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I’m sitting here in the Berlin Tegel Airport, and we’re five
hours early for our flight (yeah, that’s right) to Rome, so I decided this
would be a good time to catch you up on our recent class trip to Berlin.
This past week has been full of projects, essays, and
finals, but the previous week was one of my favorites yet! We took a three day
trip to Berlin. This might sound crazy, but since we had been traveling to
places like Paris and Prague, and it seems like we had stepped foot in so many
small German towns, I wasn’t that excited to go to Berlin. …I was completely proven wrong! Though the
architecture is not comparable to cities like Rome or Paris, the history makes
up for it. And most of Berlin’s interesting and relevant history has occurred
within the last hundred years! Since the city was basically demolished during
WWII, it doesn’t look like a typical European city- ancient and elaborate.
There are cranes and construction sites everywhere, and so many of the
buildings are modern since they are having to rebuild the city. Right how they
were in the process of rebuilding the palace, which is a 80 million Euro
(over $1 billion) project. Also, Berlinians love Americans because of our aid
in the past wars. They still have a holiday in remembrance of the Americans
dropping candy down from their planes for the children during the Cold War.
We began the trip with a walking day tour of the city. Our
tour guide was AWESOME! He was a young Irish guy who spoke impeccable English,
and he had been getting his masters in History and Politics, and he said- what
a better place to study those subjects than Berlin! We walked around the city
to the major places beginning with the Berlin cathedral. This cathedral is
undoubtedly beautiful, but it has been considered a Protestant version of St.
Peter’s Basilica… I’m not sure if that can compete.
On the other side of the
green field on the side of the cathedral was the Altes Museum which was used a
backdrop for Nazi rallies by Hitler during WWII. Here is a comparison between then
and now. We were standing right there.
After that we passed by Humboldt University- a
place that educated Einstein, Karl Marx, and Max Planck (who discovered Planck’s
constant!). In their front courtyard is a book sale that occurs every single
day of the year. This isn’t just any ole book sale, but it is a commemorative book
sale, because directly across from this courtyard is where the Nazis would have
their famous book burning ceremony in 1933, when they burned 20,000 books. It’s
kind of like a “we sell books every day where you used to burn them, HA HA!”
type of book sale. The English book selection was rather small, unfortunately. Directly
across form the book sale and university, at a square called the Bebelplatz, is
a memorial to the book burning in the ground. It is a clear glass tile, and
underneath are empty bookshelves that could hold 20,000 books.
After a few more
stops, we stopped at a bakery for a snack. I think this is a good time to
reveal to you Jack’s “shokolade” obsession. In Germany, chocolate is spelled
“shokolade,” but is pronounced “shock-oh-lod-eh.” Jack has recently been
obsessed with pronouncing it “shoke-oh-layd” and has even created songs about
it. Typically when using the word, he is referring to a chocolate cake or
muffin- and he eats each of these at least once a day. Here’s the progression
of Jack’s typical Shokolade consumption.
Next, on the way to the Berlin Wall, we stopped by
Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous crossing point of the Berlin Wall between
East and West Germany during the Cold War. The cool thing is there is a large
picture of an American soldier, as this was the in American Sector Today, there
is a replica of the sign that states “you are now entering the American Sector,
and actors who dress up as American soldiers. There is also a replica of the
guard house where they stamp your passport (but apparently that invalidates it,
so we didn’t do that).
Close to there is the Berlin Wall exhibit area. Right on
the other side of the Berlin wall was previously West Germany, the sectioned
off, Socialist, “free” side. Most of the Nazi buildings from the era before the
Cold war in this area had been blown up, but there is one large complex that
was a West-Germany government office that holds the current Holocaust Museum called
“Topogrophie of Terrors.” We went there the next day.
an attempt at taking a picture of my feet on either side of the wall.
Next, we went to a
parking lot. Why, you ask. Well 11 meters under this normal, unsuspecting
parking lot lies Hitler’s Bunker, where he had an office, hid from threats, and
eventually where he shot himself. Everyone in Germany hated him so much that
they tried to blow it up, but since it was bomb-proof, that was unsuccessful.
Instead, they blocked it off with concrete and covered it with the parking lot.
So the place where Hitler died was right underneath our feet, still in original
condition. That night, the boys felt the need to go back and poop on Hitler’s
grave “for America.” And they did.
I'm standing over where Hitler killed himself!
The next stop was the Holocaust Memorial. As you can see
from the pictures, it was basically a ton of concrete boxes. The top dimensions
are all the same, so from above, all of them look the same. They are all
different heights. There are different interpretations about the meaning of this memorial, but some say it symbolizes how we all look different, but when looking from above, we are all the same. Others say it is meant to show the closeness of the concentration camp victims, since only one person can fit between these stones.
Last on the tour was the
Brandenburg gate, which is one of the most famous places of Berlin. It is the
grand entry into the Unter den Linden, a boulevard that used to lead to the
city palace of Prussian kings, but now is just a street. And Hitler pic. On the
other side of the gate was a huge flat screen that would play the Germany vs.
USA World Cup game that night. When the tour was over, we ran over to the big
screen. It was one of the coolest experiences ever- being in Berlin, the
capital of Germany, when they play against the US. There were TONS of people
all decked out in Germany attire… and lots of bratwurst and beer.
You can see the big screen behind the gate!
The Brandenburg Gate during Nazi Era
So many people!
The next day, we began our day visiting the Pergamon Museum.
Just to give you the highlights, we saw the Ishtar Gate, one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world. Alexander the Great walked under this gate…. Wow.
Also, we saw the frieze that surrounded the altar of Zeus in Pergamon
(Pergamum) that was contructed in 2nd Century BC!!! This frieze was referenced
by John in Revelation as the place where Satan has his throne (Revelation 2:13)
because scholars connect this verse to the snakes at the top of the hill at
Pergamum, which is what John was talking about. We SAW the snakes John was
referencing. Probably one of the coolest experiences I have had.
Next, we were free to go on our own. We stopped by an
Egyptian Museum and stumbled upon the some original ____ of the Bible from the
3rd century!!!!
We went back to the Berlin Wall and visited the Topographie
of Terrors.
Below the Berlin Wall lies the Nazi prison cells, where they would torture enemies of the State. Some of the cells were brick, and some tile. This was a tile-walled cell. These were used for easy clean-up... the worst torture occurred in these.
Interesting contrast, with the Berlin Wall directly over WWII era German history
In the Topographie of Terrors, I found disturbing photographs. Here are some brainwashed children.
What a man.
Even more disturbing, these are prison guards of Auschwitz having a weekend retreat a few miles out from the camp.
On an unrelated note, that night we went to a Mexican
restaurant… a MEXICAN restaurant. And it
was GOOD. And ACU paid.
The next day, we went to the Deutsches Historisches (German
History) Museum. The second floor was German history from 100 AD to 1918. The
first floor was 1918 to Present day. I’ll bet you can guess that my favorite
floor was the first, the WWII floor. There were so many artifacts and
interesting parts of the exhibit, including Kaiser Willhelm’s uniform, Nazi uniforms,
and used Concentration camp uniforms. Keep in mind, Germany is still upset
about the Nazi Regime, so you NEVER see swastikas or anything related to
Hitler. The only place I have ever seen them was in this museum. And they still
had original propaganda.
Well, that’s it for Berlin, but our flight for Rome leaves
in 2 hours, so I’m sure I’ll have much to tell about our adventures there! I’ll
try to update more frequently this week.
(Yeah, that’s a
joke.)
