Berlin: Little Time in a Big City

With only one day to experience such a city, we had to focus our energies.

The Topography of Terror exhibit and the Berlin Wall were amazing experiences. I learned more from the exhibit than I did in any history class, and the Wall gave me shivers that I can't seem to forget.

Quick Tips:

Berlin has such a rich history—take advantage of the opportunity to learn! The German History Museum is fantastic, as are Checkpoint Charlie and the Topography of Terror exhibits.

If you visit at Christmas time, don't miss the big Christmas markets! It's a great place to pick up some presents or eat some great food. The smells alone are excuse enough for a visit.

The train station, the Hauptbahnhof, is huge. If you're buying tickets in advance, you might find a shorter wait in line at the Ostbahnhof, and you can still get your tickets for trains leaving from any station.

I'm told Berlin nightlife is great. I was too tired to go out, but my travel buddies found a place called The Matrix, and though their evening out was shrouded in secrecy for reasons I don't try to guess, they seemed to have a great time at this bar—which has a pool.

Best Way To Get Around:

Public transport. It's excellent in Berlin, and a good thing—the city is huge. We didn't take my own advice; we actually walked all over the city. It's a great way to see things, and we walked quickly so still found time to do the things we most wanted to do, but we could have done more if we had just hopped on a bus.

It was so cold the one day we were in Berlin, so we were just happy to see a place where we could go inside and stay warm for a few minutes. But Badaro turned out to be a satisfactory choice.

It was quiet at noon, so we had prompt and friendly service. The menu was long and in German, which I do not mind but it caused my brother, who was with me on his first trip to Europe, some hesitations. The pizza starts at 3 euro and it was quite good— some of the better restaurant pizza I have had. (In competition with Pizza Hut, which is and always has been my gold standard for pizza.)

Our friend Joel had the currywurst, which he seemed to enjoy.

The menu also includes paella and some Mexican dishes, as well as appetizers such as snails. We asked for water and were served big glasses of it.

Unfortunately, it was not so warm in there after all. I had to keep my coat on and was still cold after about 10 minutes.

It is nothing special, but if you are hungry and in the area, there is no reason not to go to Badaro.

I don't know what I expected.

I guess I have seen pictures before. I guess it looked about like I thought it would.

Though most of it has been torn down, there still stands about two blocks worth of the Berlin Wall.

We walked the length of it. This symbol of war and hate and division. This thing that, in my mind, has always been almost mythical, because how could people in the modern world actually believe it acceptable to imprison a group of people behind a wall? Not mythical. Real. I was looking at it.

I tried to imagine what it would have felt like if I couldn't have just walked around the thing to check out the other side of it. I couldn't do it. I couldn't place myself in a world like that—a world where people so wanted to be on the other side that they were willing to risk death to attempt to find that greener grass.

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest person in the world. Looking at what is left of the Berlin Wall, I realize, again, that I am.

The first thing you notice is its size. The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, erected only a few years ago, takes up an enormous chunk of space. It consists of stone slabs on uneven ground, each one of a different size, dividing the walking space into a grid.

On the edges, you can see across the entire thing, but as you walk through it the stones quickly swallow you up. The ground level varies quite a bit, so even though it looks like the slabs in the middle are only a little taller than the ones on the edges, they actually end up towering above your head by the time you get to the middle.

This is the most moving, easily understandable memorial I have ever seen. It is as if you don't realize what you are getting into. You start walking and before you know what has happened, you are in over your head. You realize that you haven't walked very far, that the way out can't be far behind, but you somehow can't help but keep walking to look for another way out. It seems an apt parallel for the Holocaust and the war.

This memorial is so special to me because it is something you can really feel and experience. It is not just a statue with a commemorative plaque. It is a lesson.

This is the best thing we did in Berlin. It was freezing outside, but I held my coffee close to my body, breathed into my scarf, and managed to forget about it as I read about the Nuremburg trials.

The exhibit is displayed on the location that was once the headquarters of the Gestapo and SS. You start reading on one side of the wall and continue down the line. The trials are recounted in striking detail. There are even excerpts of dialogue—and sound bites—from the trials, as well as information about those accused, the lawyers who defended them, and the lawyers who prosecuted them.

The men all had different accusations against them, but basically they were all accused of war crimes and/or crimes against humanity. At the end of the trials, some of them gave statements that showed remorse—perhaps that they realized they had made a mistake and it was something they had to live with—but most said that even now they know they were doing the right thing.

Another thing that really struck me was the pictures of the defense lawyers. There was one photo of all of them together, smiling and laughing—on a break from working on defending the actions of men who helped execute the plans to exterminate the Jewish people. Someone had to defend them, of course, but I can't imagine being one of them. I guess it takes quite a lawyer to defend something like that—unless they actually believed in the men they were defending. That is too much for me to even consider.

There are quotes from even the interpreters who worked at the trials; one woman commented on how privileged she felt to be a part of an event such as that.

Most of the convicted were sentenced to death. Some committed suicide before the sentence was carried out.

Down the stairs on the other wall is another display, focusing more generally on the war. We skirted through the photos, and I paused, near frozen in place, in front of one in particular. It was of some Nazi soldiers murdering some people. The victims were on their knees and the Nazis were behind them, about to shoot them in the backs of their heads. The soldier closest to the camera was smiling. I sicken even now in typing about it for you.

It is one thing to see a movie where something like that happens. It is another to see an actual moment frozen in time. That Nazi guard existed. He smiled as he killed that innocent man. The proof of that was in front of me.

Heartbreaking though it all is, I would visit that exhibit again and again. There is so much there to learn—so much that must be learned.

Topography of Terror
Open daily
Admission: Free

I will admit, I didn't really know what I would see when I went to Checkpoint Charlie. I just knew it was a good opportunity to feel a little bit of history. And that I did.

There is so much information on the walls along the sidewalk. I even managed to forget about the cold for a while as I was reading. It gives a history, complete with photographs, through the war and leading up to the Berlin Wall's construction and eventual collapse.

The concept of the Wall, like much of the second world war, boggles my mind. How could it seem right to fence people in, even just a mere 18 years ago?

One moment that gave me pause was a picture of the world's leaders. Three men sat there, smiling, each representing a country. It can be boiled down to that. Huge countries, warring countries, angry countries are represented, in the end, by men. Human beings. And those human beings are the ones that direct the war and the anger that we end up attributing to a nation and, in doing so, make it so less personal and relatable. Seeing those men in that picture...well, they are just not so different from me. The weight on their shoulders—I cannot imagine.

It was a chilling experience to cross that line from east to west. It is so simple, but just a few years ago it was not.

If you are in Berlin, you owe it to yourself to visit Checkpoint Charlie as well as what remains of the Berlin Wall. Learn as much as you can about all of it. We must not let it happen again.

Talk about a lesson on Germany. There was so much information, and we only had a couple of hours to take it all in before closing time.

There are many objects relating to Germany from the very beginning. We started with the early 1900s, sort of because that's just where we ended up. It is not the most easily navigated museum. Then we worked our way back to the beginning of German time.

Captions are all in German and English. There is plenty to read. Everything is well explained. If you are a slow reader, you will want to schedule a lot more time for this museum. I found it difficult to pass anything up. I was pressed for time and trying to rush through, but every caption I saw, I had to stop and read for fear I would miss something fascinating or important to whatever caption I would read next. The artifacts are fine, but the really interesting materials are the written explanations.

We made jokes about being unable to find the exhibit concerning the years of World War II, but then we managed to locate it. And they didn't gloss over anything. We read about all facets of the war and the years following. It is a dark part of Germany's history, but it is still a part and must be presented.

I was overwhelmingly impressed by this museum. It was my travel partners' choice, as I usually opt for art museums over history museums, but I am glad I let them make the decision on which museum to visit. I have German ancestors, but never before have I been able to learn so much about their—and therefore my—history at one time.

Make sure you have a lot of time, then treat yourself to one of the best German history lessons you will ever get.

German Historical Museum
10am-6pm
Admission: 4 euro (students)