Sunday, July 21, 2013
Real Time 3 (Home Again)
I've been home for a couple of days, now, and I have begun updating some of the older posts with pictures. It will take a bit more time to get through everything....
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.
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.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Real Time 2
I am still behind with this blog; though given the intensity of this trip, no one should be surprised. Again, I'm not sure I will have internet at each hotel, so I may get even further behind. Eventually, it will all get written.
Here's a very quick run down of where we've been.
Monday (7/8) was out last day in Berlin. We had a briefing at the US Embassy, and then saw the memorial to the Sinti and Roma (Gypsy) victims of the Nazis and the book burning memoriial. In the afternoon, we took a train to Prague, Czech Republic.
Tuesday (7/9) - Jewish Prague.
Wednesday (7/10) - the camp/ghetto of Terezin. Night train to Krakow, Poland.
Thursday (711) - Jewish Krakow.
Friday (7/12) - Auschwitz/Birkenau (Overwhelming and emotionally draining).
Today, Saturday (7/13) - Museum of Wartime Krakow in the former Schindler factory and the Galicia Museum (both excellent!).
Tomorrow, Sunday (7/14) - Belzec (extermination camp).
Here's a very quick run down of where we've been.
Monday (7/8) was out last day in Berlin. We had a briefing at the US Embassy, and then saw the memorial to the Sinti and Roma (Gypsy) victims of the Nazis and the book burning memoriial. In the afternoon, we took a train to Prague, Czech Republic.
Tuesday (7/9) - Jewish Prague.
Wednesday (7/10) - the camp/ghetto of Terezin. Night train to Krakow, Poland.
Thursday (711) - Jewish Krakow.
Friday (7/12) - Auschwitz/Birkenau (Overwhelming and emotionally draining).
Today, Saturday (7/13) - Museum of Wartime Krakow in the former Schindler factory and the Galicia Museum (both excellent!).
Tomorrow, Sunday (7/14) - Belzec (extermination camp).
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Ravensbruck & Sachsenhausen (July 7)
Not so far from Berlin are two former concentration camps, Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen. While neither camp is as well known as Auschwitz (where, in reality, we will be tomorrow, July 12th) or Bergen Belsen (where we were last Friday), both were horrific. Ravensbruck was set up for female political prisoners, and Sachsenhausen was set up for male political prisoners. By the end of the war, However, the make up of both camps had changed.
There are a few (more than a few, really) very disturbing things about these camps. Being so close to Berlin, the heart of the Nazis, Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen were the "training ground" for the SS. The female guards at Ravensbruck were particularly brutal, and unspeakable medical experiments were conducted. In addition, the local populations are a mere stone's throw away. So close they could hear and smell what was happening inside the camp.
By contrast the countryside is lovely. Ravensbruck is at the edge of a lake. A lake used as a dumping grounds for the ashes from the cremetorium. (Ravensbruck had no gas chamber, but many - too many - died, and the bodies were burned.) There were kayakers on the lake, and none of us knew how to deal with people enjoying this wet grave.
There are a few (more than a few, really) very disturbing things about these camps. Being so close to Berlin, the heart of the Nazis, Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen were the "training ground" for the SS. The female guards at Ravensbruck were particularly brutal, and unspeakable medical experiments were conducted. In addition, the local populations are a mere stone's throw away. So close they could hear and smell what was happening inside the camp.
By contrast the countryside is lovely. Ravensbruck is at the edge of a lake. A lake used as a dumping grounds for the ashes from the cremetorium. (Ravensbruck had no gas chamber, but many - too many - died, and the bodies were burned.) There were kayakers on the lake, and none of us knew how to deal with people enjoying this wet grave.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Berlin (July 6)
The sun was shining when we woke up on our first morning in Berlin. This was the first clear, beautiful day we'd had so far.
Our first stop was the Olympic Stadium, built by the Nazis for the 1936 Olympic Games. The stadium is quite impressive -- very powerful propaganda! and, thanks to the weather, the view from the tower was incredible.
We then went to the villa in the suburb of Wannsee where the details for the "Final Solution" were finalized. Wannsee is a wealthy community along a lovely lake -- a European version of the Finger Lakes. I was rather apprehensive about this stop. I knew I needed to see the site, but I didn't know how I would feel about entering a place of evil - the hatching of evil on such grand magnitude. The villa has been turned into a place of education. Most of the museum is devoted to Holocaust education. The room where the Wannsee Conference took place (the dining room) does go into great detail about the meeting and its attendees. I didn't realize it at the time, but I spent the least amount of time in that room, and I couldn't bring myself to read many of the details. I did buy the impressive museum catalog, so I can read the same details in a "safer" environment.
In the afternoon, we went to the Track 17 memorial. Here was where Jews from Berlin were deported to many different points east. The memorial is simple and powerful. Along the track are markers giving the date of each deportation, the number deported, and where the train was going. The track isn't used anymore (there is a new station just down the street), and trees are growing along the rails. An affirmation that no train will travel this way again.
Our last stop of the day was Berlin's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. A field of stones. Some are tall and some are flush with the ground. They are a maze in the middle of the city. People walk all around -- tourists and a Beliners, young and old. Children run an play amongst the stones. The memorial is abstract and allows the visitor to interpret it. I felt no initial affinity to the place, though I was expecting to feel something. I actually felt nothing as I entered one of the many pathways through the stones. But I didn't enter alone. I was with four women from my group. Together we were able to interpret and understand. The stones seem to rise and fall. It can all be analagous to the Holocaust -- choices, ups and downs, no way out. The stone felt warm when in the sun and cool in the shade. As we walked and talked, I began to appreciate the memorial. Then, our group went down to the memorial's underground exhibit. This is very well done and quite moving.
We ended our Berlin tour with a stop at the Memorial to the Homosexual Victims of the Nazis. The memorial is in the park (Tiergarten) across from Brandenberg Gate (very close to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the US Embassy).
Our first stop was the Olympic Stadium, built by the Nazis for the 1936 Olympic Games. The stadium is quite impressive -- very powerful propaganda! and, thanks to the weather, the view from the tower was incredible.
We then went to the villa in the suburb of Wannsee where the details for the "Final Solution" were finalized. Wannsee is a wealthy community along a lovely lake -- a European version of the Finger Lakes. I was rather apprehensive about this stop. I knew I needed to see the site, but I didn't know how I would feel about entering a place of evil - the hatching of evil on such grand magnitude. The villa has been turned into a place of education. Most of the museum is devoted to Holocaust education. The room where the Wannsee Conference took place (the dining room) does go into great detail about the meeting and its attendees. I didn't realize it at the time, but I spent the least amount of time in that room, and I couldn't bring myself to read many of the details. I did buy the impressive museum catalog, so I can read the same details in a "safer" environment.
In the afternoon, we went to the Track 17 memorial. Here was where Jews from Berlin were deported to many different points east. The memorial is simple and powerful. Along the track are markers giving the date of each deportation, the number deported, and where the train was going. The track isn't used anymore (there is a new station just down the street), and trees are growing along the rails. An affirmation that no train will travel this way again.
Our last stop of the day was Berlin's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. A field of stones. Some are tall and some are flush with the ground. They are a maze in the middle of the city. People walk all around -- tourists and a Beliners, young and old. Children run an play amongst the stones. The memorial is abstract and allows the visitor to interpret it. I felt no initial affinity to the place, though I was expecting to feel something. I actually felt nothing as I entered one of the many pathways through the stones. But I didn't enter alone. I was with four women from my group. Together we were able to interpret and understand. The stones seem to rise and fall. It can all be analagous to the Holocaust -- choices, ups and downs, no way out. The stone felt warm when in the sun and cool in the shade. As we walked and talked, I began to appreciate the memorial. Then, our group went down to the memorial's underground exhibit. This is very well done and quite moving.
We ended our Berlin tour with a stop at the Memorial to the Homosexual Victims of the Nazis. The memorial is in the park (Tiergarten) across from Brandenberg Gate (very close to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the US Embassy).
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Real Time
Since I am so far behind with this blog, here's a quick update of where we are and what will be posed soon (I hope).
We were in Berlin from the night of the 5th until the afternoon of the 8th. We took an afternoon train to Prague on the 8th, and this evening we'll board an overnight train to Krakow. We've seen and done so much, so explanations and thoughts (and eventually pictures) will come.
Train to Berlin (July 5)
From Bergen Belsen, we drove to Hanover to catch the train to Berlin. The Hanover train station is like a mall full of shops and eateries. We had a quick dinner (a few of us went to a fantastic bakery cafeteria) before our 7:30 pm train. The train was quite late, with a last minute quite hurried track change, and we finally pulled into Berlin a little after 11 pm.
On the train ride, I pulled out a draft article our group member Matt had written about the liberated train. The article is entitled, "A Train Near Magdeburg." I glanced up just before starting to read -- and we were pulling into the Magdeburg station!
The Berlin train station is new, modern, and huge. So different from Hanover! Instantly, we felt transformed. We were in a bustling, modern European city.
On the train ride, I pulled out a draft article our group member Matt had written about the liberated train. The article is entitled, "A Train Near Magdeburg." I glanced up just before starting to read -- and we were pulling into the Magdeburg station!
The Berlin train station is new, modern, and huge. So different from Hanover! Instantly, we felt transformed. We were in a bustling, modern European city.
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