Remembering the hard times

Like I said and as all of you know, Berlin and it's people have been through A LOT! And there are a lot of reminders around to help people not forget what happened- I think they are there in order to remember those who died, but also remember how horrible war is!

The Berlin wall:

I remember very clearly when the Berlin Wall came down. "How?!" You ask. "When you were only 8 years old when that happened?" Well, here is the deal. I was a very avid watcher of the TV show Mr. Belvedere. And apparently loved it very much! We were getting ready for dinner and my mom was going to turn the channel to watch the exciting news events happening in Germany. I remember her saying to me "Jill- You will always remember when the Berlin Wall came down!" My rebuttal? "No I wont! But I'll always remember when THIS (pointing to the TV) happened on Mr. Belvedere!" Luckily- my mom- realizing the importance of the Wall and not Mr. Belvedere- changed it over...and I watched the people jumping up on the wall, dancing and smiling. I think I was still pouting (since I did that often! Sorry mom and dad!) but its a memory that I have very clearly and I am thankful for that!

There are pieces of the Berlin wall through areas of the city. But in places where the actual wall is not still standing, there are the bricks side by side in the road, in the exact place that it was. It was surreal to think that today we just walk back and forth and cars drive over it without thinking anything of it, when not 20 years ago- no one could pass so easily across.
In this section of the wall, they had pictures placed in between to teach you different things about what happened during those horrible times.

I thought this one interesting. People heard about the wall going up and grabbed what they could and took off running to the border.

Here is a picture of the Berlin wall in front of the Brandenburg gate. (Which we shall discuss later! :) )

And here it is today- with the bricks lining the street instead of the wall- as a reminder. Crazy!!!

One day Aaron took me to a part where they kept up a big chunk of the wall up.

It really was pretty eerie walking right past it with no resistance from anyone! It is sad and heart breaking to think of the many who tried to do the same not long ago--and lost their lives.

"Creepy Church"
The first night back from London we got into Berlin around 10 PM. We got off the train and headed for the subway- but Aaron wanted to show me something first. We turned a corner and this is what I saw...

Aaron explained to me that it was the 'Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church' (I'm a cheater! I had to look at his blog to get the exact name of it! Thanks for that!! :) ) After WWII most of Berlin looked like this. Broken buildings...just about everything was devastated and blown up. Most of them were restored, but they left this one as a reminder of how bad war is.

As I looked at it- it kinda gave me the shivers. I thought of how it must have looked before and how many people probably suffered and died around it. So in being honest- I said "Man that's creepy!" Of course not meaning any offense by that. But look at it!
I think Aaron laughed (probably more out of shock than anything!) and the name stuck!

Memorial

There is a really nice and interesting memorial for all the European Jews that died in the war. Its simply pieces of concrete (that at first glance look like caskets) but they get bigger and taller and you can walk down inside them. The interpretation for what the memorial means is left up to the individual person! Then you can go underground and there are about 4-5 rooms that talk about Jewish families individually and what happened to them. There are a lot of sad pictures to see as well. It was a good experience, but kinda left us with a heavy feeling as we left .

They had a memorial concert while we were there. Where people played music from inside the walk-ways.

As Aaron I would be walking around, you could see on buildings, walls and even the statues- bullet holes from the war. Each time it was such a reminder to me of what happened in this place- not too long ago- and really left a sad feeling in me.

This is called a Traibi

I learned (from my tour guide Aaron) that it was such a symbol of East Berlin. This is what you "got" to drive. (I know- super stylin!) But you had to wait 18 years to get one! Aaron told me that when your kids were born, you put their names on a waiting list! I wonder if you got to pick out the color that you wanted- and maybe they would give you a sun roof as well! :)

I loved learning all of these things while I was there! I learned about where the wall was(and that it wasn't only a straight line! that was en eye opener for me!- That was kind of a "civil war" moment mom! :) ) , what conditions were like in East and West Berlin, and even went to where Hitler's bunker was (which is also where he died).

I really feel thankful that these people can now live in a place with more freedom and really hope they don't have to endure such things again!

I realize that this was more of an educational post and kind of a downer- so you can look forward to more of the "fun" things that Berlin has to offer as well!