Jane's Trip of a Lifetime: Germany

Berlin
We spent July 4th touring around Berlin - umbrellas and rain jackets in tow as it was the rainiest day we have experienced thus far on this trip.

Berlin is the capital of Germany and is also Germany's largest city. If you didn't already know, Berlin is a city rich with history, much of the history pertaining to Hitler's era of reign, World War II and the Cold War.

Here is a brief re-cap of Berlin's recent history:

At the beginning of 1933, Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power and basically devestated Berlin's Jewish community (the Nazi's imprisioned Jews and sent Jews to concentration camps through their Kristallnacht program). During the second World War, much of Berlin was destroyed by air raids and as a result, much of the development in Berlin is relatively recent. After Germany lost the war (WWII), the Allies divided Berlin into four sectors. West Berlin was formed by the US, UK and France and East Berlin was formed by the Soviets.

When the Cold War began, tensions between East and West Germany increased. East Germany began to build the Berlin Wall to divide East and West Berlin. Tensions continued to increase and a standoff occurred at Checkpoint Charlie. The standoff resulted in West Berlin being declared part of West Germany and East Berlin being delcared part of East Germany. The Berlin Wall stood in place until 1989 and in 1990, East and West Germany were reunified and Berlin became the capital. Wow, 1990 - not that long ago!

Here are some photos from Berlin with descriptions below explaining the significance:

Schumann Street - need I say more??? Very significant as I have my own street in Berlin!

Brandenburg Gate (Tor) - Served as the boundary between East and West Germany, but that was not it's original purpose. Originally, it was built as a symbol of peace & German stability, but it has taken on additional meaning over the years. Napolean marched from it during the French occupation, soldiers guarded it when it served as a gateway between East and West and John F. Kennedy said the famous words, "Ich bin ein Berliner" meaning "I am a jelly donut", not "I am a Berliner" as he was meaning! On a side note, Matt and I bought Berliners in Berlin - jelly donuts!

Checkpoint Charlie - Cold War landmark & border crossing. Best known border crossing designated for foreigners, diplomats and members of Allied forces. It serves as a symbol of divided Berlin and of a political game of balance.

Reichstag - Germany's Parliament Building. It was originally opened in 1894 and housed parliament until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. During the Nazi era, there were only a few meetings that occurred here and after the war, both East and West Germany met in other locations. A full restoration of the building was made after Germany's reunification in 1990.

Berlin Wall - the division between East and West Germany. This is the only remaining section of the Berlin Wall that exists today. There are bricks paved into the ground though that outline the original wall. See photo below:

Former Berlin Wall - Bricks paved into the ground which outline the former location of the Berlin Wall.

Holocaust Memorial - Field of stelae - 2,711 concrete blocks placed in the centre of Berlin & the size of two football fields. The concrete blocks vary in size - many are more than 2x my height and organized in a labyrinth type maze. The ground is uneven as well - it's like a rolling hill. The concrete blocks are meant to symbolize the fragility of the Jews - a feeling of never knowing what is lurking behind the next corner. The next photo shows the size of some of the concrete blocks and the "rolling hills" as you manuver through the memorial.

Holocaust Memorial - See caption above. I got quite annoyed while walking through the memorial due to the lack of respect others showed. Many were running and laughing through the "maze", jumping from block to block without any regard of the the significance of the memorial. It wasn't just children - it was more or less adults and teenagers who treated the memorial with such disrespect. We are beyond privledged to live such a sheltered life where the brutal killing of millions of people seems like some Hollywood film, rather than real life events that only happened some 60 years ago. Because of those fighting for our freedom and standing up for what is right - this is what has granted us such privledge today. Despite the millions of lives lost and lessons learned in the past, there are wars, poverty, famines, genocides, etc., today, yet because of the lives many of us live, we don't think of it as reality. It's as simple for us to turn off the TV or close the newspaper and enter back into our own little bubble. It was really sad watching people treat the memorial with complete disrespect. I don't know what more to say without getting into a giant lecture!

Nazi Topography of Terror - located across from the remaining Berlin Wall, it is a museum that is on the grounds that once housed the former headquarters of the Nazi Gestapo and SS.

Berlin was a great city to visit - full of remarkable history that has shaped the world we live in today. Other interesting facts I learned about Berlin include:

Berlin is 8x the size of Paris
The 5th floor balcony of Hotel Aldon is where the late Michael Jackson dangled his baby from!
The Berlin Wall was 155km long, 3.6 meters high (or 11.86 feet) and had 302 watchtowers.
Over 170 people were killed while trying to escape from East to West Germany.

Leipzig
I made a brief stop in Leipzig on our way from Berlin to Prague. Leipzig is the birthplace of my dad and I wanted to check out the city to see what it was like. I am certain the city didn't look this way when my dad lived here many years ago. Although my time was brief, Leipzig was a beautiful city! I definitely would love to come back here and spent some more time and wander outside of the downtown core. Here are a couple photos: