Saturday, October 8th:
Today my parents and Theo walked around the town of Warnemunde while Josh and I went to Berlin.
Warnemunde is a beach town located on the Baltic Sea known for its large beaches and nice downtown area.
Luckily, the port is right next to the city so my parents didn't have to worry about trying to get Theo on and off a shuttle bus.
My parents and Theo walked around town and they said Theo did really well (as long as he is moving he is usually happy).
[The Teepott and The Lighthouse]
[Grandma and Theo]
[Locks on the bridge]
[Papa and Theo]
Thanks mom and dad for watching Theo so Josh and I could go on an adventure!
Josh and I were up early and had to meet our coach at 7:00 AM. Luckily, my parents cabin is right next to ours, so my mom came over to watch Theo.
We found our tour bus and grabbed seats by the back door. Right before we left our guide told us that Berlin is 245 km away and there is no speed limit on the Autobahn, BUT the buses are only allowed to go 100 km/h. So it will take us about three hours to get to Berlin and we will be stopping for a potty break in two hours. To help us get through the drive we were provided with water, a cold mocha drink (we need the caffeine), some fruit, and this delicious cookie!
Our first stop in Berlin was the Charlottenburg Palace. We didn't get out here (we were planning on doing that at the end of the day on our way out of town), this is where we picked up our local tour guide, Jens. He jumped on the bus and welcomed us to Berlin! He told us that we have a super tight schedule and things may get interrupted because of a right-wing protest that is taking place at the Reichstag Building and Brandenburg Gate. He said the police are worried things can get out of hand so they are deploying a lot of officers, shutting down streets, and putting up barricades around Holocaust Memorial.
We drove from Charlottenburg Palace to the Tiergarten, which is large park in the middle of Berlin (similar to Centra Park in NYC).
[Victory Column - it does look like it from this picture, but this column is huge (67 meters)!]
A lot of the city was destroyed during WWII by Allied bombing raids and what was left was heavily damaged during the Battle of Berlin in 1945. As a result, there are a lot of modern buildings around the city.
[Cube Berlin Building]
We made our way out of the Tiergarten, past the Bellevue Palace (official residence of the President of Germany, not the Chancellor), and along the Spree River. We were able to see various modern government buildings, including the German Chancellery and the Paul Lobe Building (home of German Parliament's offices and committee chambers). We crossed the river close to the Reichstag Building and cruised east along the famous Inter den Linden until we reached our first stop.
[Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great]
The bus stopped by the Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great and then we all walked over to the Bebelplatz. This large square is surrounded by the Under den Linden, the Opera House, Humboldt University, and and St Hedwig's Cathedral.
[Humboldt University]
[Humboldt University]
[Opera House]
[St Hedwig's Cathedral]
In the center of the square is a memorial to the May 10, 1933 Nazi Book Burning. It consists of a large empty library underneath the ground. The May 10, 1933 book burning was not the only Nazi book burning, not by a long shot, but it is the most famous. Pictures and videos were taken and the Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels spoke. This book burning was attended by members of the Nazi Students League, the brownshirts, the SS, and Hitlers Youth groups. They burned 20,000 books including works by Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx, and Albert Einstein (who was a professor before this at Humboldt University).
[I couldn't get a picture due to the glare of the sun, so this one is from the internet]
Next to the memorial is a plaque with a quote from Heinrich Heine's play Almansor (1821): "Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen."
"That was only a prelude; where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people"
We then boarded the bus and continued our journey east along the Unter den Linden. We passed by the Altes Museum, Berlin Cathedral, the Berlin Innenstadt Park (with a statue of Marx and Engels), and the Berliner Fernsehtum.
[Altes Museum and Berlin Cathedral]
[Altes Museum]
[Berlin Cathedral]
[New Synagoge]
[Berliner Fernsehtum - This large television tower was constructed between 1965 and 1969 by East Germany.]
We then flipped around and started heading west along the Rathausstrabe. We drove past the Rotes Rathaus, ESMT Berlin, and Franzosischer Dom.
[Rotes Rathaus - Town Hall of Berlin]
[Franzosischer Dom - French (Reformed) Church of Friedrichstadt]
The Franzosischer Dom is located in a large square that also houses the Deutscher Dom and a huge Christmas market and ice rink during the winter season.
We then made our way down to our next stop: Checkpoint Charlie.
This is the most famous of the Berlin Wall crossings between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. Long story VERY short: After the fall of Germany at the end of WWII Germany and Berlin were both divided. Within Eastern Germany (controlled by the Soviets) was Berlin. Berlin itself was divided into four quadrants, but then three of those quadrants joined together (US, France, and UK) become West Berlin and the last quadrant became East Berlin (controlled by the Soviets). The Berlin Wall was erected around West Berlin. West Berlin flourished during the Cold War while people in the East suffered.
[Super busy area - Jens warned us to watch our pockets]
[Berlin Wall Marker]
Jens took us over to a long wall that was covered with dates and pictures. He told us the history of the Berlin Wall and all about the Berlin Crisis of 1961, which involved American tanks and Soviet tanks staring each other down for hours.
[List of all the people who died at Checkpoint Charlie]
[Part of the Berlin Wall]
[Back and front of the sign as you exit and enter East Berlin]
[Reconstructed guard house]
While we were taking pictures of the reconstructed guard house I was approached by a young woman with a clipboard. She asked me if I spoke English and I said, "No" and walked away. These pickpockets are pretty easy to spot. She likely approached me because I had my hands in my pockets, which indicates something is in there (like my phone). They asked you to sign the clipboard (for some made up reason) and while your hands are occupied, another pickpocket comes up behinds you and takes your stuff. Jens saw the young woman trying to talk to me and he told me not to engage with her. He said it quite loudly too and spooked the woman. I'm sure the locals hate the pickpockets. They just give the city a bad reputation.
We left Checkpoint Charlie and drove past the Anhalter Bahnhof. This is one of a few partially destroyed buildings in the city that were not reconstructed after WWII. This particular building was a train station. 55,000 Jews (1/3 of the city's entire Jewish population) were taken by train from here to Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and from there they were sent to the concentration camps. All that remains of the building is the facade. A memorial is now there honoring all the Jews that were taken from Berlin and sent to the camps.
We also drove past TrabiWorld and saw a parade of Trabi's. These tiny cars were produced in East Germany and there was a 10 year waiting list to get one. According to Jens the cars that were produced during the Cold War were pure crap and had a habit of breaking down.
People think they are cool now! You can rent them and drive around town. But they aren't so great when they are your only option under Communist rule.
Our next stop was the Topography of Terror. During the Nazi regime this location was the SS Reich Security Main Office. It also housed the headquarters of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo), Sicherheitsdienst (SD), Einsatzgruppen (SS), and the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo). The buildings that housed the Gestapo and SS headquarters were destroyed by Allied bombing and the rest of the site was destroyed by the Soviets when they took control of Berlin at the end of the war.
Adjacent to the Topography of Terror is the longest segment of the outer Berlin Wall still in existence.
Beneath the Berlin Wall are the foundations of the old Nazi buildings. In these foundations the museum has put up signs that will take you through Hitlers rise to power and his reign.
This particular panel was about Hitler's new government and his declaring himself the Führer. There were others in the government that thought he could be controlled, but they were clearly very wrong. He had the backing of wealthy businessmen and wasn't afraid to use violence to get what he wanted.
[Berlin Wall]
We also went inside the museum building and watched a movie about the different branches of enforcement and who ran them.
We then walked over to the museum next door. The side of the building closest to the Topography of Terror is filled with bullet holes. These all likely came during the Battle of Berlin.
We then drove over to the Kurfürstendamm to do some shopping! On the way there we noticed these large pink and purple pipes. I thought they may be art until we asked Jens about them. He said they are for pumping water out when they are construction new buildings. Once construction on the new building is complete they will take down the pipes. It's pretty wild!
Jens gave us some free time at the Kurfürstendamm. Josh and I walked up and down the boulevard looking for a souvenir shop so I could buy a pin. We really aren't big shoppers.
We did wander into the Käthe Wohlfahrt and looked around. It's a Christmas store that is open all year round. There were some fun ornaments in there, but nothing worth buying and shipping home.
After free time we got back on the bus and drove past the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The church was built in the 1890s but was badly damaged during a bombing raid in 1943. Jens told us that it is left in its damage state to honor those killed in during WWII and to every time people look at it they will remember the horrors that were committed by the Nazi's. Never Again.
Jens then told us that we were going to try to get to our lunch reservation. But it is located right next to the Reichstag Building and he wasn't sure how close the bus could get since they were closing down roads due to the protest.
As we were making our way to the Reichstag Building we passed by the T4 Memorial for the Victims of the Nazi Euthanasia Program. I remember learning in school about the Nazi's obsession with eugenics, social Darwinism, and racial hygiene. I remember seeing propaganda posters showing disabled people looking like monsters. And I remember my teacher telling us that they would bring disabled people up on the stage during Nazi speeches to show the crowd what type of people they don't want in their society. I remember all of that, but being in Berlin, seeing the beautiful memorial, and having a disabled son, it all just hit me so hard. I started crying right there on the bus.
The Nazi's murdered 300,000 disabled adults and children. These innocent and beautiful people were taken from their families and either sent to the gas chambers or studied and then given lethal amounts of drugs. These people were deemed "unworthy of life" by the Nazi regime. They also murdered new born babies if they were suspected of being afflicted with "idiocy and mongolism (Down syndrome), microcephaly, hydrocephalus, malformations of the limbs, and cerebral palsy." The order to start euthanizing disabled people came from Hitler and it paved the way for the mass exterminations of the Jewish people that would start shortly at the death camps.
[The picture we got (above) isn't very clear, so I got this one from the internet]
Right as the bus was about to turn onto the avenue that leads to the Reichstag Building, a police car pulled in front of us and shut down the road!
It was a little further of a walk than most people in our group were hoping for, but what choice did we have? As made our way past the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (we will come back at the end of the tour), I noticed the barricades that Jens mentioned earlier.
As we made our way past the Brandenburg Gate we could see people gathering in Pariser Platz.
Finally we made it to the restaurant: Hopfingerbräu am Brandenburger Tor. Our tour group sat at four long tables and ate a delicious German meal family style! We had potatoes, huge meatballs with gravy, and brats. Those were the best meatballs I have ever had! We sat at the table with a German couple, another couple from the US, and a Canadian couple. While we ate the Canadian gentleman and the gentleman from the US started talking about politics. The man from the US said something about socialism and the Canadian said, "Excuse me, but I'm a Canadian and we have socialized medical care. Allow me to educate you." I'm sure the people of Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia get a little annoyed when people assume that Democratic Socialism is the same as Dictatorial Socialism. Can you blame us? It's all we hear during those political adds!
After a delicious lunch we headed outside and came across a crowd of people. There were a lot of police officers and they had erected a barricade so that the group couldn't move further down the street. As we were standing there watching the group chant and wave their flags I noticed that a lot of people were focusing their attention on a young man that was walking down the sidewalk being escorted by the police. They were chanting something at him as he walked by and when he passed right by us I noticed a smug look on his face. Like he was enjoying the attention. The police escorted him through the barricade and to the other side.
One of the men in our tour group asked me if I knew which group this was. I told him based on the amount of Pride flags I would conclude that these are the counter-protesters. Our tour guide then showed up and I asked him what the counter-protesters were chanting. He paused, listened, and said, "Well, um, let's just say they don't like Nazi's and fascist." That's good because neither do I. I then asked him about the protesters. He said they are part of a far-right Germany Nationalism group that is anti-European Union, anti-immigration, anti-muslim, etc. He said that the group has welcomed in Neo-Nazi's and holocaust deniers (yes, they exist in Berlin).
Our tour guide then walked over to the policemen at the barricade and told them that we needed to get to the Reichstag Building. They opened up the barricade and Jens then waved us all forward. Once we were in the neutral zone we could see where the protesters were going to be marching.
[Entering the neutral zone]
[The Protesters]
We gathered just outside of the security check and presented our passports. Once we were all cleared, we headed up the steps and into the Reichstag Building.
This beautiful building is home to the Bundestag (the lower House of Parliament).
We headed inside and took the elevator to the very top.
Jens then gave us some free time to hike to the top of the dome (if we want) or to walk around the roof top with him. We would all gather 20 minutes later to have drinks at the rooftop cafe.
[Reichstag Dome - There is a ramp that spirals around the edges where you can get a great view of the city. If you look down you can see right onto the Parliament floor]
We walked to the top and tried to get some pictures, but the glare from the sun was a little intense.
[Platz der Republik (Republic Square) - The rally for the protesters just took place here.]
[Counter protesters gathering in front of our restaurant - The Brandenburg Gate is behind them on the left]
It was hard to get pictures, but there were multiple helicopters flying around. We also walked past numerous news agencies that were out covering the protest.
Once we were done at the Reichstag building we headed back outside and gathered with Jens. The protesters had started walking down the road. Jens talked to the policemen and they told us that our best bet would be to go back through the neutral zone and cut through the restaurant to Brandenburg Gate. Hopefully we can get there before the protester do.
*I made a map. I hope this helps illustrated where we were and what was going on. The red lines represent the protesters, the purple lines are the counter-protesters, the white lines show the neutral zone. and the light blue is our movement.
After the protesters gathered in Republic Square they marched down the street and came to Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Gate from the east. The counter-protesters gathered in the purple square right outside our restaurant and came to Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Gate from the west. And our group took a short cut through the restaurant and came to Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Gate from the north.
Jens was not happy about us walking alongside the protesters until we reached the neutral zone, but that was the best route for us. As we were walking I asked him about different flags that were flying. We spotted a few US flags, a lot of German flags, a holocaust denial flag, and various flags that belong to the marching party.
We made our way through the neutral zone, through the restaurant, and into Pariser Platz where the Brandenburg Gate is.
We got our pictures and a quick history lesson right as the protesters, counter protesters, and police descended on the area.
I'm very grateful to our tour guide for keeping us safe and for interpreting the protester's flags, chants (I now know how to say "F*** the Nazi's" in German), and signs for us. It was a bit terrifying to see this particular group marching in Berlin.
[Time to go!]
We left Brandenburg Gate behind and quickly made our way down the street to our final stop: the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This monument consists of 2711 stelae that vary in height from a few inches to over 15 feet. The ground undulates and the further down you go the taller the stelae get. The designer gave no reason for this design and it's up to you to interpret the meaning.
My heart was already so heavy from everything we've seen today that when I descended into the center of the memorial, it all became overwhelming.
And our day has come full circle. Remember the quote at our first stop? The May 10, 1933 book burning memorial?
"That was only a prelude; where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people"
If you are still here with me, thank you. I know this is a long post, but I felt like it was important to document.
I honestly love this city. I wish we had more time to explore, but we got to see and experience so much! Hopefully we'll be able to come back again!
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