history of the Third Reich coming to power and what transpired between 1929 and 1945.  So much of the WWII information I’ve read is set during the actual war, but the incidents and activities that led up to that first shot by the Germans were truly a great indication of the terror to come.

Yet few did anything about it…

So, why did it happen?  How could the people let it happen? 

Well, when you’ve just come out of a war that you clearly lost (though no one won), you look for a better option.  The stock market crashed and people were out of work and money.  The existing government was tired and plainly had just given up.  It was opportune time for someone – the notoriously cowardly man named Hitler – to just come up through the ranks, making promises to the working folks that things would be better only if he were made Fuhrer. 

The people believed and were ready for a change.  No one seemed to realize that the agreements he had signed and the fact that he convinced the Chancellor to hand him the reigns would end in terror and war. 

Yet some intelligent outside folks did get it…

So were the German people simply to close to what was going on?  Were they not able to look outside the greatness promised, ignoring the questionable clauses and laws Hitler’s people were suggesting?  Perhaps. 

Whatever led to it happening, it happened.  And the historical artifacts of this time are fairly vast in one sense, yet seriously lacking in another.  It’s understandable, for example, that evidence of the German resistance never made it through the war – to have saved the flyers and radios would have meant sudden death.  On the other hand, though, it’s disappointing that the Germans essentially swept a lot of the evidence of the time under the rug…

Buildings that held atrocious activities by the Gestapo and SS were demolished and forgotten about.

Documents were burned and otherwise destroyed. 

The people stopped or refused to talk about it (at least until the last 20 years).

The shit that happened was awful – there isn’t even a proper word to describe that era of German history.  But it needs to be talked about and shared.  It’s sickening to hear that outsiders believe the Holocaust never happened…but if the evidence is lost and the stories muted, it’s not surprising that people come up with conspiracy theories. 

And then we transition out of the horror of WWII into the East / West Berlin story, where a different governing body (Stalin and his dictatorship) come in promising a “better life”…and the people agree ANYTHING will be better than what they just had.  And again, people are persecuted, terrorized and dehumanized.  THAT took 40 years to overcome!

How can this happen?  Well, we just have to look at what’s happening today in certain countries…leaders are elected that have outrageous racist ideals, trying to build walls against foreigners.  Other leaders are elected simply because the last government was so awful with little forethought into the promises that the new leader is making (and who then starts to make matters worse). 

We’re no different today…We just haven’t hit the same level of atrocities…yet. 

The message of the Berlin museums about WWII and the Cold War era is that we need to act as individuals.  We need to question all the statements and promises that a government or leader is making.  We need to push back on tradition if it makes us uncomfortable.  We need to maintain an open mind and NOT turn the other cheek when we hear about seemingly impossible acts against our fellow citizens.

This hasn’t been a typical vacation where it’s all about “look at that cool building” or “wow, I got to see the Mona Lisa”.  It’s been heavy, heart-breaking, frustrating, agonizing, infuriating and so very educational.  I highly recommend that everyone learn more about this country’s history so that these things never, ever happen again. 

Berlin is very interesting.  It was quite destroyed in the war and hasn’t maintained the same historical beauty as other European cities.  It’s way more modern in its architecture but the significant buildings from the monarchy have either been restored or rebuilt. 

We quickly learned the transit system, and found it super useful.  You can get just about anywhere by subway or tram, which is the ideal way to get around.  Outside of this, the city is very walkable – things look farther than they actually are on a map!

On our first full day, we did a 4 hour walking tour with an excellent guide, hitting a number of the important historical sites.  One of the places that was especially emotional for me was the site of the 1933 book burning when the Nazis ordered all non-conformist (in their eyes) authors’ works to be hauled out of universities across the country and burned in the squares.  The Berlin book burning is notorious and referenced in a lot of the historical fiction I have read.

We also saw Checkpoint Charlie, one of the infamous checkpoints between West and East Berlin once the Berlin wall was built.  We saw remnants of the Wall and stood over the bunker where Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide on April 30 1945.  We visited the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, who’s crude name is meant to hammer home the extent of what the Holocaust was to them.  I think doing this walking tour on the first day was a great introduction to what was to come…

We visited a bunch of post WWII historical sites after that.  The Palace of Tears was the main train terminal checkpoint during the Cold War.  It’s where people tried, through rigorous and humiliating means, to get to the West.  Excellent exhibit and it was free!

We visited the Stasi Museum, outlining the history of the Stasi (or secret police, who watched your every move, interjected into your lives, and basically tortured you and possibly murdered you for your crimes against the government).  We saw the offices where the main characters worked…Again, when things took a turn, the Stasi started destroying documents to the point that there was no evidence really left to prosecute those who were so terrible to other people. 

We also trekked across Berlin to the Stasi Prison museum.  This was a great tour, and really only should be done as a guided tour (or you don’t get to walk through the prison).  We heard stories about the inmates, not your typical prison.  This is where the Stasi brought political prisoners or enemies of the state and basically did all they could to ‘break’ them.  Their living conditions were awful and they were kept isolated from all others except during interrogations.  Very interesting times.  What’s interesting is that former inmates now conduct guided tours and tell their personal stories to people (if you’re lucky enough to get one of them as your guide…we did not but our guide was still excellent).

Next up was the Berlin Story Bunker…this was focused on WWII history, the rise of the Third Reich and everything that happened.  I’ve never gotten so “lost” in a museum before.  It felt like I’d been in there for an hour but when I walked out, 4 hours had passed!  The information was superb, the stories and thoroughness of the exhibits amazing and heartbreaking.  Be warned, the pictures of the war and the persecution and round-up of the Jews and gypsies (etc) are disturbing.  But, really, they need to be shown.  It’s actually an original bunker used during the war, too, one of the few original buildings that existed during that time.

We went to the German Resistance Museum as well.  A few years ago, I visited the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam and was blown away by the exhibits and information.  Maybe because that was my first exposure to resistance history and I found it fascinating, but I felt the Dutch museum was a way better story.  However, as they said in the German museum, there are essentially no artifacts left because they had to be destroyed, whereas the Dutch museum maintained some really excellent physical exhibits. 

Anyway, while pretty much only pictures and stories, the Resistance Museum was very interesting.  They covered the July 20, 1944 Coup that failed very well, and they talked about the Red Orchestra.  This was dear to me because this past summer I read a book called Resistance Women and it was based on Mildred Harnack, the wife of a famous German resistance ring leader.  So I heard more about their story.  And saw what she and her husband looked like.  They did not survive the war…

And finally, today, we saw the Topographie of Terror…this is the site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters, where the terror of their interrogations happened.  The buildings were destroyed and levelled…only years later did people begin to dig through the rubble and find remnants of the building’s basement cells, which are on display in front of a portion of the Berlin Wall.

A great, yet disturbing story of how maniacal and twisted the people who ran these divisions were…Himmler, Heydrich, Meneke, Mengel, Goring, and so many, many more.

The worst part?  Those who were NOT executed or committed suicide by the end of the war mostly went on to live normal lives.  Some were pardoned of their crimes to run the government of West Berlin; some just disappeared.  Maddening…

Our Berlin trip isn’t all sad and gloomy though.  We saw some very pretty Christmas markets, enjoyed way too much chocolate at the Rausch Schokoladenhaus (chocolate, simply lots and lots of chocolate), and ate an amazing cheese fondue!  The food is okay, but sausages and bread are becoming a bore. 

I’m ready to move on but am feeling melancholy…Auschwitz is in 2 days.  It has always saddened me to hear the stories but now I know more and I just know that it’s going to be a hard tour to take part in.  but, again, it has to be done and I am looking forward to it.