Berlin (July 8)

Berlin is an eclectic, cosmopolitan European city.  So much going on.  So much growth and construction, especially in the former East Berlin.  And yet, wherever you turn in the heart of the city, echoes of the Nazi past jump out at you.  A few Nazi-era buildings still stand, and the Reichstag (parliament) overshadows the city, in spite of (and because of) its new dome.  Almost next door to the American Embassy (where we had a very interesting briefing in the morning) is the Hotel Adlon -- Hitler's favorite in Berlin.  Famous/infamous sites with a "colorful" (dark) past.

Tiergartenstrasse 4 was the bureaucratic headquarters of the T-4 program (named for this address).  It was all the more menacing after our recent visit to Hadamar. Though it is not these buildings that we focus on.

The Tiergarten Park is across from the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag.  Inside the park, in view of the Reichstag, is the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma (gypsy) Victims of the Nazis.  It is peaceful, tasteful, and reflective.

A few blocks down the main street Unter den Linden (Under the Linden) at the Babelplatz (surrounded by the Opera House, St. Hedwig's Church, and a building of Humboldt University) is an almost hidden memorial to the burning of books on May 10, 1933.  Book burning is a very powerful statement.  It is the destruction of ideas, thoughts, creativity -- individuality.  Books are windows into the past, present, and future.  It is through windows set in the stones of the square that we can bear witness to the emptiness that would be found in a world without books.  Ironically, across Unter den Linden, across from the main buildings of Humboldt University, tables were set up and people were selling books.

St. Hedwig's church, in the same square, is a mere ten minute walk to the Reichstag, yet after Kristallnacht, he publicly prayed for the Jews.  He also protested against persecution of the Jews and against the "euthanasia" program.  He was arrested and died on the way to Dachau.