Berlin

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Sept. 12

I SURVIVED AMSTERDAM!!!! We spent three hours in a bus station waiting for our bus to arrive and then had an 11 hour bus ride. We are now in Berlin. We haven't done much yet but so far it looks very much like Toronto or Calgary. It is very Americanized.

Sept. 13

I have decided Berlin is a very cool and educational city. We went on a walking tour. We started at the Brandenburg Gate which was the entrance exit to east west Germany. We also saw the following:

- The memorial for the Jewish people killed in WWII, made by Peter Eisenman. It was different size blocks that spread about the size of a football field and the ground was lowered in many places
- Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide although the bunker has been destoyed and there is very little sign that it was there. (as to not attrack neo-nazi's)
- The only nazi regime building that has not been destroyed. It is huge. It is now used by the gov't for the Department of Finance
- Check-Point Charlie - another main point of entrance to West Germany. (although it is all replicated)
- The first Opera House in Europe - built for Hitler, it was destoryed twice in WWII and rebuilt each time.
- A parliament builing (which Hitler used) was directly across from the Opera House where there was a huge library. The nazi youth took all the books from this library that had authors that were Jewish, homosexual, etc. and burnt them outside the library. One book from over 300 years before this quoted, "if the books are being burnt, soon the people will be burnt as well." (a little ironic)
- A memorial of a lady whose son and grandson died in war. She is holding her dying son in her arms. The ashes of an unknown holocaust victim and an unknown soldier are barried underneith the statue.
- The hotel where Michael Jackson hung the baby out of the window.
- The Berlin Wall

Sept. 14

We went to a Sachsenhausen which is a Concentration Camp near a town called Oranienburg which is quite close to Berlin. It was really interesting. This is definitely something everyone should do once in their life time. It is an eye-opener to see what actually happened to the victims of the nazi's. It is unbelievably brutal. A lot of it almost made me sick. The camp was huge , almost like a small town. It is amazing how much thought the nazi's put into building it. It was all about efficiency. Efficiency in torture techniques, number of guards to prisoners, the killing process, and the way in which they guarded the prisoners. The one problem with the camp is that it was all replicated because The Soviet's took it over after WWII and it was than bombed. After that we went to the The Reichstag, Dem Deutschen Vollee or the parliament building, which means for the people. Hitler never occupied this building. The building had a glass dome at the top which we went up and could see the whole city. Very beautiful. We then went to the pub and met some really cool German dudes. David and I drank with them all night while Dustin went to a club with and Irish guy. It was a good time.

Sept. 15

David and Dustin went to the Berlin zoo. I didn't want to go so I spent the day relaxing in the city square.

Interesting Facts About Germany
- liberation of Sachsenhausen was April 20, 1945 at 11:07
- Stalan's stepson was held in there. Hitler wanted to trade him for a Nazi General being held by The Soviet's. Stalan quoted, "Why settle for a lieutanant when you have a General." (quite cold hearted)
- A concentration camp is a work camp, different from a death camp.

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Comments

[abalada]

The first Opera House in Europe - built for Hitler
The first opera house of Berlin was built in 1741 (Hitler 1889-1945). Maybe it's the oldest opera house still in use. But it was not the first. E.g. Hamburg had an opera house in 1678.