Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

Yesterday I visited the Holocaust Memorial, which is just down the road from the Brandenburg Gate and a must-do if you're visiting here. The experience is pretty moving to say the least and the monument is one you will probably never forget. Here's some of the stuff I learned about it that I thought I'd share:

It was only recently finished, after some heavy controversy. Firstly, upon digging up the ground to lay the museum's foundation, the excavators found a hidden Nazi bunker- some say it was used by Hitler, some say it was used by his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. Naturally, some people found this to be a horrible final insult while others wanted to literally 'bury' the Nazis once and for all. They continued building there.

Next: to prevent anti-Semetic feelings from potentially defacing a memorial, a special chemical was sprayed onto all the concrete slabs, making it easy to clean off any graffiti. However, A German chemical company, Degussa AG, which provided an anti-graffiti coating for the slabs, was the focus of the monument's latest controversy. Degesch, a subsidiary of Degussa, supplied Zyklon B hydrogen cyanide gas pellets to German concentration camps during the war. The Zyklon B pesticide gas, which was used to delouse clothes during the war, was also allegedly used to kill inmates in gas chambers.

There are now 2,752 slabs of concrete, about eight feet wide and three feet thick and range between one foot and 16 feet in height, said to represent the individualism of all the people murdered in the Holocaust. Some say it looks like a massive graveyard. Of course it's a very solemn monument but from my personal experience, I initially looked over the 5 acre stretch of land covered with concrete slabs and the graveyard resemblance did strike me at first. I didn't 'get' what the memorial really was about. But walking through, I think I got the message. As you're walking through this concrete labrynth, the slabs get higher and higher around you and even though it's perfect daylight around you, you suddenly realize it's dark all around you and you have to find your way out. I think I got the message.

Anyway, I realized a lot of people (mostly youngish as well) had the same problem I had: knowing all about the Holocaust but now knowing why or how it began. Not that it's that important to know the exact the reason why/how it started so much as it's way more important to know what happened in order to never let history repeat itself, but I just wanted to know the details that our shitty history classes in America never teach us:

Cliff Notes: The Nazi regime at the time was just looking for someone to blame for the humiliating state of Germany after World War I.

Long Version: The ideology and political programme of Nazism, the movement that seized power in Germany in 1933, was founded from the first on an abiding hatred of Jews as Untermenschen, or "sub-humans." They were accused of orchestrating the "stab in the back" that stripped Germany of victory in World War I and imposed upon it the humiliating surrender terms of the Versailles Treaty (1919). Exploiting deep anti-semitic strains in German and European culture (see Goldhagen, Hitler's Willing Executioners), along with the catastrophic economic conditions of the late 1920's and early 1930's, the Nazis under their supreme leader or Führer, Adolf Hitler, succeeded in winning a plurality in 1932 parliamentary elections. In January 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor by the ageing German president, Paul von Hindenburg. When Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler took over as president, and set about using his police and paramilitaries to murder political opponents and ethnic "traitors" alike. Jews and "Bolsheviks" (communists) were at the top of the list for incarceration in the first "concentration camps."

I <3 Berlin

I'd like to officially declare that I love Berlin.

This city rules. Even during the norm, the atmosphere is that of a metropolis that embraces the electricity of New York but without the skyscapers (undoubtably a relief in my humble opinion), holds onto a greener mentality, and depending where you are, easily resembles the 'burbs. (nb: quiet at night. me likes.) Plus, everything works thanks to zeh German efficiency (I know it sounds weird to say 'everything works', but having just come from Southern Italy, it makes sense!) yet the typical laidback European lifestyle manifests itself despite the industrious German society. I can definitely live here.

Been renting a bike each time I've been here, since the city is flat as a pita and most roads have bike routes, making it pretty safe to be a cyclist. In fact, nearly half of Berlin households don't own a car at all...and considering their extensive public transportation systems (U-bahn, S-bahn, Tram, Bus, Trains), there seems to be no need.

Factoids about Berlin:

• The capital of Germany again as of 1999, Berlin is Germany’s largest city with about 3.5 million inhabitants.
• Berlin (the city-state) covers 891 square kilometers (about 556 square miles), making it:
  1. Almost 9 times as large as Paris
  2. One-third the size of Rhode Island
• The municipal area has more trees than Paris, more bridges than Venice, 3 airports, 3 opera houses, 2 zoos, 150 concert halls and theaters, and 170+ museums and exhibitions.
• There’s more recent construction in Berlin than any other European city (and second only to Shanghai worldwide). But, Berlin’s debt level is around €47 billion (more than €13,000 per Berlin inhabitant).
• The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
• The East German government built the Berlin Wall to try and stop its citizens escaping into West Berlin. In the time it was up (1961-1989) over 5000 people tried to climb over it; 3200 were captured, 191 were killed.

Yesterday I went on a 5 hour bike tour of Berlin with this company (whose tour guides rule, by the way) and enjoyed every second of it. Berlin's too big to do a complete tour by foot, by the way- biking it is way more fun and easier on the feet.

Here are some relatively cheesy pics:


Sitting on Carl Marx's lap. Hrhr.



Not just a parking lot: Hitler's bunker is underneath it, still in tact because of the 12 foot (!) concerete reinforcement that took way too much effort to destroy by explosion. So they just filled it with dirt instead. And just in case you were wondering: no memorial allowed, ever. Spooky: The door to the bunker still exists and is right next to a childrens' playground, which is around the corner from this pic.



The history behind this Fernsehen Tur (TV Tower) is pretty funny: The East German government wanted an imposing symbol of communism, such that the West Germans could But they neither had the supplies nor the laborers to construct it so they snuck in a bunch of Swedish men to build it and secretly led them out when they finished. But the Swedes left a little present that the West Germans had a good laugh about: every time the sun shines on the TV Tower a huge cross appears on the Western side, a blatant sign of Christianity in an legally Atheist country.


Also went to the zoo later on and pet some donkeys and goats in the children's petting zoo (something I apparently missed out on while in Sicily, a region still romping with donkeys in more ways than one) and couldn't help but crack up and take a picture of some monkeys scratching each other's butts. Hehehe. I know, so mature of me.