Berlin

Wednesday 20 March 2013

The Germans must live with their past, so before launching into a tourist frenzy, we decided to spend a day looking at that past and how they deal with it.  What better place to start than “Unter den Linden” the main avenue through the centre of town which passes through the Brandenburger Tor (that is gate) so that we could approach the gate from a distance to have a memorable start to our Berlin tour.  Unter den Linden, being the main parade route through Berlin central has been rebuilt, remodeled  destroyed, replaced and abused by every regime that took control of the capital over the last few hundred years.  It still remains a beautiful avenue, and is the address of choice for several Embassies, including the Russians and the French.

Brandenburg Gate

The only time I had seen the Brandenburg Gate was in 1979 when it was surrounded by the Berlin Wall, one of the elements of the past which still shows its presence in Berlin, in spite of its breach in 1989.  It was wonderful to see the gate restored to its monumental glory.  In front of the gate there was an exhibition of posters, photos and text (in German and English) which celebrated 2013 as the 80^th anniversary of the first blatant attacks on the Jews by the NAZIs and the 75^th anniversary of the events of 1938 which escalated that policy into detention, concentration camps and murder for not only the Jews, but anyone not conforming to a very narrow definition of a valuable citizen.  The exhibition celebrated diversity and sought (subtly and for me successfully) to paint the general population of Germany at the time as being victim of the events which they were unable to control.

To see more of my Brandenburg Tor photos try this link

Holocaust Memorial

We moved on to the Holocaust Memorial which was a very powerful experience.  If I described it as a park with concrete blocks of various sizes almost aligned on a grid, it would be accurate but inadequate.  In walking around the memorial, it becomes much more.  The first impression is that everything is aligned and identical, perhaps signifying the anonymity of the victims and way Jews have been lumped together as a group with no recognition of individuality.  However, closer inspection reveals that the blocks are all different sizes, and they are not quite square, not quite aligned and not quite conforming to each other the way things first seemed.  There was diversity in the seeming conformity.

I was intrigued to find that the view from the memorial took in many national flags – it is close to the Embassy district – a view of the triumphal military based monument in the Brandenburg Gate, and perhaps most poignantly, a smoking chimney.  Cause and effect all in one place.

Some more photos here

Stasi Musuem

Carrying on the theme of Germans dealing with their history, we headed to the Stasi Museum.  The museum is deep in the old East Berlin located in the former headquarters of the GDR Ministry of State Security, which was responsible for ensuring that everyone fell into line with the, again narrowly defined, community standards.  One of their greatest achievements was the project management of the delivery of the Berlin Wall.  I had seen and forgotten a documentary which was partly based on research in the Stasi Museum archives, so I was a little taken aback to recognise the buildings.

Inside the museum, there were many posters which proclaimed some of the propaganda themes promoted by the GDR Government, the full office of the Minister for State Security, including his recording equipment, a range of secret cameras for spying, and a great deal of information on the methods and results of their work. 

More importantly, the museum identified many East Germans who had been investigated by the Stasi for their work in environmental and political organisations.  It was clear, at least from the cases presented, that even under the boot of an intensive totalitarian state, many people are prepared to risk all, just to pursue their ideals.  My mind went back to the exhibition in front of the Brandenburg Gate and I realised that at that time too, many people tried but failed to stop the machine. 

They too were victims.

More of the stasi

Sachsenhausen Museum

To round out the day, we visited Sachsenhausen Museum, which is located North of Berlin.  I have visited Dachau before, but Dominique had not seen a concentration camp and this was a good opportunity. Sachsenhausen is the site of the first major purpose built concentration camp.  It became the model for other camps around the Reich.  Importantly, linking the two visits this morning the camp was taken over by the Red Army at the end of World War II and remained in operation until 1963.

It is not an easy visit.  There are exhibitions detailing the medical experiments undertaken here including testing of poisons and investigations into the cause of Hepatitis C by actually infecting several children.  There are pictures of people hung up on a pole by their hands, which are tied behind them, as punishment for trying to escape.  These pictures were more disturbing knowing that it took place outside at Christmas when the temperatures were certainly colder than the zero degrees Celsius which we were only just coping with in our modern coats and cold weather gear.  While walking around in the snow, we came across a small plaque on the ground which simply proclaimed that this was the location of the gallows.  There were countless other horror stories which don’t need to be retold here, we have all heard them before.  It just becomes more real when you visit. 

I recommend that everyone should.