Today was all about the Holocaust.
First, we visited the Wannasee Villa where the Final Solution was implemented in January 1942. The place was renovated into a museum so there wasn't really a feeling of obvious eerie of actually being there. But when I looked out to the lake behind the house, I felt real chills as I looked behind me to see a diagram of the SS men. The historian, who guided us, gave us a lecture on the Wannasee Conference right in the same room as these men agreed on the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Then we moved to other exhibitions (it was essentially a small, focused Holocaust museum on the Nazis' plans to kill the Jews). He talked about the death and concentrations camps and the mass killings and played a couple of eyewitness testimonies. Obviously, you shouldn't surprised to konw that I wasn't at least surprised by some of the questions that other kids asked that were just a little obvious to me ("why so many camps are located in Poland? Not Germany?" or "Oh, I didn't know that there were so many Jews in Poland!") Lena asked the historian how he got started on this Holocaust thing. He said th
at he didn't hear much about it for a very long time and then just sort of dove into it and did his community service at Yad Vashem. Afterward, I asked him if he knew anyone at Yad Vashem that I had worked with- it was over 10 years ago. Oh well.
Lena asked how I liked this particular museum knowing that I had experiences with Yad Vashem and USHMM. I told her that I keep an open mind when I visit different countries because their experiences were different and I'm no judge to do that. I mean, now I realize the museums in the US and Israel have their own purposes and how they want to portray themselves. For example, the USHMM is far more of a very American museum with its universal theme whereas Yad Vashem is very, very Jewish. This one was outright honest that it even included some facts and pictures I had never seen before (ex: the gorges at Babi Yar). Lena said that many of the Eastern European countries have only begun to open up their Holocaust memorials and museums and they're just very honest about it and it's just new to the public.
We went to Track 17 memorial. I think this was my most emotional moment so far with the Holocaust. There's a short stretch of tracks that used to hold trains that'd stop to pick up Berlin Jews. Obviously, this was separated from the regular tracks that the Metro (or "meeeeeetro" as the Germans say) travel on. Along the tracks on both sides is a section of metal strip that had the date of pick-up, number of Jews, Berlin to _____. I noticed that many of them went to Theresienstadt, which where I was last February, with only exactly 100 Jews from 1941 to 1942 and parts of 1943 and 1944 (obviously the numbers declined by then). I decided to count how many deportations to Theresienstadt took place.... I only was able to count one side and honestly, after counting 60 strips of different places, it just a bit overwhelming that there wasn't just one or ten large deportations from 1941 to 1945 but over 100 from Berlin alone. Theresienstadt dominated until Auschwitz was built and then the deportations alternated between the two places. The trains also went to Riga, Warsaw, Kovno, Lodz, and a couple of other places. When all of these came together, including the counting aloud, I just felt that loss of all the Jews. I'll say that this is my place in Germany to feel that loss and connection with the Holocaust.
Afterward, we had pasta lunch with the Holocaust survivor. His story was quite interesting. He wanted to create themes as to help relate with the audience and thought he'd be able to do music until he found out that only like 5 of us were involved. So he ticked off places- Germany, China, Israel, or the US. Immediately, I asked him to tell us about China as I explained to him that I had heard many survivors due to my internship experiences at the USHMM but no one ever talked about China. Unfortunately, we had to cut it short as the restaurant was kind of small and people were coming in for lunch. So we finished up his talk on the bus later. He was about 10 when he and his family left Germany for Shanghai which required no visa in 1938. Then they went to some Russian town in very northern part of China. They stayed until 1947 in which they moved to Israel. They also lived in the US afterward because life was too hard in Israel for them to actually want to start over again. It was just not the place to be for them. So when they lived in the US, they lived in south Florida. Finally, the survivor visited Berlin in 1961 just before the Wall was built just to see how he felt about being back in Germany. The family had never really felt at home anywhere so Germany was their last option. So anyway, the survivor went and felt right at home and encouraged his family to follow him in 1963. His parents were ecstatic to be able to speak in their language and be part of their culture. That's their happy ever after-they've been living in Germany since. He still lives in Berlin and doesn't let his memories get to him. He also talked about Israel and the meaning of the War of 1967 as a heroic struggle for the Jews. It was so great to hear him talk about 1967 like that as a survivor.
When we left him, we went to the Holocaust Memorial site that we were supposed to visit yesterday . It was... very, very interesting . We didn't have the time to go "underground" to see the exhibitions. Basically, it looks like a graveyard with lots of stone blocks of different height lined up neatly in rows, taking up an entire block. The ground was uneven. As I went through the walls, (though the architect had no real purpose in his design) I felt as if I was a nervous Jew being crowded by dangers with the ground being uneven as an added effect.
I want to apologize for not posting any pictures on the Holocaust. For me, and as all others should too, it's just disrespectful to take photographs or film videos of memorial sites as it's just not enough to show respect for the murdered. These victims should be visited personally, not showed around the world through artificial means.
Then, we had 4 hours to ourselves to do whatever we wanted to. Some people wanted to sit and have coffee and others wanted to nap a bit. But with my vision, I had to get going if I wanted to see much of Berlin in daylight as I could (it gets dark by 4 PM!!!). It was 3.... So anyway, I went off on my own to walk towards the Brandenberger Tor (Gate). I was able to get up close to different buildings along the way including the Egyptian/Papyrus Museum, the Berlin Dom (Cathedral), the ice skating rink (which I might do on Saturday for a bit!), etc. Finally I got to Brandenberg Gate and just couldn't keep my eyes off it. It's really a majestic thing with that Christmas tree for an added effect in front of it. I picked up some Starbucks latte (most expensive I've ever bought in my entire life for 5.5 euros) and just stood there, sipping, while looking at the Tor. If I had a peace spot, this is it. I have a special spot in every city that I spend time in where I can just look 
and spend time alone with my thoughts. I think that the Brandenberger Gate is different for me- it's not about the Holocaust or the Jews. Its majesty and historical symbolism strike me as something that anything's possible and life can be beautiful. This was where the first part of the Berlin Wall was torn down.... All of my thoughts about the Holocaust earlier today just disappeared and I was able to relax and just enjoy being in Germany.
Then I walked back in the opposite direction, trying to head for the hotel. Of course, I saw a big, big building for the VW dealership so no surprise that I'd go in for my brother. There wasn't anything to get for him except for a 18,000 euro Polo.... too expensive for a 18th birthday present!
Tonight, the group and I went to a classical concert playing Christmas music. It was very, very nice. We all liked it and were impressed by the European style orchestra hall. It's so regal- it's better to be here than in the Lincoln Center in the US. The music was beautiful and the maestro was so graceful in his hands movements. Being jetlagged for the second time, I snoozed for a bit though I could hear the music playing through my brain (never got any REM).
Afterwards, we all went out to an Italian restaurant for late-night munchies and drinks. It was so fun!
First, we visited the Wannasee Villa where the Final Solution was implemented in January 1942. The place was renovated into a museum so there wasn't really a feeling of obvious eerie of actually being there. But when I looked out to the lake behind the house, I felt real chills as I looked behind me to see a diagram of the SS men. The historian, who guided us, gave us a lecture on the Wannasee Conference right in the same room as these men agreed on the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Then we moved to other exhibitions (it was essentially a small, focused Holocaust museum on the Nazis' plans to kill the Jews). He talked about the death and concentrations camps and the mass killings and played a couple of eyewitness testimonies. Obviously, you shouldn't surprised to konw that I wasn't at least surprised by some of the questions that other kids asked that were just a little obvious to me ("why so many camps are located in Poland? Not Germany?" or "Oh, I didn't know that there were so many Jews in Poland!") Lena asked the historian how he got started on this Holocaust thing. He said th
at he didn't hear much about it for a very long time and then just sort of dove into it and did his community service at Yad Vashem. Afterward, I asked him if he knew anyone at Yad Vashem that I had worked with- it was over 10 years ago. Oh well.Lena asked how I liked this particular museum knowing that I had experiences with Yad Vashem and USHMM. I told her that I keep an open mind when I visit different countries because their experiences were different and I'm no judge to do that. I mean, now I realize the museums in the US and Israel have their own purposes and how they want to portray themselves. For example, the USHMM is far more of a very American museum with its universal theme whereas Yad Vashem is very, very Jewish. This one was outright honest that it even included some facts and pictures I had never seen before (ex: the gorges at Babi Yar). Lena said that many of the Eastern European countries have only begun to open up their Holocaust memorials and museums and they're just very honest about it and it's just new to the public.
We went to Track 17 memorial. I think this was my most emotional moment so far with the Holocaust. There's a short stretch of tracks that used to hold trains that'd stop to pick up Berlin Jews. Obviously, this was separated from the regular tracks that the Metro (or "meeeeeetro" as the Germans say) travel on. Along the tracks on both sides is a section of metal strip that had the date of pick-up, number of Jews, Berlin to _____. I noticed that many of them went to Theresienstadt, which where I was last February, with only exactly 100 Jews from 1941 to 1942 and parts of 1943 and 1944 (obviously the numbers declined by then). I decided to count how many deportations to Theresienstadt took place.... I only was able to count one side and honestly, after counting 60 strips of different places, it just a bit overwhelming that there wasn't just one or ten large deportations from 1941 to 1945 but over 100 from Berlin alone. Theresienstadt dominated until Auschwitz was built and then the deportations alternated between the two places. The trains also went to Riga, Warsaw, Kovno, Lodz, and a couple of other places. When all of these came together, including the counting aloud, I just felt that loss of all the Jews. I'll say that this is my place in Germany to feel that loss and connection with the Holocaust.
Afterward, we had pasta lunch with the Holocaust survivor. His story was quite interesting. He wanted to create themes as to help relate with the audience and thought he'd be able to do music until he found out that only like 5 of us were involved. So he ticked off places- Germany, China, Israel, or the US. Immediately, I asked him to tell us about China as I explained to him that I had heard many survivors due to my internship experiences at the USHMM but no one ever talked about China. Unfortunately, we had to cut it short as the restaurant was kind of small and people were coming in for lunch. So we finished up his talk on the bus later. He was about 10 when he and his family left Germany for Shanghai which required no visa in 1938. Then they went to some Russian town in very northern part of China. They stayed until 1947 in which they moved to Israel. They also lived in the US afterward because life was too hard in Israel for them to actually want to start over again. It was just not the place to be for them. So when they lived in the US, they lived in south Florida. Finally, the survivor visited Berlin in 1961 just before the Wall was built just to see how he felt about being back in Germany. The family had never really felt at home anywhere so Germany was their last option. So anyway, the survivor went and felt right at home and encouraged his family to follow him in 1963. His parents were ecstatic to be able to speak in their language and be part of their culture. That's their happy ever after-they've been living in Germany since. He still lives in Berlin and doesn't let his memories get to him. He also talked about Israel and the meaning of the War of 1967 as a heroic struggle for the Jews. It was so great to hear him talk about 1967 like that as a survivor.
When we left him, we went to the Holocaust Memorial site that we were supposed to visit yesterday . It was... very, very interesting . We didn't have the time to go "underground" to see the exhibitions. Basically, it looks like a graveyard with lots of stone blocks of different height lined up neatly in rows, taking up an entire block. The ground was uneven. As I went through the walls, (though the architect had no real purpose in his design) I felt as if I was a nervous Jew being crowded by dangers with the ground being uneven as an added effect.
I want to apologize for not posting any pictures on the Holocaust. For me, and as all others should too, it's just disrespectful to take photographs or film videos of memorial sites as it's just not enough to show respect for the murdered. These victims should be visited personally, not showed around the world through artificial means.
Then, we had 4 hours to ourselves to do whatever we wanted to. Some people wanted to sit and have coffee and others wanted to nap a bit. But with my vision, I had to get going if I wanted to see much of Berlin in daylight as I could (it gets dark by 4 PM!!!). It was 3.... So anyway, I went off on my own to walk towards the Brandenberger Tor (Gate). I was able to get up close to different buildings along the way including the Egyptian/Papyrus Museum, the Berlin Dom (Cathedral), the ice skating rink (which I might do on Saturday for a bit!), etc. Finally I got to Brandenberg Gate and just couldn't keep my eyes off it. It's really a majestic thing with that Christmas tree for an added effect in front of it. I picked up some Starbucks latte (most expensive I've ever bought in my entire life for 5.5 euros) and just stood there, sipping, while looking at the Tor. If I had a peace spot, this is it. I have a special spot in every city that I spend time in where I can just look 
and spend time alone with my thoughts. I think that the Brandenberger Gate is different for me- it's not about the Holocaust or the Jews. Its majesty and historical symbolism strike me as something that anything's possible and life can be beautiful. This was where the first part of the Berlin Wall was torn down.... All of my thoughts about the Holocaust earlier today just disappeared and I was able to relax and just enjoy being in Germany.Then I walked back in the opposite direction, trying to head for the hotel. Of course, I saw a big, big building for the VW dealership so no surprise that I'd go in for my brother. There wasn't anything to get for him except for a 18,000 euro Polo.... too expensive for a 18th birthday present!
Tonight, the group and I went to a classical concert playing Christmas music. It was very, very nice. We all liked it and were impressed by the European style orchestra hall. It's so regal- it's better to be here than in the Lincoln Center in the US. The music was beautiful and the maestro was so graceful in his hands movements. Being jetlagged for the second time, I snoozed for a bit though I could hear the music playing through my brain (never got any REM).Afterwards, we all went out to an Italian restaurant for late-night munchies and drinks. It was so fun!
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