Nazi History and being attacked in Berlin for wearing a kippah - echos of the past

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We started our day with a tour about the history of the Nazis led by a young British man, John, who is doing a post-doc here in mid-20^thcentury German history with a focus on the history of the Jews in Germany at that time. As anyone who has been in Berlin knows, much of the city was destroyed so many historical sites don’t exist. When you visit the site of Hitler’s bunker, you visit a parking lot. The government does not want to memorialize Hitler, so the only there is only a small plaque noting the spot. We visited the Reichstag where John explained the political history leading up to Hitler seizing power. He described that the Conservatives had invited Hitler’s party into the government thinking they could control them. We all know how well that strategy worked. In the US, it makes me think about the Republican party inviting in the extremist from the far right and ending up with a lot of “nice people” in Charlottesville shouting anti-Semitic slogans and running people over. We visited 4 memorials to groups murdered by the Nazis: the liberal politicians who were all sent to camps where they died, the gypsies, homosexuals and Jews. John explained that the memorial is for the Murdered Jews of Europe and that the government was very clear that this is a memorial to the Jews, not for all the victims of the Holocaust. As I noted there are other memorials to other groups. I had seen pictures of the memorial but being there and experiencing it was extremely moving. It is hard to describe, but as you walk through it the ground undulates and you end up at a much lower level than the street with the blocks towering over you. While records from the camps listing the Jews murdered there are very complete, no such lists exist for the 3,000,000 Jews murdered all over Eastern Europe and buried in mass graves that they were forced to dig before being shot. Because of this there is no way all Jews could be acknowledged so the decision was to not record any names. We ended up at the Topography of Terror exhibit. It is a display of material documenting the Nazi rise to power mounted on what were the walls of the prison where many of the early political victims were held, tortured and murdered. Above this display is a remnant of the Berlin Wall, so you see the continuation of brutality extending beyond the Nazis. There has been a huge amount written about the Germans willingness to confront their past. The one anomaly I saw was that at this exhibit, it repeatedly said the various victims had died after being “seriously mistreated”. Really? A more honest description would be that they were tortured.

There was one other person on our tour who was interesting, and I wish we had spent more time talking with him. Tom was a Harvard undergrad and law school grad whose specialty is international white-collar crime. He worked for the US government in Moscow for 10 years and at the end as he left Russia he was informed that he would not be allowed back into Russia. He said that the Russian government had asked him to accommodate it and he wouldn’t. He also said that early in his career he had worked with people now on Mueller’s team and they were exceptional. It’s always nice to have corroboration that the guys on your side know what they are doing.

We had lunch at a small restaurant that is somehow associated with the resettlement of Syrian refugees and then went to the Bauhaus Museum that was across the plaza and had been recommended by John. The main exhibit looked like it would be interesting photography by Ana Mendiata. It turned out to be the sort of avant-garde work that neither of Jack nor I find comprehensible. Sadly, a lot of the short videos showed blood on the outside of her body and she died young falling 34 floors from her partner’s apartment to her death.

Our 3 o’clock tour was open ended. Jack opted to go back to rest. The young guide was from Albania, and he was reasonable knowledge. His plan had been to take us to all the places we had visited already. Once we figured this out, he set up a new agenda. While walking, he shared with me an event that was in the news here. A young Arab Israeli decided he would wear a kippah given to him by an Jewish Israeli friend around Berlin to show that it was safe for Jews in Berlin. Much to his surprise, he was attacked by a Syrian Palestinian asylum seeker who beat him with a belt buckle. He ended up demonstrating that it is not safe for Jews in Berlin. The attack took place in an upscale neighborhood and when it happened only one person out of more than 50 spectators did anything to intervene. When interviewed the young man who had video taped his attack expressed his disappointment that so many people were willing to stand by and watch. If Germany is the country with the lowest level of anti-Semitism and this is what happens here, it reinforces my pessimism about the future of Jews in Europe. Even here there is a sharp increase in anti-Semitism among young people. In other places attacks against Jews have also been in the news. Several weeks ago, two elderly Jews were murdered in Paris having been targeted because they were Jews. There are lots of places across Europe where Jews are advised not to wear anything that marks you as being Jewish because it puts you at risk.

Dinner was not very good. The only redeeming part of the meals was being able to listen to an acapella group serenading a very old lady on what must have been her birthday.

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Photos

Israeli Arab attacked in Berlin for wearing a kippah
He was trying to prove that Berlin is safe for Jews and ended up proving it is not safe for Jews

Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe
The slabs are anonymous because the designer knew it would be impossible to include all the names. It is not a "Holocaust" memorial, but in honor of the Jews murdered by Hitler and his supporters.

Statue built by Russia to honor Russian soldiers
Set up within months of the Russian occupation of Berlin