Denkmal A powerful image. It reminds me of the core of Yad Vashem in Israel, a dark hall in which the light of a single candle is reflected a million times, representing the children...
So powerful I hope to see Yad Vashem some day. The 'railroad' piece at the Dokuzentrum really got me. Two parallel rows of white neon, set on railroad ties, lying on top of 50,000 cards each with a victims name on it. Chilling.
Nurnberg I am just reading (thanks to your influence) the early part of Shirer, recording the first Nazi events in Nürnberg. So this adds some visuals to my imagination, thanks.
I like the way you put the tension between remembering and healing-- there is a time after which remembering is re-wounding, unless it involves some transformation by art or philosophy or prayer. There's then always the temptation to forget the real stuff that lies behind the transform -- I think Germans in many ways have tried to keep that balance.
Bureaucracy-- I really don't think I understand it as an element of modernity. It is such a powerful feature of our institutional life. John Ralston Saul argues that there's a deep relationship between the ideal of the "Hero who will fix things for us" and the deepening power of expertise, which can shape and re-define what is important (and what can be hidden). Scary, and I am aware of how hard it is to imagine a different way of running a modern society.
Bureaucracy and ethics For all my study of public administration (bureaucracy) the place of ethics was not nearly as prominent as it should have been. I am trying to write a little bit more about this in my concluding posts. Stay tuned.
The little things Nicely put, Gordon. Adam Gopnik recently pointed out in The New Yorker that those who say Donald Trump is not Hitler are, of course, correct. And then points out: "But then Hitler wasn't Hitler--until he was." The task isn't yet a great or insurmountable one, but it's a necessary one. And we need to figure out just what that task is right now.
Although you talked about visiting Anne Frank's house before we all went our different ways from Amsterdam I really appreciate the continued intimate scope of your blog. And Gordon hearing about how your interest, this drive to know more, to understand more deeply unfolded in your youth is helping me to enter in to your experience. Thanks for that! Darcy
Thanks for this! I really appreciate your keeping a travel journal, Gordon-- makes it more than a travelogue, but also helps me see what it's meaning to you. I hope you find it helpful to do; and if so, that you find the time to keep going! Nice style, also.
brian
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Denkmal
A powerful image. It reminds me of the core of Yad Vashem in Israel, a dark hall in which the light of a single candle is reflected a million times, representing the children...