On my flight to Europe I met a woman. I don’t know her name, but she was approximately forty or so and she loved conversation. She grew up around Manchester and was visiting her family. Her parents moved to Greenwich in 2005. I told her I was going on a study tour and visiting Europe for the first time. Her excitement was obvious. She was genuinely happy that a stranger was about to experience all these new countries. Naturally, I enjoyed talking to someone so welcoming and when I told her I was going to Berlin, she was even more enthusiastic. After living in Germany for over 10 years and marrying a German banker, this place was her home. She was flying from Newark, New Jersey because she had some sort of business trip prior to seeing her family. Unfortunately, her reaction to my program was less positive. I told her that this study tour was related to WWII and before I had the chance to speak about all the different museums on our itinerary and the fascinating memorials we were visiting, she started to rant. Ranting to me, a stranger! One who was completely unprepared for a kind woman on a British Airways flight to air her frustration regarding Germany and the Second World War. I suppose that while growing up in England, she learned about the war the same way I had. Germany was the enemy. Hitler was German, as were the Nazis and the people who murdered over one million Jews at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the death camp I visited in Poland a few days ago. But then she moved to the country and fell in love. “Berlin is beautiful” she told me, “as is the rest of the country. There’s a culture that extends far beyond this war that people can’t stop talking about and how the hell can we move on if a war from seventy something years ago is still holding us back?” Bear in mind that we were three hours into the flight, it was approximately midnight in New Jersey and I was tired. I clammed up. I wasn’t ready for her outburst and it did not stop there. While impatiently waving her hands around she said, “Germany did this and that et cetera et cetera! Not every single German was guilty! My husband didn’t do anything, our friends didn’t fight anyone. How can we move on if this damn war is still hanging over our heads?” Of course, I didn’t have an answer ready. She wasn’t angry with me, rather she was frustrated with the German reputation.
Reichstag Building
After seeing Berlin, I understand what she meant by all this. The war is still visible in the city. Buildings with bullet holes are standing and functional.
The Reichstag, the building for the German parliament, has graffiti from the Russians on its walls. When the Red Army captured the city in the Battle of Berlin, the soldiers wrote their names on the walls as well as vulgar statements. The crude comments have been concealed, but the signatures are visible.
Reichstag walls with Russian graffiti
And unlike the Paris WWII museums, nothing is left out. In Paris, the Musée de l’Armée jumped from 1941 to 1944 completely passing Vichy France, a period in their past that reflects poorly on the French reputation. However, in Germany, it was all there.
Soviet War Memorial
Memorials to the Soviet Union still stand, as well as the Wannsee House, the building where Hitler possibly gave the order for the Final Solution to exterminate all Jewish people. It now functions as a museum which I had the privilege to walk through.
View of the lake from the Wannsee house
The scars from the war are still visible in Germany. WWII is part of their identity now. Anti-Semitism still exists, as does a small Nazi party. In the British schools that this woman attended, Germany will always be their enemy in WWI and WWII. These things are hard to forget.
Fortunately, I was able to walk through the city and gain a new perspective. Berlin is beautiful.
Berlin Cathedral
I sat in front of their cathedral at night and walked by Brandenburg Tor during the day. The bratwurst is delicious as was the Prater Garden we went to as a group.
Friends enjoying a meal at the Prater Garden
Personally, I don’t think the world will be able to let go of what happened in WWII. At least not while there are still people alive who endured it. My grandmother lived in the Philippines and she was there when her father, a doctor, was taken from her home and forced to work for the Axis Powers. She never saw him again. While these people remember the war, Germany will not be able to completely move past it.
Perhaps this is necessary. If we forget the past, it will repeat itself. That is why museums exist and buildings are preserved. However, it is unfair for innocent people to suffer due to the actions of someone else decades ago. I wish I could speak one more time to the woman I met on the plane. After spending time in Berlin, I believe we could have a more in depth conversation and hopefully, I would be more coherent rather than groggy halfway through a seven-hour flight. Overall, I really enjoyed the city. I feel as though I gained a whole new perspective on WWII and the German identity after seeing it.