During our time in Berlin, it was interesting to see how the Germans present the facts from World War II. As I have seen traveling to England, France, and Poland, every country attempts to portray themselves in the best possible way. I thought the Germans would be exempt from this as there is nothing to celebrate. Yet, they were still able to focus on aspects of their past that glorify members of the small German resistance.
We visited a memorial to Claus von Stauffenberg, a man famous for an attempt to assassinate Hitler. Connor Mason presented his site report here and told us about the plot. The plan was to kill Hitler using a briefcase bomb placed near his feet. Stauffenberg would be the one to place it as close to Hitler as possible then leave to Berlin. There, other members of this resistance group would take over the government. This plan was not successful as the bomb was moved too far away from Hitler. Stauffenberg and many others were executed for their actions in the same place Connor was giving his speech. It is important to note that even though this story is popular, wide scale German resistance was virtually nonexistent. While it is good to remember those who fought back against the Nazis, these groups were an extremely small minority. It was interesting seeing what we have been learning about for so long from the German perspective.
Memorial to Stauffenberg and others. He was executed on this wall.
We also visited the Holocaust memorial in front of the American Embassy. It was a truly unique memorial. It consisted of gray rectangular stones set upon an uneven, wavy surface. The way that they are arranged form long halls. It is easy to get turned around within it. Its effect is interesting. You can be walking and suddenly someone will just appear right next to you, forcing you to confront them face to face. I think this is what the desired effect was from the architect, for people to directly confront their past. I really liked this memorial as it was completely unique compared to memorials we had seen previously.
Holocaust Memorial.
We toured the Soviet Memorial in Treptower Park as well during our time in Germany. This massive memorial was dedicated to the Soviet troops that had died during the war. In the center, a large Soviet soldier is crushing a Swastika with a sword. Leading up to this monument are quotes by Joseph Stalin. Typical of a Communist cemetery, there are no individual graves. One large mass grave is located at the base of the large statue. It was interesting to see a monument to the Soviets after they had occupied the city under oppressive rule for so long. The memorial obviously left out the horrific actions of the Soviet troops on the citizens of Berlin. It appears to celebrate the bravery and strength of the Red Army while leaving out the horrible things that they did to the people of Berlin.
Soviet Memorial. The man is crushing a Swastika with a sword.
Our stop in Wannsee was especially interesting as it allowed me to see how the Germans remember the planning of the Holocaust. There are two sides to the debate about the planning and execution of the Holocaust. They are the functionalist approach and the intentionalist approach. The functionalist approach asserts that there was never an initial plan to annihilate European Jews, but that the Holocaust came about as a result of a wide range of small decisions made by countless Germans. Intentionalists assert that it was Hitler himself who ordered the destruction and mass killing, and that was his plan all along. The museum at the Wannsee house was very much intentionalist. I think the reason for this is again the idea that countries attempt to portray themselves as positively as possible. When taking an intentionalist view, as the Germans do at this museum, they are able to pin all the blame on a few people. This completely disregards the amount of cooperation and collaboration of thousands of other Germans. While the Germans are very open about their past, they still succumb to attempting to portray themselves in the best possible way just as every other country does.
The Wannsee House.