Berlin, October 5-12, 2024. "Come to Terms."

Germany has a dark chapter of its history.  Events surrounding the Holocaust are difficult to learn about, to connect with, to see, and to feel.  This history is hard to live with, I'm sure. Subtle and forthright, planned and happenstance, creative and simple, many diverse kinds of markers in Berlin serve as place holders and reminders for the heavy history from World War II. The omnipresent monuments and memorials are well-integrated into the fabric of the urban landscape and yet still stand out for their creatively jarring messages. 

Popular guidebooks such as Rick Steves' book report that the Germans are "taking responsibility" for the turbulent past that is the responsibility of their forebears. Reading this in advance of our trip caused my eyebrows to raise. I've found current cultures frequently deny culpability and certainly do not claim responsibility. Questions loomed in my head: How do the German people move forward while acknowledging their past? How do they walk by these reminders each day and hold their heads high? How do they take responsibility for their grandparents' and their grandparents' neighbors' actions? 

The first day of our visit to Berlin, Paul worked while I participated in a six-hour bike tour that pedaled around the town -- from Babelplatz to the Fuehrer's bunker, from Victory Tower to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Brandenburg gates. Our guide was a twenty-something (maybe thirty-something) young Briton who had attended Humbolt University as a graduate student in Berlin. Currently applying for German citizenship because recent laws will not force him to abdicate his United Kingdom citizenship, he has lived in Berlin since the year before COVID - 19, over five years.  While physically exhausting, I found the tour more emotionally exhausting because of the multiplicity of reminders of this horrific chapter in Germany's history and his graphic, personal, and eloquent descriptions of Germany's WW II history.  The six-hour event with a total of six young participants (the youthful participants and small numbers are benefits of a six hour bike tour!) was well-designed for inquiring minds: we were able to ask questions and hear involved and thoughtful responses from our sharp, well-educated, and articulate guide, Sam. 

"Sam, I hear you use the phrase, 'come to terms with' instead of 'take responsibility for' in reference to the Holocaust and other horrific events," I begin.  He knows where I'm going with this and nods; I'm betting others ask similar questions. I don't need to finish the question.

He explains that the current generation does not feel responsibility for the actions of the previous generation or two.  However, members of this generation need to find ways "to come to terms with," or "to reckon with," the actions of their grandparents and great-grandparents.  Current Germans need to find ways to educate the next generation so we all know, remember, and don't let this happen again.  The sense of responsibility is for the future and not for the past.  To this end, all museums and memorials relating to the Holocaust are open many hours and free for all visitors. To this end, all German schools require students to visit a concentration camp.  Later, I visit the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe," and find easy and free entry complete with audio guide in the language of my choice. The exhibits are personal and powerful, and addressed in a different post. 

I find multiple memorials, outlined in a different post, to people murdered ("ermordet"), but little that references the name or image of Adolf Hitler.  Indeed, the location of his final bunker is now a parking lot with a simple, quite boring small sign, easily missed or mistaken for parking information, identifying the location as the "Fuehrer bunker." The exception is the "Topography of Terror" exhibit in the former SS building that outlines the systemic public humiliation and dehumanization of people, not-so-slowly moving towards deportation to concentration camps, killing facilities, and toward mass extinction. Hitler's image and name are mentioned in the exhibits in this free and easily accessible museum.

My mind travels to the horrors of my own country.  My ancestors enslaved dark-skinned people; though my grandmother, an avid genealogist, denied it, I found a will of her ancestor's that granted freedom to enslaved people who had passed their thirtieth birthday at the time of her ancestor's death. In addition, my ancestors likely took part on activities that caused the annihilation of nations of native people.  The history of the United States includes genocidal events. Americans have yet to 'come to terms with' or 'reckon with' our own horrific history. German history of genocide seems to have its page mostly turned; arguably the United States' history of appalling behavior towards those with darker skins continued for many years after slavery ended and many years after land disputes were settled.  Will United States Citizens ever be able to 'come to terms with' or 'reckon with' the actions of their forebears? Might our citizens be able to move forward into a history that's clearer and cleaner if we had an approach that recognized our ancestors' behaviors and that honored the victims? Germany has outlawed Holocaust denying; the United States' policy of Freedom of Speech would prevent this kind of law. 

To be fair, there is a current movement to remove confederate memorials and to honor victims in statues. The shift from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day helped alleviate troubles in the American Southwest. (One of my Dine students said, in regard to Columbus Day, "Why would I honor anyone who cut off the feet of my ancestors?")  Harriet Tubman is the featured subject of many moving memorials, statues, and museums; PoPay is featured for New Mexico in our country's capital.