ghosts

The history of Germany does cast somewhat of a shadow over Berlin. Despite attempts of the previous generation to cover it up, there is evidence of Hitler and the Nazis all over. From mass graves to buildings covered in bullet holes, this city is scarred by it’s past. It does not ruin the city though, but adds to it. The city lives on, and has moved on. In the past the Germans have tried to rebuild Berlin, trying to cover up these scars. But the new generation has realized that it needs to accept the past in order to move forward. 

During our walking tour, led by Gabriel obviously, we got an inside look into Berlin’s past. He brought us to a cemetery with multiple mass graves, tucked between two buildings, almost hidden away. We walked around the city with old pictures from the 1930s and 1940s and lined them up with their current locations. We saw churches on fire and squares filled with Nazi flags and soldiers. It was creepy walking through places we knew Hitler had too walked. We ended our day above Hitler’s bunker, the place where he killed himself when the Soviets marched into Berlin. Gabriel had interviewed a former Nazi radioman who was in the bunker for the last days of Hitler. This man was actually the very last person the be alive in the bunker, after Hitler and Eva Braun had killed themselves. This man was charged with the duty of taking their bodies from the bunker and burning them in the park. We saw the area he burned Hitler. I still haven’t processed what I felt when I saw that area of grass. It’s now just a patch of green behind some low income housing.

Just a few hundred feet from where Hitler burned was the holocaust memorial. It consists of 2,711 of metal rectangles at all different heights, spaced out in rows that you can walk through (like a grid/maze). As I walked through, I recalled what I’ve seen and learned about the holocaust. I felt pain the the pit of my stomach. I cannot imagine what it’s going to feel like walking through the concentration and death camps soon.  

We also saw a memorial in the square where the book burnings took place. There’s a plate of glass on the ground in the middle of the area that looks down into a large underground room. Around the entire perimeter of the room, from floor to ceiling, there is a long book shelf warping around. It is big enough to fit the 20,000 books that were burned. The glass plate is designed to reflect the person looking down into the chamber. Since it’s triple paned glass, the reflection is blurred, giving it a ghostly look. “The burning of books is followed by the burning of people” is the general feel from the memorial. 

A plaque above a mass grave

The park where Hitler's body was burned

Holocaust Memorial (from inside)

Holocaust Memorial (from above)

Book burning memorial