Germanophiles

I have long wanted to go to Berlin and it was surely worth it. It's also one place where both of my children had visited before I did. We had a lovely week of short or no lines, decent but chilly weather and did a great deal of walking. This is my fifth time in Germany and I enjoy this country a lot.

One thing that is very striking about the country and its capital city is that you are never far from its twentieth century history. While the reasons for this are mostly obvious, it is also noteworthy that in contrast to the other genocidal regimes of those times, the Germans are pretty much alone in memorializing their bad deeds for all to see and ponder. There is evidence all over the City of the Nazi era: the so-called Holocaust Memorial and the Judisches (Jewish) Museum (both designed by American architects), and the one remaining example of Nazi monstrosity architecture, the Luftwaffe Ministry, which is now (ironically?) home to the Finance and Tax Ministry. All over the City, and you have to look for them, are "stumble stones," small bronze cobblestone shaped markers which memorialize the names and life dates of Jewish victims of the Holocaust, set into the pavements at their former homes. One historical exhibit says that 92% of the buildings in the City were destroyed or badly damaged in the war, so there is a lot of newer architecture. We spent most of one day at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp about a half hour north of the city, a very moving memorial to those victims, but also used as a prison camp by the Soviets for several years after the end of WW II.

I was less aware of and prepared for the extraordinary suffering and dislocation caused by the Cold War divisions and the Berlin Wall. Huge swaths of the City – apartments, offices, churches, cemeteries – were demolished and removed to make way for the 100 yard wide path of wall, dead-man's land, and barbed wire put up to surround West Berlin to stop the exodus of East Germans – nearly two million by the time the wall went up. All over Berlin are strips of paving stones set into streets and sidewalks to mark the path of the wall. Life behind the wall was grim: one in six East Germans either worked for or informed for the secret police, the Stasi.

So it is in one sense a shame that this relatively short period is such a blot on an otherwise fascinating history and ample supply of marvelous architecture and culture. We saw lots of both, including a day trip to Potsdam to visit the lavish "summer palaces" of the Kings of Prussia and later the German Emperors. (Germany did not become a unified country until 1871.) We saw some extraordinary antiquities and art in several museums.

It's a nice place to visit. You can walk to much of what you want to see, the U-Bahn (mostly underground) and S-Bahn (mostly elevated) system covers the entire city and suburbs, the people are friendly and most speak excellent English, and there are lots of very good restaurants. We had great dinners. I don't know why, but in comparison to other major European capitols, especially London and Paris, Berlin is awfully cheap. That makes it all the more worthwhile.