We started the trip off with a long bus ride to Berlin from Krakow, and almost immediately went to visit the Bundestag. The actual building, the Reichstag, was last renovated in 1999, and I thought it was so cool that the architect, Norman Foster, decided to preserve the Soviet Union graffiti and bullet holes throughout the entire building; this added a lot of character to the building and was a nice tribute to the building’s history.

I also found it absolutely ingenious that the chambers were reconstructed every 4 years to match the number of delegates per number of seats in each party. The iconic dome on top also offered a nice 360 degree view of the city. I really enjoyed our tour of the Bundestag because I had known absolutely nothing about it, and it was a great way to get introduced to Berlin. While in Germany, we also visited the Cathedral, river walk, Museum of Terror and the German Historical Museum. A large group of us also ventured out to Prater Gärten, the oldest biergärten in Berlin. The atmosphere was very relaxed and calm, and I really enjoyed just spending time with the group underneath strings of lights, munching on hot pretzels, corn on the cob, and schnitzel.

As we visited each museum and exhibit, I was impressed that Germany made almost no excuses for their behavior during WW II. The nation owned up to their actions, both of the proactively violent SS soldiers and gestapos, and of the German citizens, who acted as bystanders and allowed the atrocities around them to exist with little resistance. Having just come from Auschwitz, I was nervous that the Germans would try to downplay the Holocaust and pin the blame on just Hitler, but the museums told the truth and didn’t sugarcoat or gloss over their unforgivable behavior.

On our last full day, we traveled to Potsdam and visited the Wannsee House, where the Wannsee Conference took place. The property itself was beautiful, and the surrounding lake and greenery were picturesque; it seemed like the perfect place to have a picnic. The house itself was also preserved nicely, and I could tell that it was an impressive building in its day. This beauty provided a stark contrast to the menacing and dark decisions that were made within the home’s walls. Just imagining that Hitler had walked in the same rooms as I was now strolling through, bringing even the most minute details of the Final Solution to fruition was very eerie, and in the end, took away from a lot of the charm the house would have otherwise had.

Our last meal and night out were very bittersweet. Every country we traveled to brought the group closer and closer, so by the time we made it to Berlin, we had become a family. I don’t think anyone was prepared for how well the group dynamic would work, or how much fun we would all have just playing cards or sitting around talking. There was never a dull moment and I could always count on someone to call out a funny inside joke on the bus or send a hilarious meme into the group message. Not only did I learn far more about World War II than I thought possible, but as I got to know everyone more and more, I realized that I was so lucky to be in the same group as so many talented, intelligent, and high achieving people. I know that the friendships I made on this trip will last as long as the memories, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have been a part of this experience.

Upon arriving in Berlin, my perspective on World War II had certainly evolved since the morning that I disembarked from my plane in Heathrow Airport. Seeing so many landmarks face to face, like Auschwitz-Birkenau and the beaches at Normandy, gave me a more nuanced and fully realized interpretation of the events of the war. I knew that being in Berlin and learning about that period through the eyes of a country that had rebuilt itself after committing unspeakable atrocities and coming out on the losing side would be informative in a completely different way.

Some of the Soviet graffiti

Berlin does not shy away from its history, and that could not have been more evident than at the Reichstag, which is the seat of the German Parliament. The history of the Reichstag is closely intertwined with the history of World War II. It was a fire in that building, started by a young communist, that gave Hitler the opportunity to assume total power. Although the Nazi government was never conducted from the Reichstag, it remained so symbolic of German power that the Soviets made a point to seize it when they marched on Berlin, scrawling graffiti all over its walls. Some of this graffiti remains at the Reichstag today. Our tour guide explained this as a conscious decision to acknowledge every aspect of the building’s past. It was fascinating to look at the individual names and symbols written on the walls and wonder what state of mind those men must have been in after surviving the hellish Eastern Front and finally taking part in the fall of Berlin.

Hitler’s box

Another interesting way the Reichstag acknowledged the Nazi Party was an art piece that listed the names of every democratically elected German official on individual boxes, stacking them together to symbolize the foundation of the German state. Controversially, the artist chose to include NSDAP members who had been democratically elected. Certain boxes looked like they had been punched or kicked in, and Hitler’s box had to be reinforced with concrete to prevent further damage. I do feel as though including the Nazis in the piece was the right choice, as it serves to recognize that they were initially democratically elected by the German people.

The Soviet War Memorial

The Soviet presence still is heavily felt in Berlin, whether through the prevalence of Soviet Bloc-style architecture on the Eastern side or the multiple Soviet memorials scattered throughout the city. The most impressive and imposing one was at Treptower Park and featured a gigantic statue of a heroic Russian man holding a child in his arms while crushing a swastika beneath his feet. It also featured a series of smaller concrete blocks that depicted scenes of not only the Red Army but also women and children. This seemed to convey that the Russians remember the devastation of the war as having impacted every single civilian.

Our visit to the German Historical Museum made it clear that the Germans want no part in covering up the darker parts of their country’s history. Here, as opposed to certain French and Polish museums that deemphasized the collaboration of their own citizens, every aspect of Hitler’s rise to power was covered in detail. It paid specific attention to the conditions in Germany during the 1920’s that allowed the Nazi Party to become successful. Their country experienced a similar economic boom to the one in the United States, and Germany refers to their period of prosperity as the “Golden Twenties”. The 1929 stock market crash impacted the German people even more harshly than it did the Americans due to their country’s lingering debts from World War I. The widespread poverty and resentment brought forth a political climate that was rife to absorb Hitler’s rhetoric.

Although my blog entries focus mostly on the educational and historical aspects of the study tour, my time in Europe has meant so much more than that. I am endlessly appreciative of the opportunity it has given me to see so many uniquely beautiful cities. Most importantly, however, I could not be more grateful that I could share this experience with 22 of the best people I’ve ever met. I am also especially thankful to Dr. Steigerwald and Lauren for being such great travelers and teachers and making this trip the amazing experience that it was! I know I will never forget the memories contained in these past few weeks!

Group picture at Prater Garten!

Au Revoir / Do Widzenia / Auf Wiedersehen / Goodbye!

Instead of an Airbus A300, I’m currently on a Boeing 767 and am directly south of Greenland. My knees are smashed into the seat in front of me, and my trip has come to an end. I also was able to visit Prague. I’m still thinking about my experience there, so I write about our time in Berlin, Germany. Berlin is the capital of the country, and its fall to the Soviets brought about the end of the war in Europe in 1945.

Upon coming off our well heated bus that left from Krakow, we sprinted to the Bundestag building. The Bundestag is currently where Germany’s parliament meets, and has had many uses throughout history. It was torched in 1933, and that incident led the Nazi party scapegoat the communists as the perpetrators, leading to the banning of their party. During the war it was rarely used. One of the most famous pictures of the war came from the Soviets raising a flag over the taken building. There are still pillars and portions of the building that are decorated by original Soviet graffiti. One art exhibit in the basement had post card sized boxes with every member of the Parliament democratically elected from the 1910s to the 1990s. Some boxes are noted with a tag reading, “Opfer des nationalsozialismus” along with a date. These dates correspond to that member’s death at the hands of the Nazis. Out of the thousands of members, one could find names like Hitler, Himmler, and less infamously, Angela Merkel. Boxes belonging to Hitler and Merkel have had to be filled with concrete to prevent vandalism (Hitler’s box is low to the floor, so it typically receives a swift kick to the tin). We then went to the roof and the top of the reconstructed dome and caught some beautiful views.

After this, we navigated back past the Brandenburg Gate and took a metro to Potsdamer Platz the center of the city, or so. Through the middle of the plaza runs a brick line marking where the Berlin Wall stood. That night we ate a place that served one liter steins of beer, so I have no complaints.

The next day we went through two museums, the German Historical Museum and the Topography of Terror museum. The Historical Museum was split in half, with one half discussing about Germany from World War I to present day. It covered the political discord in Germany before World War Two and had many artifacts. The Topography of Terror museum was very intriguing, sitting at the site of the one time Gestapo Headquarters, there are excavated portions of jail/torture cells used during the Nazi regime. One part that was especially interesting was the bastardization of protective custody. In Nazi Germany, the term did not mean you were being sheltered from possible violence, but that you were being taken in to protect the state and masses. This type of custody sent many people who did very little into Gestapo custody, and typically into a concentration camp.

The next day consisted of a trip to St. Mathias Church, the Benderbloc/German Resistence Museum, one Soviet Monument, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the now car park that was once the site of the Fuhrerbunker. At St. Mathias, we learned from my trip roommate Chris Herrel about Friedrich Bonhoeffer’s resistance in the war via the church. The Benderbloc was the office space of the Home Armies in WWII, and much of the July 20th Plot fallout took place there, such as the execution of Claus von Stauffenberg. The museum at the site dedicates itself to people from those involved in that plot to German youths who listened to swing music. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was also a thought-provoking sight, with stone blocks of varying sizes laid over uneven ground.

My favorite moment of the day does not come from any of the things we did as a full group though. Once we finished, a few friends and I decided to stop at the ice cream shop near the hotel, where you could buy a kugel (scoop) for a euro. When we were nearly finished, a motorcycle pulled up on the sidewalk, and the man riding it dismounted and began talking to us. We didn’t catch his name, but he was certainly a proud Berliner. He told us about the office he works at having a facade that is pockmarked by bullets, and detailed defenses of the Berlin Wall that are typically forgotten about now. The Berliner was fourteen years old when the Wall fell, and had many stories of it. Talking to him about his city and seeing how proud he was of it may have been one of my favorite parts of Berlin.

We saw a few more things after this, like the massive Soviet Memorial in Treptower Park, and the Wannsee House, where some details of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question was planned out. My favorite part came at our group dinner on the last night. This was the same restaurant from the first night of the trip, and having everyone together celebrating the trip was incredible. For me, it ended a journey that began in Fall Semester of my second year on campus. During a study abroad expo, I met David Steigerwald and learned about the program, but avoided going due to cold feet and a lot of indecision in my life. I decided that the trip was one i could not pass up, and worked to figure out a major and class schedule to help me take it. With the trip over, I couldn’t help but to see how far I have came as a person, with this study abroad playing a factor in that as well. I have now transferred onto a massive thirteen row jet from JFK to Columbus, and miraculously I am not white knuckled like I was when I first touched down in Heathrow so long ago.

Thank you for reading and auf wiedersehen,

Beau Bilek

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.

Our westward track towards Berlin to finish up the trip was fitting considering that this was how the Soviet Red Army finished off Nazi Germany and thus the war in Europe. However, Berlin was a fitting end in more regards because it was also the site in which a wall rose and the Cold War began. The conclusion of the Battle of Berlin was the marking of both an end and a new beginning. Personally, although on a much more positive note, I know that I grew tremendously from this trip as an individual and an academic in many regards. Perhaps one of the most important areas of growth was in regards to perspective. This journey challenged me not just to understand the perspective of these nations in regards to WWII but to appreciate and integrate them into my own thoughts. Germany offered our group one final perspective on our journey.

One of our first stops was the Reichstag, the German parliamentary building. It was on this building that the famous picture of the Red Army soldier raising the Soviet flag was taken. We were given a splendid tour of the building with the most intriguing parts being the original graffiti left behind by the Soviet soldiers that took over the Reichstag. A lot of the writing consisted of family names and places they had been. For instance, from Stalingrad to Berlin was written several times. The graffiti discussing the battles the soldiers were in was especially interesting because it brought my mind back to a discussion our class had about why the Western Allies did not march on Berlin. I imagined not only reading words, such as from Normandy to Berlin, on the walls but also what the world may have looked like today if that decision was made. This is still something I have yet to answer satisfactorily.

OHIO in front of Reichstag
(left to right: Beau, Katie, Natalie, myself)

Russian graffiti in Reichstag

The German story about the war was largely made of analysis as to the rise of Hitler. In the German Historical Museum the displays on the rise of the Nazis was longer, at least if felt much longer, than the war itself. The German narrative also makes no attempt to deny the terrible acts committed by the Nazis. I believe this, in combination with the focus on the rise of fascism in Germany, serves as a sort of reconciliation for the German people and a service to humanity to try and prevent future atrocities. Another important stop in our story of Germany during the war was the courtyard in which Claus Von Stauffenberg. Stauffenberg, along with his fellow conspirators, attempted to assassinate Hitler and establish control over the Third Reich. This was the story in the film Valkyrie, which featured Tom Cruise who really does look quite similar to Stauffenberg. Anyway, Stauffenberg represents a part of the small disjointed individuals that did seek to end Hitler. Stauffenberg’s intentions were not entirely pure because he only sought peace with the Western Allies and a continuation of the war on the Eastern Front. Regardless, the actions of him and his comrades serve as a reminder that not everyone supported Hitler in Germany.

Where Stauffenberg was shot with his fellow conspirators

Another interesting aspect of the telling of WWII in Berlin is the presence of Soviet memorials and museums. These interject the Soviet perspective into the telling of the German one and I am curious to know if there are any American or British monuments in their previous sectors. Regardless, the Soviet monuments make sense. I believe it is often lost on Americans simply how brutal the Eastern Front was. It was an ideologically death struggle in which the victory of one power meant the complete and utter destruction of the other. The Soviets suffered tremendously and Berlin served as their prize.

Soviet memorial, note the swastika he is stepping on and the child he is holding.

Soviet monument

I want to take the final bit of this final blog to discuss what made this trip so incredibly memorable: the people. This begins with the generous donors who allowed my colleagues and me to have the experience of a lifetime and grow tremendously in many regards. It is something that I am incredibly grateful for and cannot do justice for in words. Additionally, the faculty that led this study abroad were simply exceptional and the trip would not have been the same without them. Dr. Steigerwald: the man, myth, and machine and Lauren Henry never failed to make every moment memorable. Finally, I left Europe with twenty-two individuals that I am proud to call friends. They are amongst the remarkable individuals I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and it was hard to watch the trip come to an end. From the pubs of London and shores of Normandy to the museums of Poland and the beer gardens of Germany we never stopped making memories.

The study abroad family

Thank you to all of these individuals for both an efficient and aesthetically pleasing journey.

-Tyler R. Webb

Throughout our trip, we frequently discussed the ways that World War II is presented and discussed between different nations. Our American perspective is of the Good War, the English collectively fought the People’s War, and France maintained resilient in resistance. These national memories are all generally positive. However, this is not the case for every nation. In Poland, we saw a nation who was devastated by the war only to come under an oppressive regime in the postwar era as well. Finally, in Germany, we saw a nation who started, lost, and then had to reckon with the atrocities of World War II.

Of all the places we visited, the German museums were the most objective and detailed in their presentation of the war. I believe this presentation of the war in its entirety stems from an effort by Germany to own up to its history. Here, WWII is not celebrated, only presented. With this presentation, one would be hard pressed to accuse the museums of glossing over or otherwise covering up any aspect of WWII. I find this to be a great success of the German narrative of the war. War, and particularly Germany’s ugly connection to WWII, is not glamorous. None of the museums we visited portrayed it as such and they were very open about the horrors committed by the Nazis. In this the Germans have given account of their part in the war without attaching any higher agenda other than that of remorse.

Our first museum in Berlin was the German Historical Museum.

Courtyard in the German Historical Museum.

The exhibit on World War II here began like others with an acknowledgment of the end of World War I and how its unstable peace influenced the interwar period. Unlike other museums, the discussion of the interwar period, the rise of the Nazi party, and the development of Hitler’s military state were the most detailed of our trip. The same was true of the museum’s discussion of the parts of the war that didn’t involve the Western Allies as directly, particularly the Eastern Front and the Holocaust. These areas often get brushed aside in favor of Western heroics but in the German museum they received their due diligence. This theme carried over as we visited the Topography of Terror Museum which discussed the development of the Nazi terror state under the Gestapo and SS. The pervasive employment of fear to bring the populace of a nation in line with the wishes of the state was the topic discussed here. This museum demonstrated again the unique history of Germany during WWII when compared with the other nations we visited.

Later we visited the German Resistance Museum and Memorial. This museum is situated at the Bendlerblock, headquarters of the Nazi Reserve Army and later the conspirators of the July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler. The plot, also known as Valkyrie, was organized by military officers who could not abide by the actions of Hitler’s regime. After their attempted assassination and coup failed, they were executed in the courtyard which now houses a memorial to all forms of German Resistance to the Nazis.

Memorial to those executed the night of July 20, 1944 in the aftermath of the Valkyrie Plot.

The museum discusses how German Resistance was far less common than in other areas and that those who did resist were truly the exception. Different rooms in the museum focus on different resistance groups and the running theme is that these were the bastions of society that the Nazi’s could not dominate. Try as he might, Hitler could never bring such things as the military leadership, clergy, or academia completely within his grasp. This owes to the nature of these organizations which transcend political power. Each one has existed before and after regimes around the world throughout history.

Memorial to German Resistance Movements

Our time in Berlin also featured visits to a few Soviet memorials erected in occupied East Germany after the war. These grandiose displays were less objective in their portrayal of the war.

Soviet memorial for the Battle of Berlin.

A common theme was the valiant, collective triumph of Communism over the evil of National Socialism. At Treptower Park large statues, murals, and quotes by Stalin dominate the large area and surround the central statue. This statue depicts a Soviet soldier crushing a swastika underfoot and is situated atop a mass grave of Soviet soldiers who died in the Battle of Berlin.

Treptower Park.

Central statue and mass-grave.

Later, we visited the German-Russian museum. The museum is housed in the same building where the Russians forced Nazi Germany to sign a second, much harsher peace accord the day after signing its original surrender to the Allies. The exhibits here focused exclusively on the bloody war between Germany and the Soviet Union. The racial ideology and dedication of unprecedented resources on both sides lead to the bloody conflict that still pervades the memory of both nations.

We again confronted the Holocaust with our visit to the Wannssee House. This is where senior Nazi officers met on January 20, 1942 to discuss the Final Solution.

Wannssee House.

The museum within presents both the Functionalist (attributing the Holocaust to Nazi officials and bureaucrats working towards their understanding of Hitler’s goals) and Intentionalist (attributing the Holocaust solely to Hitler’s instruction) interpretations of the Holocaust but leans more towards the Intentionalist interpretation. Our discussion afterwards highlighted the merit of both arguments and what they mean for our understanding of the Holocaust and genocide. The Intentionalist argument makes the events of the Holocaust unique to the Nazis. The Functionalist argument holds that similar atrocities could be committed by any group unto another.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Wannssee House’s focus on the Intentionalist side recognizes that the Nazi leadership played a large part in the murder of Europe’s Jews. But, this interpretation also warrants criticism for inherently absolving idle German citizens of their part in allowing the Holocaust to happen.

It’s been one hell of a month and one that I won’t soon forget. This trip has taught me so much about the history of World War II and has also given me a deeper connection to that history by confronting it in-person. To anyone who helped make this trip a reality: thank you. To Dr. Steigerwald and Lauren Henry, who helped us navigate Europe and imparted lessons on academics and life alike: thank you. To my fellow travelers, with whom I’ve made countless wonderful memories: thank you. See you stateside!

Outside of the Reichstag, home of the Bundestag, Germany’s Parliament.

Bundestag chamber.

Berlin Cathedral during the day…

…and at night.

Brandenburg Gate.

Berlin’s Sony Center.

With Dr. Steigerwald “The man, the myth, the machine.”

My partner in crime and roommate, Patrick O’Connor. Outside the 1936 Olympic Stadium where our fellow Buckeye, Jesse Owens, won four gold medals.