Berlin and Easter

pics: Holly and I standing on either side of where Berlin Wall stood; Holly and Katie trying the local pastries; us in front of Brandenburg Tor; THE wall

I spent the long holiday weekend in Berlin, and I really loved it! Such a BIG city compared to little Prague and much more modern architecture. And because of the air raids during the war, anything that looks old is either rebuilt or has bullet holes in it. So much history, so many memorials for WWII, and so many significant sites to see.

In some ways, the trip was kind of like my chance to pay respects for all those who died and were persecuted under the nazi’s and later the communists.

I stood over Hitler’s bunker, where he lived for 2 years, married Ava Brown and 30 hours later killed himself.

I stood facing Hitler’s opera house, in the square where they burnt books of all minorities and those unsympathetic to the cause of the Nazi’s.

I stood looking up at the Brandenburg Tor, where between 1961 and 1989, people would’ve been running for their lives trying to escape the east.

I stood where the Berlin Wall once stood, now marked by a cobblestone line on the ground, tracing all 96 miles of it.

I stood at “Check Point Charlie”, in the American sector of West Berlin, where American soldiers faced Russian soldiers, each protecting their side of the city, and where many people escaped and where many were shot in the back.

I stood where 500,000 protesters stood, trying to oppose communism. And where Russian tanks rolled in and started shooting.

I was very impressed with the way Berliners, instead of trying to cover up or down play what happened in their city, have put a lot of thought into the way they will memorialize what happened there. They accept it as part of their history and I think, by doing this, history won’t repeat itself.