Friday December 5th, 9 AM :: Neue Wache :: Description
The Neue Wache is the placeof war and tyranny.
We honor the memory
of the peoples who suffered through war.
We remember their citizens who were persecuted
and who lost their lives.
We remember those killed in action in the World Wars.
We remember the innocent who lost their lives as
a result of war in their homeland, in captivity
and through expulsion.
We remember the millions of Jews who were murdered.
We remember the Sinti and Roma who were murdered.
We remember all those who were killed because of their
origin, homosexuality, sickness or infirmity.
We remember all who were murdered
whose right to life was denied.
We remember the people who had to die
because of their religious or political convictions.
We remember all those who were victims of tyranny
and met their death, though innocent.
We remember the women and men
who sacrificed their lives in resistance to despotic rule.
We honour all who preferred to die rather
than act against their conscience.
We honour the memory of the women and men
who were persecuted and murdered
because they resisted totalitarian dictatorship
after 1945.
Friday December 5th, 3 PM :: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Journal (My guidebook said something about how the designer of the memorial wanted the memorial to convey a sense of hope.)
Well, I don’t know about hope but it definitely does its job at conveying despair. You see it from afar and it doesn’t look too bad. Start walking in… it grows, grows… envelops you entirely, rising over over over your head. You feel completely alone. But one step and you see someone else a few stones down. Another step, you’re alone again. Even the stones cry. Maybe the hope comes from rising out of the gloom? Walk toward one of the edges and suddenly the ground begins to rise, the stones begin to shrink in height. Sure, the path there dips and rises, dips and rises, but you’re moving into the open. And there’s the hope. I see now.
Sunday December 7th :: Sachsenhousen Memorial and Museum (Former concentration camp of the Nazis. Also used by the Soviets for similar purposes following the war.)
:: Excerpt from a report by Harry Naujoks, Aug 1945
“When I went across the assembly yard at around 15:00, a large group of SS leaders were there to sort the people (�) One young Jew (�) saw his father in the group. He ran up to the group and weepingly embraced his father, who calmed him and said: “What’s wrong my boy? I’m going on the transport. (�) I’ll do some easy work and will get through. You can have my bread and my portion of everything. We are getting good travel rations so I won’t need my bread. (�) But I’ve forgotten my glasses in the block. Would you get them for me?” The boy ran off. When he returned, it was all over.”
:: Barrack 38 — Jewish Prisoners in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp 1936 – 1945 :: Journal
(Part of the exhibit were bios of prisoners… who they were, where they came from, what they ended up doing, and so on.)
At first these brief bios seemed a bit dull.. By the end, they feel hopeful to me�people did go on to lead normal (fairly normal?) lives� these camps were the end for many and those who did survive are undoubtedly scarred, but� life goes on� time moves on� the world moves on�
:: The Prison Within The Concentration Camp 1936 – 1945 :: Story of prisoner Martin Niem�ller
I said nothing, for I was not a Communist.
When they locked up the Social Democrats,
I said nothing, for I was not a Social Democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I said nothing, for I was not a trade unionist.
And then they came for me,
and there was no one left to protest.“
– Martin Niem�ller
::“Station Z” — Murder and Mass Murder in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp 1936 – 1945 :: Journal
(A prisoner would be taken into a room for “medical examination” but the “doctor” was really checking for valuables like gold fillings. The prisoner would stand against a wall to get his height measured not knowing that there’s a slit in the measuring device and the wall through which he’s about to be murdered.)
Struck by how someone — a HUMAN BEING — could just sit there and then SHOOT another human being THROUGH A FREAKING SLIT in the wall — and the murdered one dies thinking he’s receiving a medical exam. It’s revolting. Maybe the anonymity of the victim is what makes the difference. You shot at something blocking the slit. All you see is a sliver of their body. Not an eye, nose, mouth, FACE, anything to empathize with. Just a slit. I’m comparing this to gas chambers where I imagine that the sheer number of people crammed in about to die makes the difference. It depersonalizes. It’s a mass. Not humans. Just a mass. And you can’t do that really when it’s just a single person whom another single person is killing from a close range.
::Barrack 39 :: The “Everyday Life” of Prisoners in Sachsenhausen 1936 – 1945
“For many, the founding of a new family became the first priority. They longed for security, for support and intimacy — all they had been without for so long.“
::Barrack 39 :: The “Everyday Life” of Prisoners in Sachsenhausen 1936 – 1945 :: “The Prisoner Community“
“The aim of the internal hierarchy, based on racial and biological notions, was to prevent mutual support.“
“In order to survive in this huge, almost continually changing and growing crowd, many prisoners kept strictly to themselves. The daily struggle to assert oneself under a regime of starvation and terror deadened the ability to react to the fate of others. A further consequence of this internal and external isolation was to try and secure one’s own survival at the cost of others.“
:: Journal
I’d start with the security idea. We want security. One way to do that is find our place in various groups whether that’s by identifying with race, religion, a nation, etc… It’s dangerous if you start viewing those outside as a collective group whose interests compete against yours or who are a threat to your security. Why are we so concerned with security? I’m reading a book by Eve Ensler called Insecure At Last: A Political Memoir. It’s quite timely considering this whole needing security thing has been very real to me when visiting all these places and traveling around by myself.
Monday December 8th :: Jewish Museum in Berlin
::Holocaust Tower :: Description
“It is unheated and lit only by natural light falling through a diagonal opening [very high up] in the wall. Sound can be heard from outside.“
::Holocaust Tower :: Journal, 3PM
One could easily go crazy in there. I went in along with a bunch of kids with audioguides. Electronic devices dimly lighting their faces, far away crackle of the audioguide. It’s not so bad in there. They leave as two other guys enter. It’s only momentarily silent� but I got a feel of the spatial void. Walk slowly to the opposite end of the room where the walls come to a completely dark point… Turn around, the other two guys are gone. I’m alone in there. It’s cold. It’s quiet. It’s dark. The light is only dim and entirely unreachable. How on earth would anyone survive solitary confinement in the dark for more than a few minutes? it was scary — the isolation, the dark… That was quite a psychological space.
:: Memory and Responsibility :: Video — Benjamin Ferencz remembers (prosecuted leaders of SS killing trials)
“What do you ask for 6 million dead? How do you measure fear? You can’t measure fear. And that was the most important injury inflicted on the victims. There was no measuring that.“
:: Memory and Responsibility :: Video — Street interviews, 1959
“Q: Did you know that Jews were being killed?
A: Of course.“
“Q: Should we keep on discussing it or forget about it?
A: We should have the courage to forget it.”
:: Memory Void :: Wall Text
The architect Daneil Libeskind created empty spaces in several parts of the building. These so-called voids extend vertically through the entire museum and represent the absence of Jews from German society. The Memory Void contains a work by the Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman, who calls his installation “Shalekhet,” or “Fallen Leaves.” He has dedicated the over 10,000 faces covering the floor to all innocent victims of war and violence.
:: Guestbook entry at the end of the museum
It’s about the personal stories. Reduce someone to a statistic or stereotype and committing atrocities against them becomes easier. Empathize. It should never be us versus them.
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