History Lessons

Today we took a four hour private walking tour around Berlin.  Our guide's name is Jessica.  She is quite the world traveler!  Her mother is from the US, her dad is Estonian, she was born in Germany then moved to Australia then back to Germany.  She studied in the UK and the Netherlands and is now back in Berlin.  She was quite insightful and knowledgeable (as she should be for a tour guide).

The highlights of the tour:

This memorial has always been a tribute to something (ie. victims of the Holocaust).  Presently it is a tribute to victims of war and terrorism all over the world.  The statue depicts a woman holding her dying son.  It is displayed in a building all of its own with a hole in the roof, the reason being that no matter the weather conditions the pain, sorrow and strength then gained remains.

This memorial is displayed in the square where books were burned that were in dissent or counteracted the values of the Nazi regime.  The square is in the center of an intellectual and cultural area with Humbolt University and an opera house.  The burning of the books sent the message to others that ideas that did not align with the values of the Nazi regime were not welcome.  The memorial is a pane of glass that looks down into an empty room with empty bookshelves that could house all the thousands of books that were burned.  It is behind glass to resemble it is in the past and cannot be revisited.  The plaque states, "If you start with burning books you end up burning people."

The below photo depicts the inside of the S and U Bahn station.  The green tiles are the original from when it was built by Hitler in the 1930s.  During the period of separation the stops that were located in East Germany were closed.  No one was allowed to get off or on the train, it just rolled through.  SS guards would patrol the platforms to ensure no East Germans tried to enter West Germany through the subway.  Upon reunification the stops just had to open up, sweep and allow people in!

We visited a Jewish memorial that was created by the city.  The residents showed some resistance to the memorial because it was only representative of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.  The second photo is of the above ground display.  At first glance it's the columns just look like different sizes, when you walk through it the ground is actually in waves.  Under the columns is a museum that delves into the history of the Holocaust and then tracks some families through their journeys.  The first photo is Ben reading of the family's history.  We learned, while we were there, that the gas chambers were actually full of vehicle exhaust.  It was never specified what type of gas was used I just always assumed that it was mustard gas or something similar.  Ben and I also discussed how Jews from all over Europe were sent to concentration camps.  After rehashing our history classes we remembered that Germany had gone on a power trip trying to occupy territories.  This resulted in Nazi influence throughout Europe.  The map has also changed significantly since WWII so many of the victims that were located in Estonia, Lithuania, etcetera were in previous USSR controlled states.

Ben reading a family history in the Jewish Memorial

Above ground memorial for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust

The following picture is of the remnants of the Berlin Wall.  Our tour guide shared a lot of information with us today.  This piece is left in a place where no one is allowed to build anything any more, except a museum for memorial.  The wall is disintegrating which the residents want because it represents the disintegrating harsh feelings between East and West Berliners.

Some other notable information: Berlin is actually a relatively poor city (as a political institution).  I asked our tour guide to clarify this because Germany as a state is seen as the economic powerhouse amongst the EU member states.  Germany makes a lot of its money from its exports.  To maintain low prices for exports means they must keep wages low.  There is no set minimum wage in Germany; educated people should make around 20 euro per hour.  Unfortunately most people do not meet this, our tour guide, who has her Masters degree, said people normally range from 12 to 18 euro.  To ensure that countries rely on German exports they must also meet the needs of other nations, for example the financial bail out in Greece (although defaulted).

Germany has a large Turkish immigrant population (you will learn more about this later after our lecture about immigration).  We ate lunch at a Doner house and our lunch consisted of the below photo: lamb and vegetables in a pita-ish pocket.