Day Two in Berlin!

On my second day in Berlin we went to the Mitte, otherwise know as the center of Berlin. We visited several official cites, including the Reichstag (the German parliament building):


The Brandenburg Gates (a pivotal, historical/symbolic structure that began as a structure of peace and became a symbol of military might-which just goes to show you should never build a huge symbolic gate unless you want some asshole to invade your city and march beneath it):



And the Memorial for the Murdered Jews Of Europe:


The memorial (pictured above) is creepy and heartbreaking, literally closing in as you wander deeper into it, separating you at every turn from your traveling companion, a very visceral imagination of what it would have been like to be swallowed up by the gates of a concentration camp.

The memorial's little underground museum is also very well done, and one simple thing among all the pictures, proof and testimony broke my heart the most: they project letters from the murdered Jews onto the floor of one otherwise darkened room. One letter came from a letter from a little girl to her father. She stated simply that she did not want to die, but they were all going to die anyway, and she was scared because it was said that the children were thrown into the pit alive. She then signed off with love for her father, as if it were any letter written in a normal kind of world.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

David!!! Sounds like you are making the most of your time! I look forward to hearing about the trip, IN GERMAN when you return! T.H.

Hannes said...

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip! It was great to have you!

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