Berlin Day 2: The Ups and Downs of German History

On day two in Berlin, we visited several spots that highlighted the dramatic ruptures in German history and finished at one that gave us a dramatic view of the city in its entirety.

We started at the German History Museum where we were able to view as much history as we could in two hours. Germans have a tough history to deal with and while the museum clearly emphasizes the criminality of Nazi Germany's war, especially in the east, in other cases it portrays Germans as more the victim than the perpetrator.  On one description of a painting, the writer said that Germans suffered during 1918 while people in the US and Britain lived luxuriously. While Germans certainly did suffer from disease, malnutrition and even starvation in the post war period, it is equally clear that the majority of Britons and Americans did not live lives of luxury. In general, however, the museum did an excellent job detailing Germany's tumultuous history and it's collection of election posters from the 1920s is simply outstanding. 

During our lunch break, we were escorted to an Italian restaurant by a lovely waiter passing out flyers. We all enjoyed our meal and the special attention we received from the staff. After our meal we were able to get a picture with our waiter and he even blew us kisses from across the street. 

Our next, more sobering, stop was the Memorial to the Murdered European Jews.

The memorial approached the issue from two standpoints: first, it provided a statistical approach by detailing the number of Jews murdered in each country. Second, and more importantly, it personalized the Holocaust by utilizing primary source documents --letter & diaries-- written by victims from various countries that told of their reactions to being deported or about knowing their death was imminent. Some wrote warnings, while others wrote last love letters, pleading for their relatives to flee. The memorial also focused on several families drawn from across Europe and examined their fate during the Holocaust. By giving the unimaginable numbers of the Holocaust a name and face, the memorial succeeds in portraying it as a human tragedy.

We then visited the Topography of Terror, a documentation center at the site of the notorious headquarters of the Reich Security Main Office, which included a Gestapo prison and interrogation center. Our group was split into two tours. Each tour guide utilized primary source documents --primarily photographs-- forcing us to examine the images carefully, while variously looking for how their meaning could be used for promoting Nazi ideology or for grappling with the men who carried out such enormous crimes. Each tour was quite valuable in trying to understand the Third Reich. 

Our final stop was the TV Tower. 40 seconds were needed take us more than 600 up to the observation level where we had a great view of the city lit up at night and relaxed in the company of good friends.