Germany 2014 – Berlin day 4 – Topography of Terror; a mind-clearing bikeride; then the Holocaust Museum

There’s no good way to learn about the true horror of Germany’s Nazi past without diving right in. A word about Berlin; it’s a tip of the hat to the city for confronting it’s history (warts and all) without sugarcoating.
There’s exhibits of culture, beauty and joy. But intermingled everywhere there’s recognition of the sheer inhumanity of Nazi rule and despotism. That sort of honest reflection is refreshing.

Our first step at the SS/Gestapo building at the Topography of Terror left me feeling dead inside. I didn’t think I could stomach or handle another bout of ugliness quite so quickly so we elected to go for a 15km pedal. We biked a circuitous route covering the western part of the Berlin Wall by bike route that we had missed out on via Bernauerstrasse which then put us on the easy route l through Prenzlauer Berg, then Treptow, then into NeuKolln, then Tempelhof/Kreuzberg. It was an emotionally refreshing joy to mindlessly meander through such a friendly city for biking.

After clearing the cobwebs we then headed over to the Holocaust Museum and it was a good thing that we still had gas in the emotional tank as that too was a gut punch. These aren’t things one forgets in a hurry.


 

At the Topography of Terror Museum – ie former SS/SD/Gestapo HQ. This was when the Police and SS/SD were still separate. But they had the same taste in dogs.

Boy they sure knew how to get the crowds going in 1933 Berlin. The displays were exceptional in explaining how Goebbels and Nazi propoganda were so good in harnessing public opinion and nationalism together into Nazi fever

Just a good old fashioned Ministry of Genocide Christmas photo at SS Gestapo HQ. On the right side – someone from the Ministry measuring a Romany to establish quantitative criteria for classification into death by (i) gas; (ii) gunshot; (iii) forced labour; or (iv) other

Pass a law saying that it’s OK to kill a few people as long as its “protective custody” and then carry out the protective custody orders

These mad pigs got theirs. Too bad some of this filth managed to escape to live.

Himmler and Heydrich get 1943 Time covers

After this we couldn’t stomach seeing anything too heavy so for some relatively more light hearted we biked along the Berlin Wall

This is the part of the Wall near Norbahnhof. That station was shut down because half of it was in the East and half in the west. In the background is a building which was actually part of the wall.

Instead of death it’s just the pain of family, friends and lovers torn apart by a wall

Mothers and fathers never got to see their kids get married

Before the BernauerStrasse buildings got torn down people jumped from the flats (in the East) to the street (in the West)

Rode through Prenzlauer along DanzigerStrasse. The streets are wide and the bike lanes wider. This delivery truck parked on the street leaving the bike lane clear for us!

What I love about Berlin. In the middle of Prenzlauer in Arnswalder Platz there’s this huge fertility statue fountain with huge red bulls built in the Weimar for no reason i can see whatsoever

Warschauer Straße is another cool street. It’s got a cool vibe that’s a bit gritty and industrial.

And Warschauer Straße has the DildoKing!

From the Warschauer Straße/Frederickshain district we cross over to the heart of Sovbloc Berlin to see the Soviet war memorial at Treptower Park 

The Soviet War Memorial

Classic Soviet architecture built so appropriately out of the marble and stone kept for the new Reichs Chancellary building that never saw the light of day. 

More about the Memorial which was built on the site of an old playing field and which is now the site for a vast cemetary

Soviet soldiers honouring fallen comrades

Huge stone sarcophagi – 16 – 1 for each Soviet republic

Classic soviet architecture and style. Note the tank

Multitasking soldier rescues kinder and crushes the Swastika. Moral of the story – don’t attack Russia

Interior of the memorial

We then biked over to Tempelhof to see some classic Nazi architecture and then back to the hotel to complete a 15km loop

Tempelhof Enduro

After a quick chill at the hotel I felt I was emotionally composed enough to deal with the Holocaust Museum. Wrong. This from a 12 year old girl to her father as she was being sent to a camp is pretty much devastating

Dear father! I am saying goodbye to you before I die. We would so love to live, but they won’t let us, and we will die. I am so scared of this death, because the small children are thrown alive into the pit. Goodbye forever. I kiss you tenderly.

Your J. [twelve year old Judith Wischnjatskaja]

There’s phone recordings from survivors: Recording 1

Male survivor from Babi Yar massacre

 “I was among other prisoners who were forced to dig. They never told us what we were digging for, but we all knew it. It was our own graves. Standing in a row facing the hole, we were told to strip. Without warning, I suddenly heard the sounds of open fire from behind us. The soldiers were starting to execute us. After being shot from the back, everyone fell into the hole they just dug. I realised I had not been shot. In panic and fear, I didn’t know what to do then. I decided to jump in too. I landed on the bodies of my fellow prisoners, and then more bodies came piling up on top of me. I laid quietly, for a long time, pretended to be dead. For a long, long time, the soldiers were hovering over our pile of bodies, once a while I still heard random shots being fired, soldiers making sure all the prisoners were dead. I waited some more. Didn’t dare to move even though the blood and the terrible stench of death were suffocating me. Then, later at night, I heard the sound of footsteps again. The soldiers were back! I felt earth hitting on my face and body now. They were burying the dead. I let them do it. I was buried alive. After awhile, I couldn’t take it anymore, and I did not hear any sounds anymore. The soldiers have left us finally. So I dug my way up the earth and back to life, grateful for the fresh air that greeted me once I surfaced. When I appeared above the earth, I heard similar struggling and earth moving sounds coming from other parts of the mass grave. There were other survivors too, who were buried alive, just like me. It was the most eerie sound.” 

 

Survivor of Auschwitz

“I was on the long train journey with my elderly mother and my 12-year-old son. When we reached our destination, we were met by a man. He was smartly dressed in an official uniform and seems to speak to us in a gentle manner. I said, “Please spare my old mother, she is sick and unfit for work.” He said, “Fine, so your mother will be sent home later.” I was relieved to hear it, and I believed this kind man. Then he looked at my son and said “This boy looks strong, he must surely be above 12 years old?” Fearing that my son will be made to work, I lied to protect him: “No, my son is not 12 years old yet.” “Very well” he said, “so we shall put him together with your mother and be sent home together on the next train.” I was so happy and relieved to hear this! The next day, I found out that the man I had spoken to on the previous day was actually the senior SS official who was in charge of “categorising” prisoners. And all those who were not selected for slave labour, were already shot to death, including my mother and son. I was horrified and shocked beyond words! What a terrible mistake I did! I have been so wrong! I thought that I have spared my old mother and my young son from hard work. But what I have actually done was condemned them to their immediate deaths. It almost drove me insane. The nightmares never stop haunting me up till today.”  

We then went to Potsdam Platz to have Burgers and beer at a place where we would surely have been shot 25 years ago. And 70 years ago for marrying me Sharon would have had her hair shaved and been shot. I too would have been executed

Mmmm food was good

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