In our final leg of the trip, we travelled to Berlin and spent four days exploring the city and visiting museums and sights that have to do with World War II. Being in Berlin, it was interesting to see how the Germans remember the atrocities the committed during World War II and how they are determined to not let it ever happen again.

Germans have a very different way of remembering World War II as compared to the victorious powers. In the United States, Great Britain, and even France, museums remembering the war have captured German flags, weapons, and uniforms on display for the public to view. While it is clear that the ideology the Nazis practiced was wrong, the displays are very triumphant and dedicated to the spoils of the war. In Germany, it is the exact opposite. Of course, the Germans lost so World War II is not a war they remember fondly and commemorate, but there is a much larger reason why they do not commemorate the war and focus on teaching its lessons instead.

The Nazi ideology was one of pure evil. They targeted groups of people that they viewed as subhuman and tried to systemically exterminate them. The German people to this day are ashamed of how they treated other humans and the atrocities that in many cases their grandparents helped commit. This is seen in how they design their museums. In the Topography of Terror and the Wannsee Conference house, there is a very clear attitude that is demonstrated. The Nazis were evil, and what they wrought can never be allowed to happen again. The museums do not display artifacts or if they do, they are papers, photographs, documents that show how evil they were. There are no helmets, flags, uniforms or tangible things. This is on one hand because Nazi paraphernalia is banned in Germany, but also because Germany is determined to make sure Nazi artifacts are used as shrines and places of remembrance by neo-Nazis.

The museums focus on education, with a heavy emphasis on how sadistic the Nazis were. Panels with information dominate the halls as they explains how widespread Nazi ideals were and how most Germans collaborated with Hitler’s regime. Even in the German resistance museum, there is a sense of how incredibly small resistance groups were. These museums show how easy it was to fall into the Nazi ideology and stress how important it is to remain vigilant and not let the nations fall into that trap ever again.

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was a large example of that. The compound did not only consist of a concentration camp, but also a training camp for SS soldiers. After the war, the SS training facility was turned into the Brandenburg Police Academy. The reason the academy is on those grounds is to remember how evil following a group blindly and treating people as subhuman can be. Having the training facility next to the concentration camp serves as a reminder, look what we are capable of, do not let it happen ever again. There is a sign on the ground that states the reason the Academy is next to the concentration camp to promote anti-Nazi ideals.

As well as the Brandenburg Police academy, all German army recruits visit the Von Stauffenburg memorial during training to engrain that it is important to keep strong morals and that it is okay to say no to an order if it is immoral. German schoolchildren have to visit at least three Holocaust sites in order to teach how evil the Nazis were and how it can never again be allowed to happen. The Germans are very adamant about making sure their past is remembered as shameful and somber to ensure they never let Nazism to rise again in Germany.

Travelling from Paris to Berlin, we stopped in three different towns: Bastogne, Remagen, and Bad Hersfeld. All three cities offered something new to offer which I had yet to experience while on the trip. While all three cities were enjoyable, my favorite city to visit was Bastogne.

Bastogne is an important city due to the Battle of the Bulge, fought in the winter of 1944-1945. During the siege of Bastogne, the 101st Airborne Division and elements of other American units held off German assaults until they were rescued by Patton’s Third Army. While we only spent one night in Bastogne, this small Belgian town had a much larger meaning in the history of WWII.

When I was younger, one of my favorite TV shows was the docuseries Band of Brothers. It follows E Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment from their landings on the Normandy beaches to the heart of Germany. In one of the episodes, it follows them in the woods outside of Bastogne and one of their medics working in the church turned into a field hospital. I loved that episode, and it was of the most important events that sparked my love for military history. It was a surreal experience walking through the museum and seeing names that I recognized from the show. It was surreal being on the actual ground where we explored their foxholes, and that I was in the foxholes they dug to defend the city against a vastly superior force. I looked over the town of Foy which is a focal point of the episode and imagined what the soldiers freezing in the foxholes fearing for their life must have felt. It was a moving experience as I examined the places about which I had read and watched.

The church was a different experience for me as well. During the siege, it was used as a hospital for soldiers. I remember walking around and through it and just feeling overwhelmed as I knew what went on both around and inside the church.

Finally, I have a small personal connection which made the city even more special. During World War II, my grandfather served as a medic in Patton’s third army. He did the job that went on inside the church. He would have been in Bastogne as part of the Third Army, and I imagine he may have treated some of the men who were in the church. Being in the area that I have a direct familial connection to was surreal as I walked around the town he was in roughly 80 years ago.

While this trip has been amazing, and a learning experience, the fact that Bastogne was one of the events that brought me into military history and that my grandfather was a member of the army that rescued the soldiers who fought there meant something special that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Easy company Foxhole just outside of Bastogne

From the foxholes of easy company overlooking the town of Foy

Church in Bastogne that was used as a field hospital during the siege

While we were in Normandy, we visited 3 cemeteries: Bayeux Commonwealth Military Cemetery, La Cambe German Military Cemetery, and the Normandy American Military Cemetery. All three had different ways of remembering the soldiers lost during World War II. However, all three, while different, were moving in their own way.

The first cemetery we visited was the Bayeux Commonwealth Military Cemetery. This is the final resting place for 4000 soldiers. The cemetery felt very warm and inviting. The first time I went was before the group went in the evening and it was a very serene experience. Each gravestone has flowers planted by them which adds color and gives the graves a sense of personality. Besides having flowers, something the British do is allow the families of the fallen soldiers to put a saying on the grave as well. I thought some of these were very powerful and really gave each soldier more humanity. They were more than just a gravestone and a name. They had families; they were sons, brothers, and fathers.

La Cambe German Military Cemetery was a much different experience. The gravestones were laid in rows like the others, but different from the other cemeteries, each grave was the final resting place of two German soldiers. The gravestones were not white and pristine; they were dark, at ground level, and I noticed many of them had cracks in them. La Cambe has to deal with a difficult moral question, how to make a final resting place for German soldiers without commemorating or putting what they fought for in a good light. As I walked through, I believed that this cemetery did a good job of that. I got a very weird feeling as I walked through and looked at many stones. They were human, and I think that was what the cemetery wanted to show. 16- and 17-year-olds buried there, which put into perspective the humanity of war. Showing that they all were humans was the best way to memorialize the Germans who are buried there. While it is important to know that the causes that they fought for were wrong, it is important to realize that these were people, boys, younger than me. In the end, this is more a memorial to humans who died, rather than a memorial saying what they died for.

Finally, we visited the Normandy American Military Cemetery. First walking through, I noticed that it was much cleaner cut. The crosses were all in rows, both vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. The grass was cut at a certain precise length, and the walkways were all perfectly edged. The cemetery had a very grand feeling to it. It was honoring the soldiers, but it also told a story of triumph through sacrifice. It truly felt like a victor’s cemetery, that we won the war so the soldiers who gave their lives are going to be honored as triumphant heroes. It was a contrast from the German cemetery as the Germans lost the war and there is the difficult question of the motives of the Nazi regime. While I thought both the Americans and British did a good job memorializing their fallen in Normandy, I think that the American cemetery had a more triumphant and victorious feel while the British had a more humanizing tone. Both were solemn, but the way they achieved it was different. I truly was moved visiting the cemeteries in Normandy.

The United States and the United Kingdom have a long and storied shared history. However, reflecting on my experience this week in London, I have discovered that there is one large difference between the two countries that is often overlooked: The United States and Britain view conflict and their respective military histories in different ways.

In exploring London, I visited sites such as the National Army Museum, HMS Belfast, National Maritime Museum, Bletchley Park, Imperial War Museum, Guards Museum, and Cabinet War Rooms. One thing in common with all of these sights is the solemnity and somberness that they command. When I went to the British Army Museum, a docent and I shared a conversation that prompted him to lead us through the entire museum. What surprised me was how he described and explained the exhibits. He talked about the individual soldiers, both good and bad, about how the stories must be covered as Britain has a storied military history, but it does no good to boast about it. Many wars have brought suffering to the home front as losing the wars meant either capture or occupation. One example he gave me was how the British viewed World War II. He explained how the war is not seen as a triumph but as the perseverance of a population and nation that struggled and suffered for nearly six years. The British lost 70,000 civilians during the course of the war and many homes and other buildings were lost. The British were not saviors during World War II; rather, they sacrificed and suffered, but most of all they persevered. This leads to a focus on individual soldiers and other common people in the museums I saw. Uniforms were not just from famous generals, but from the lowest enlisted ranks to show humanity.

This style of museum differed from many museums I have visited in the United States. In the United States, the focus has often been on the triumph of the nation, how we have saved other countries, and how we sent our boys over to save the world from evil. The docent and I had a conversation that this view comes from the fact that the civilian populous was never under a significant threat like the British were. American citizens did not experience the Blitz, the war was over there, not over here, we were able to celebrate a victory without having to rebuild our country. This feeds into the idea that Americans are saviors with the greatest military in the world. It has been interesting to see how another country views warfare and its military history based on how wars have affected them at home.