Today we began by visiting the memorial for the victims of the T-4 program (#4 Tiergartenstrasse). The building is now gone, and the Berlin Philharmonic is built on the site, but there is a couple of displays there to remember the victims of this program. I was shocked to learn that there were approx. 250,000 victims. I knew about the program, just not the extent of the murders.
This program murdered mentally and physically handicapped Aryans – mostly children. The Nazi’s wanted to improve their so-called Aryan “race” by this method. In these institutions there were the first gassing (using carbon-monoxide) and the first crematorium to dispose of the bodies. These doctors (crazy, but true) were later sent to Poland to recreate what they had done on a much larger scale. . . . .
Memorial to the victims of the T-4 Program
We also visited a museum called “Topography of Terror.” This museum deals with the SS and the men and decisions that led to the persecution of Jews and others. It was very interesting. Unfortunately, like everything else, there wasn’t time to see everything, so I bought a massive (I just may have to jettison several items of clothing to get it into the suitcase for the flight back home) book that has everything that each one of the displays contains. I feel my knowledge is particularly “light” in this area so I thought it would be good to pick up that resource.
Jason and I also went outside to look at remnants of the Berlin Wall. Almost at the base of the wall was another exhibit by the “Topography of Terror” museum. They had excavated down and found some of the basement rooms, tiled in yellow tile, that were used by the Gestapo to interrogate (torture) individuals during the Nazi regime. Evidently the building was originally a hotel and the Gestapo moved in in 1934. The building was razed after the war – partly due to the Allied bombing, and partly due to the fact that it was the headquarters of the SS. This basement is all that is left.
One of the cells from the Gestapo Headquarters
We also went across the street to see the former Luftwaffe building. It is one of the few buildings that the Nazi’s used that is still standing. Our tour guide said it is because the Soviets began using it at the end of the war for their governance (occupation) of East Berlin so it was never destroyed. Today it is the German Finance Ministry building.
We looked at the front of the building – typical Nazi architecture with massive doors to make any individual feel small (everything was about the State, the German People – not about the individual) and showed us a frieze (is that the right word?) on the exterior wall. It is all about happy Socialist German people. Well, that was put there by the DDR (Communist East German Government) and actually covers up the Nazi frieze that is behind it. We saw photos of what the original looked like.
Former Luftwaffe (German Airforce) Headquarters
Panorama of the Pro-Communist Mural - put up after WWII in a divided Berlin
Our next stop was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which sits near the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag. It was nice to revisit the site (I’ve been there before) and walk through the blocks. It was a bit different than the first time I’d been there, though. There were a lot of kids there and it was too busy for us to get into the information center beneath the memorial at that time. Some people were running and being disrespectful (in my opinion) so it was difficult to get a better sense of the spirit of the place. My visit in 2009 was much more impressive.
View of the Memorial
View of the Reichstag (where the German Parliament meets) past the Memorial
Me at the Memorial
We left the memorial and went to the German-Jewish museum. It was very interesting. Later we went back to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and went down to the information center. It was exception – one of the best, concise timelines/definitions of the Holocaust I’ve ever seen. However, they never use the words Holocaust or Shoah.
Now we are having another group meeting. I really like these, other than they are usually after a very long day, because we discuss pedagogy (how to teach the Holocaust) and specific things that we’ve learned. I’m making quite a list of things to do and things not to do in the classroom.
Oh yeah. I had bought a ticket to the new Harry Potter movie, but it starts at 11 and we would have to walk several blocks (Berlin blocks, not regular blocks!) there and back, so I’ve sold my ticket to the female Kerry (we have two Kerry’s on this trip – one male and one female, so that’s what we call them to keep it all straight!) so I can stay in, work on my journaling (and blogging before my 24 hour, 10 Euro internet connection is severed) and get some much needed sleep.
Bye for now, from Berlin. . . . . .
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