Today we arrived in Berlin and immediately began our program. Dana, our tour manger from Prague, met us and greeted us warmly. Although exhausted, everyone worked hard to keep pace with all the introductory history that was necessary for the day. We met our German guide today, Olaf (aka Mr. Kolbatz) and our historian for the trip, Shalmi (aka Mr. Barmore). As we navigated our way through Berlin we began by first noticing and discussing the architecture of this city.

As we drove through Berlin, Olaf talked to us about the Berlin Wall, which he said was actually two walls with a ‘no man’s land’ in between, and had been hastily built overnight in 1961 to stem the tide of Germans seeking to leave East Germany and East Berlin for the democratic sectors of West Berlin monitored by the British, French and American forces after WW2.  He pointed out the cobblestones which were inset in the asphalt streets to show the path of the wall around the city until its demolition in 1989.

As we continued through the city we visited the very prominent memorial in Berlin to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Olaf explained that the concept of having a memorial in Berlin to the Jews was one which was promoted in 1987 by a German journalist, Lea Rosh, who had visited Auschwitz and Yad Vashem and felt it was important that Germany create its own memorial to the Jewish victims, in the heart of Berlin, and so proposed and pushed for her idea to be made a reality by the German parliament, the Reichstag.  Olaf told us how in the 1950’s, 1960’s and even 1970’s most Germans did not want to talk about the Holocaust and remember that period in their history, but that by the 1980’s there was more of a willingness to reflect and remember the past as the younger generation, not directly connected to those years and events, began to ask questions.  In 1995 the Reichstag decided to build a memorial and then the discussion became “Who will build it?”, “What will it look like?” and “Where will it be constructed?” American architect Peter Eisenman won the project and it was built on a city block in the heart of the Government district, across from the American Embassy, by the Brandenburg Gate and very close to the Reichstag which can be seen from the memorial which was dedicated in 2005.

It consists of 2,711 concrete blocks or “stellae” arranged in a seemingly haphazard manner, on a sloping surface which rises and falls as one walks through the stellae.  Students discussed the meaning of memorials and how traditional memorials differed from modern memorials, as well as the controversy which often accompanies creation of memorials.  What is the symbolism of the gray blocks?  What is appropriate behavior at the memorial? Why is it only for the murdered Jews?

As the rain began to fall we discussed the memorial on the bus and as soon as the sun came out we had a chance to walk into the memorial and experience the exhibition. The students emerged discussing the symbolism of the stellae their interpretation of this art form in a heavily trafficked public space.

Walking across the street we next visited the Memorial of the Murdered Homosexuals, a small gray concrete structure with a small window through which one could see a series of brief film clips. 

We ended the day with a visit to the Reichstag in which we discussed the panoramic views of Berlin, in particular noticing the golden dome of the synagogue we will visit tomorrow. Mr. Barmore talked about how this view of the synagogue demonstrated Jewish assimilation in Berlin. While we were discussing this a beautiful rainbow appeared in the distance!