On Germany (or at least Berlin)

Full disclaimer before I begin: this is merely the observations of one college student, who saw many of the sights in the city of Berlin and tried to get a sense of the city in only two and a half days. This piece is going to be all observation and opinion, and the narrator may be far from reliable. Read at your own risk.

When the Greeks sacked Troy, they burned it to the ground and sowed salt into the fields, cursing the land so such evil could never again rise to destroy the world.
When the Romans sacked Carthage, they burned it to the ground and sowed salt into the fields, cursing the land so such evil could never again rise to destroy the world.
When the Allies sacked Berlin, they allowed it to foster and grow, enabling them to rise from the ashes and rebuild the city as they see fit.

That was probably a little harsh, let me try again.

They say history is written by the victors, so why the heck is Berlin allowed to dictate how it portrays it's history?

That was also probably a little harsh as well, let me try one more time.

In all seriousness, the holocaust doesn't bother me (it's happened, it is a fact and as horrible as it is, can not be changed) as much as how the holocaust and the entire world war seems (note the word, again only my opinion) to be remembered in some portions of Berlin (this is the present and future and can be changed if not for poor decisions). As a Catholic, I am called on to forgive and forget, as a historian, I may forgive, but I'll never forget. The same can't be said in Berlin. My greatest concern for the city, is that it seems to be white washing it's history. Several examples stick out.

1. The Berlin Wall and East side gallery. Technically post world war 2, but still an integral part of Germany's history. As can be seen in my last post, the East side gallery is a long stretch of the original Berlin wall that has been decorated. On one side is art, the other is graffiti. Some of these works are done by artists who lived through this time period, and are painted from the heart to express sorrow, joy or other emotions related to life with the wall and life after the wall. Some of these are really well done and pull at your heartstrings. There are some, however, that are done by modern artists, complete with contact info in case you want to reach out and purchase any more of the artists' works. The Berlin wall is being used as a giant bulletin board. What.the.hell. Honestly. I get the message of hope, life after death, rebirth and resurrection, Berlin moving forward as one unified city to join together and sing kombiyah. Fine. That can be done in a tasteful manner, that doesn't come off as advertisements. You should paint, from your heart, as a means of healing people, not because you need to make some cash. Of course, there are some, and I would agree, that think the wall shouldn't be decorated at all. More on that to come.

2. They paved over Hitler's bunker. It's now a parking lot for a bar. Austin took me there and said "We're standing on top of Hitler's bunker." You never would have known it. There's no sign, no marker, no memorial. My concern is that in a generation or two, no one will know that it's there. I certainly wouldn't have known unless Austin pointed it out. They say the devil's greatest weapon is convincing us that he doesn't exist. You start removing physical evidence, it gets pretty easy to start blurring details. The argument is that the bunker was a rallying point for neo nazis. The neo nazis make up at most 5% of the Berlin population and that number is probably high. That's like saying we're going to remove a war monument in the United States because the communist party of America is using it as a rallying point. Pick a US monument, apply the argument of removal because bad people use it, and try pitching it to any American. It won't fly.

3. The city of Berlin is beautiful. There is very little somber about the city. True, there are monuments dotted around the city, but they're all visually pleasing. We went to the victory monument. We went to the Brandenburg gate, the triumphal gate of Berlin. We went to the sky needle. We went to all these places that were beautiful, and celebrating the history of Berlin and Germany. True, there was a monument to the slain Jews near the Brandenburg gate, there was a monument to the members of the government who opposed Hitler near the government building, and the topography of terrors is tucked away in the city, but for the most part, things were shiny and new in Berlin. Heck, they're even working to repair and restore the old memorial church that was bombed! Take for instance the Prussian palace on monument island. This building was completely destroyed in WW2. Wiped out, leveled to its foundations, wiped from the face of the Earth. They have voted to rebuild the castle from scratch, based on the "blueprints" of the site and then they'll market it off as the real deal.

4. This last one is a random incident that happened at the concentration camp. I was deeply saddened and troubled by the concentration camp, Sachsenhausen by name. This was the chief camp for the rest, so they used the prisoners there as guinea pigs for methods of torture and interrogation. What worked was distributed to the other camps to be used. As we walked to Station Z, the murder sector of the camp, where different methods of murder (firing range, injection, gassing) were tested out, we passed by a guy, laying on one of the monuments, with his shirt off tanning. If you were an individual who had been in this camp, or had family die in this camp, how would you feel that it's now being used as some kids tanning salon? I was quite troubled, but didn't say anything, because I'm a coward (if it seems like I'm on a soap box, know that I'm just as guilty as everyone else).

Now, in defense of the Germans. They have monuments throughout the city to the Holocaust and World War 2. In the former Jewish quarter, a section of Berlin I didn't get to see, there are supposedly stumbling stones, raised cobblestones on the pavement outside of a house where Jews taken in the Holocaust had lived. These are meant to trip people, so that when they trip they are brought to remember the crimes of Nazi Germany. There's an annual day of tears and sorrows where the Germans beat their breasts and mourn for the crimes committed. Many of the Germans still remember their past, good, bad and ugly, so again these are just off the cuff remarks and observations. But still...

There are those in the world who don't believe the Holocaust happened. They are normal people, like you and me, but they believe that the Holocaust is one big conspiracy by liberals/ conservatives/ Jews/someone to try to boost the stock of Jews and give them a leg up. I wish I was making this up. From what I saw, Berlin isn't fighting these people, by erasing the sharpness, bitterness, and sadness around WW2 and the years following. Decorate the Berlin wall. Hide Hitler's bunker. Rebuild the memorial church. Make Checkpoint Charley a tourist attraction, with fake US soldiers out front to take photos. Take the offices of Hitler and three of his chief advisers and use them as real estate, to be remodeled and used by architects, businessmen and take out food shops, with nothing but a sign to recollect what their original purpose was. Use concentration camps as tanning beds, use memorials as stepping stones, and make sure you hide the ugly and glorify the beautiful.  I have to question and worry what Berlin will look like in a generation or two. Berlin is moving forward, and its best to do that with a positive outlook on the past. History is repeated. I had hoped to never see another Holocaust (see the middle east, for a similar progression of history, except with Christians), but this repetition is aided when we choose to ignore history. You can't sugarcoat WW2 or the Holocaust...or at least you shouldn't... but only we in the present can control the images of the past to save our future. Here's hoping the Allies policy of mercy works out better than the Greek or Roman method of forgiveness.