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Published: March 16th 2007
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Our time in Germany has been incredibly moving. There have been moments where I've felt as though we have stepped through a portal back to the terrible wars of the 20th century, discovering for ourselves the horror of their aftermath. But perhaps even more disturbing, are the moments when we've seen little echoes of the past that seem to be repeating.... very very sad.
The exploration we began through our visit to Dachau concentration camp has been continued throughout the past week we've spent in Germany's cities. We firstly visited Nuremberg, home to the famous Courtroom 600 where the trials of the WWII war criminals took place in 1945-46. It was during our visit to the famous courtroom itself that we learned of the reasons why Nuremberg was chosen to host this important event. I was surprised to discover that Nuremberg had once been one of Hitler's strongholds, evidenced by the mass gatherings of Nazi party members and supporters of the Third Reich at the enormous Nazi Party Rally Grounds nearby. A visit here highlighted how incredibly powerful the Nazi Party had become, even early in the decade leading up the outbreak of WWII. The Nazi Rally Grounds were
absolutely enormous, with capacity for tens of thousands of supporters to gather. A museum has been erected beside what was once the main stadium (a structure rivalling the colleseum in design and enormity) and paints a clear picture of Hitler's rise to power on the back of the Nazi propoganda machine. Very chilling to behold, even scarier because it was real.
We next headed to Dresden, a city that has been totally rebuilt since WWII as it was heavily bombed by Allied Forces in the war. Again, Dresden was an important Nazi stronghold and its complete demolition in the war was a very poignant reminder of this fact. Even in the last 5-10 years, residents continue to celebrate the rebuilding of the city with one of the most important landmarks, Fraukirsche, only recently fully rebuilt and restored (prior to 1990, a pile of rubble had stood on the site as a WWII memorial). The skyline of the city is only now beginning to resemble the Dresden of the pre-war years.
Our final stop has been Berlin where remnants of WWI, WWII and the Cold War are everywhere you go. These layers of history create a city that is
truly remarkable. Never more alive has the past felt to me than when standing at sites such as the Brandenburg Gate, Gestapo Headquaters, and Parliament Buildings (where massacres against peaceful protesters were carried out in the 50s and 60s). The Berlin Wall is an amazingly powerful remnant of a terrible past-it seems impossible to imagine that it was only 18 yeas ago that the wall fell but somewhere in my distant memory I recall seeing the images of the fall on the tv headlines. We visited the Anne Frank Museum and the Jewish Museum too, the latter being one of the most moving expeiences we've had. Seeing the photos, hearing the stories...incredible. Reminders of the Holocaust are instowed in the architecture of the museum itself where the architect has created powerful and eery spaces in many parts of the musuem designed to parallel the experiences of the Jewish People themselves...very moving.
The most moving and heartbreaking part of our visit to this museum however, was an exhibition presenting a modern day genocide occurring in the Darfur Region of Sudan. A group of photographers/photojournalists had travelled to this region in a campaign to raise public awareness of the human rights
violations happening right now. The photos taken reflect the current genocide occurring against the black african population of Sudan, largely orchestrated by nomadic militia groups. The photographs were incredibly powerful, displaying the heatbreak of a people who have been internaly displaced by this conflict. Concurrent to the photography was a collection of drawings done by children currently living in these refugee camps for those displaced. The content of the drawings was the most horrific thing wth 7/8/9-year-old children drawing pictures of men riding camels with machine guns, women being taken away ('pretty ones') by militia groups and never returning, maimed bodies, dead loved ones, villages destroyed by bombs and burning to the ground. I felt sick by the very thought these children had seen such atrocities. We left the museum realising that the genecides of the past can happen and are happening even as we speak (we've since decided to further explore what we can do to play even a tiny role in creating change...'not on our watch' as is the catchcry of the human rights campaigners).
On a more positive note, we've also discovered that Berlin is a very fun and vibrant city. We have definitely enjoyed the
sightseeing, eating and shopping, but have left much of the nightlife so far sadly undiscovered. We did manage to make a quick museum trip to see one of the 10 wonders of the ancient world-the Ischtar gate-which was amazing but beyond that, all other cultural visits have been similarly ignored! With this in mind, Berlin has definitely rated as one of our favourite cities on this trip and we will definitely be back to do some more exploring.
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