Today was depressing museum day. We started at the Checkpoint Charlie museum at a former checkpoint on the Berlin Wall. I found it a bit ironic that we came from the east side and crossed the wall to get to the museum. The building is an old house and was completely packed. I found it lacking at first but realized later that the museum had actually been in that house since the 70s. There were a lot of exhibits telling people what escape help methods could be employed and which ones the East Germans already knew about. A bunch of objects used to assist in escape were on display– even an ultralight aircraft! There was also a memorial for the people who were killed crossing the wall.
That took about an hour and a half and then we walked to the Topography of Terror museum. Housed in a new building basically on the site of the Nazi police headquarters, this museum focuses on the SS and the Gestapo – their rise to power, the acts that they committed, and then their end. It was probably the strongest exhibit I’ve seen about the Nazi atrocities I’ve seen here (outside the museum at Dachau).
Following that exhibit we walked to a big semi-outdoor mall called the Sony Center on the Potsdamer Platz and ate lunch at a German restaurant. I had a salad, though. Not very German of me.
Lunch took a bit and then we went on to a museum about the Germans who resisted the Nazis – it’s focused on the 1944 plot on Hitler’s life and actually is in the building (and room) where it happened. The museum had some very interesting documents and such but we didn’t have too much time there to explore. Outside in the courtyard several of the conspirators were executed by firing squad the night after the plot.
Depressing day ended back at the hotel where we prepared for dinner. Five of us decided on Italian and took the S-Bahn to the Fredrichstraβe station where I ate a tasty pizza.
Later that night I had a fun time wandering the streets of Berlin. One of my group members didn’t make it on the streetcar so the rest of the group went to the Hotel and I ran back a stop to get her. We got on the next train, but that one took some kind of alternate route and the map at the station we stopped at was incorrect!
After fumbling around East Berlin we found a street that I recognized and took it back to the hotel. It was raining, too…
2 comments:
My family and I went to Checkpoint Charlie at night, and it was one of the most memorable/eerie sites. If you can you should try going there at night when all the spotlights are on.
Grandpa Robert took a picture of Checkpoint Charlie and the wall when it was in use -- a striking image of a million signs says "do not take any photographs". I suppose the photo is in Uncle Mike's basement somewhere.
I'm glad to hear you went back to find your missing classmate. "A Scout is kind. . .A Scout is couertous..." Sounds like great adventures.
Aunt Amy
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