Berlin Sunday 2.15 & Monday 2.16

After a quick walk and a subway ride, we were at the Reichstag. They have an extremely through security check there, but once you have made it through security, the German Parliamentary building is remarkably open to visitors. We toured several interesting exhibits within the building. One was a room with crew boats hung from the ceiling, which rise and fall irregularly to represent the fluctuating nature of politics. Another was a section of corridor where the walls were covered with Russian graffiti, left by soldiers when they took the capital in 1945. There is also a hallway with the name of every member of the German parliment who was murdered or disappeared by the Nazi party in the late 30's and early 40's. One square in the display is black, representing all the members whose fate is unknown. Following this site, we were able to sit in the room where the German parliment currently meets, and votes on bills. The German crest, which was a very intimidating eagle with large talons pre World War 2, now resembles a far less threatening "fat chicken" according to our tour guide. Following our tour, we went up in the tower on top of the building for some beautiful panoramic views of the city of Berlin.
After lunch, we went to the monument to the murdered jews of Europe. This is one city block filled with granite blocks resembling tombstones turned on their sides. There are one person wide paths between the blocks, and as you walk between them you are filled with an eerie sense of disorientation. The ground is uneven underneath you, and varying amounts of light reach you as you pass stones of varying heights. One feels very uncomfortable while walking through, presumably as one who was taken away from their home to a concentration camp would have.
After walking through the memorial, we went belot it into the museum to the murdered Jews of Europe. This museum focuses on the personal records and stories of Jews taken to the concentration camps. A story that particularly resonated with me was that of a Polish family, who's wedding photo was displayed in the museum along with information about their family. The picture of the bride, groom, and their families, was taken in 1940. By 1942 more than half of the people in the picture had been murdered at Aushiwitz and Birkenau. I was married less than two years ago myself; if my history had followed the same path as theirs, I would be in a concentration camp now. The people in the picture looked very happy and proud, but that was not to last.
After the museum, we took a walking "Third Reich" tour of Berlin, where we saw artifacts including the site of Hitler's bunker, the former office of the Nazi Minister of Propoganda, and lots of post World War 2 arcitecture. Our somewhat frigid tour culminated at the remaining section of the Berlin wall, and then the informative and simultaneously campy Berlin wall museum.
Our next experience was anything but campy. We traveled to the Berlin Underwelten, which is a preserved bunker that was utilized during World War 2, and was kept up in anticipation of nuclear attack during the cold war. Our guide brought us through the underground maze of bunk rooms, electric/manual ventilation systems, and a very special scheizenhaus. A particularly surreal moment on theis tour was when we exited a room in the bunker and stepped out into an active Uban station. What a relief to leave, even for a couple of minutes the cold, cramped confines of the bunker. I can't imagine what would be like to live there for weeks and weeks.
Following our tour of the Berlin Underweltin, we took in some more history above ground. The highlight of teh afternoon was the Pergamon museum. This is a giant Hellenistic sculpture and temple that was excavated and returned brick by brick from Turkey. The piece is so large that it was assembled outside, and then had a museum built around it. After some more touring, we returned to our hotel to warm up, eat dinner, and prepare for the next stage of our journey.
At the end of our time in Berlin we had seen a lot. Memorials, museums, tours and artifacts are all pieces of Germany's history leading up to and including the events of World War 2, and ultimately, the Holocaust. It has been, and wil be, our job to put these pieces together into a cohesive, if incomplete, understanding of the events surrounding the Holocaust. Next, in Poland, we will visit some of the sites where it happened.

Pictures are included in the Berlin album.