History of the Holocaust & Jewish Culture: 01/17/13

The 'Six Million Murdered Jews' Memorial

After our group went to the Brandenburg Gate, we walked two more blocks and the city opened up to a park of stone blocks. We had arrived at the 'Six Million Murdered Jews' Memorial. According to Dr. Moser, Germans avoid using the word Holocaust. The park itself was void of trees, except around the edges. The granite blocks seemed to flow in waves. The artist purposely built this to symbolize the confusion and uncertainty the Jewish communities felt during the Nazi Party's rule. Another important aspect of the above-ground memorial was that the stones were void of any inscriptions, signifying the nameless, anonymous aspects of the genocide. I found the memorial to be very effective. As we walked into the stones, the ground began to slope, and all of a sudden, the stones towered above me. It was like being in a cold maze. I stopped to take a picture and I ended up losing the rest of the group. I was able to find them only when I exited the memorial on the far side.

The above ground views of the

memorial.

The perspective from the center of the memorial.

The rest of the memorial was underneath the stone blocks. It was a small, but very heavy emotionally. Dr. Moser led us down a staircase into an indoor, underground memorial. We first walked down a hallway and on the wall was a timeline from the start of the Jewish persecution in 1932 through the end of the war. In pictures and writing, it described the increasing segregation and mistreatment of the Jews in Germany over the fourteen years the Nazi Party held power. By the end of the timeline, Jews across all of central Europe had been either killed, interned, or run into hiding. By the time the Nazi Party had been overthrown in Germany, over six million Jews had been murdered.

After walking down the hall, we then walked into a dark room. The only light came from blocks on the floor, with first-hand written accounts from Jews themselves. These letters - the voices of many never to be heard or seen again - spoke about the horrid evils of being transported in livestock cars, work and death camps, gas chambers, shooting squads, mass graves, rape, and the impending feelings of fear and death.

In the same room across the top of all the walls were each European country's name and how many Jews were killed in each country.

Standing in that room was numbing. I had to sit down in the middle of the dark because I felt dizzy from standing. Six million people were murdered. I do not know a lot about genocides, but this act, this holocaust, was particularly... senseless. This was an organized, meticulously thought-out plan to exterminate a select group of humans from the Earth. These were innocent people, families - men, women, and children alike. And as I sat there, I contemplated how much I valued my life and the lives of others around me. I tried to multiply that by six million, but it was impossible to grasp. The Holocaust was six million voices silenced. Those are six million live, with six million unique experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and voices, with millions more relationships and people that loved and shared life with the world, gone.

As I walked through the remaining two rooms, the memorial touched on some of the lives and unique backgrounds of the victims. They discussed the heritage and lineage of some of the families, as well as the personal experiences of individuals. It was fascinating to hear about how people bonded together to survive in the imprisoned ghettos and concentration camps, making the most of their conditions. In the last room, a voice over the intercom narrated a brief summary of the life stories of a few victims. The audio was roughly a minute long for each. According to a plaque on the wall, if all six million's stories were briefly read in the same format, it would take six years, seven months, and 27 days.

"Survival is not a rule, it is an exception."

- Dr. Moser

The Brandenburg Gate

After we visited the Reichstag, we walked three blocks to the Brandenburg Gate. Along the way, I learned what "dictatorship windows" are - as Dr. Moser explained, they are windows that they can see out, but you can not see in. Once we got to the Brandenburg Gate, the group had some great photo opportunities with one of Berlin's most iconic monument. I also became a diplomat and a monetary contributor to a German acting school.

The Brandenburg Gate

Dr. Moser and I in front of the Brandenburg Gate

Actors dressed as U.S and Russian Soldiers

Representing R-MC

Full-time student, part-time diplomat

Settling in Berlin

Our hotel that we are staying at in Berlin is the Hotel Gates. It is very nice and located near a grocery store, many coffee shops, and the S-Bahn (above ground railway). They also gave us a pretty nice rental car, although it is only a two-seater.

Hotel Room

Queen Size Bed

Hotel Room Bathroom

Rental Car

The Reichstag - Germany's Legislative Building

Due to our flight delays in Amsterdam, we were half a day behind in our schedule and we compensated for it yesterday. We toured Berlin from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm, but we were able to get back on track.

The first place we visited was Der Reichstag, Germany's legislative building. Once we were through security and inside the main lobby, I immediately was impressed with the modern decor of the building. Unlike D.C., with white stone marble and ornately carved columns, the interior was cream colored, with the German flag colors on a modern art canvas. The building conveyed a sense of realism, professionalism, and modernism - qualities that certainly are attributed to Germany's social-democratic government.

We took an elevator up five stories to the rooftop, where there is a glass dome, called a Kuppel. Inside the glass dome was a spiral walkway that went up to the top of the dome, giving us great panoramic views of Berlin. Hanging from the center of the dome was a stalactite of mirrors that pointed down, giving us different views of the congressional hall directly below the dome. The concept behind this unique feature is that the average citizen can watch the legislature in person without being in the chamber itself. In Germany, the legislature holds the "common man" as their source of power and principle.

As an aspiring political science major, it was very fascinating for me to visit the Reichstag and observe the ideas and principles of another government. It also helped give our group an introduction to how the German government has restructured themselves since the fall of the Berlin Wall.