Berlin + Holocaust Survivor Talk

[warspite1]

8 Prinz Albrecht-Strasse (cont)

The home of the Gestapo and the other terror organisations of the Nazi state in its heyday - it wasn't always home to the Hitler's henchmen. Sorry about the water effect - I forgot to wipe this one before taking the picture [8|]



The East Germans blow up the facade of the building - and the rest of it - in 1956



Allied bombing saw to it that there was not that much left to destroy anyway...

[Zorch]

Albert Speer probably would have demolished it anyway, to build Hitler's fantasy Berlin.

[warspite1]

Topographie des Terrors

The museum's exhibition is very well laid out. There is nothing that one wouldn't expect to find here. Pictures and text are interspersed with audio material and charts the 'progress' of Hitler's various terror organisations from the SA to the SS.

As for the audio, I must confess that just a couple of minutes of listening to Himmler and I wasn't shocked, I wasn't outraged, I was just.....bored. This man spoke as he looked - a dull, little man in every sense of the word who clearly felt the need to compensate for something.....[:(]

One picture in the exhibition though did make me really angry. It wasn't of the after effects of Kristalnacht or the death camp victims or any of the other 'usual' pictures that accompany this terrible story. No, the one that got me is shown below. I don't know what it was - maybe its the fact they appear not to have a care in the world, but I suspect the fact that most of those in the picture are "women" is what really angers and depresses me....

It was taken in 1944. The women in the picture are SS female auxiliaries (SS Maids) and together with men from the SS they are taking a break from murder on an industrial scale and are 'holidaying' and Sola-Hutte, a retreat 30km south of Auschwitz. The guy in the centre is the adjutant to the camp commandant.


War is hell - but it's so important to be happy at work, yes?

[warspite1]

The Brandenburg Gate

If the Reichstag is one of the most iconic buildings in Berlin, then surely the Brandenburg Gate is equal in stature if not more so?

This is the last of Berlin's city gates and lies at the head of one of Berlin's most famous streets; the Unter Den Linden.

The Gate was caught in the no-man's land of the Berlin Wall after 1961 but survived and has been restored after much damage was inflicted in WWII.


Impressive by day - this gate is even more spectacular during the night.

[warspite1]

Checkpoint Charlie - then and now



As it was at the height of the Cold War.....


....and today and a couple of dodgy looking "US Army personnel".....

[warspite1]

Burning of the Books

Back to the Nazis once more now, and the infamous burning of books episode.

A wise man once said something to the effect that a people that burns books will end up burning its people (quote below).



In this square of the Humboldt University, such a shameful episode took place. There is a monument in the square which at first looks like a piece of glass. When you look through the glass you see nothing but empty bookshelves..... clever.



The Humboldt University square on the Unter Den Linden

[Aurelian]

Thanks for sharing. I never knew you had a white rectangle for a face

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Aurelian

Thanks for sharing. I never knew you had a white rectangle for a face

warspite1

Yes, it really helps when playing poker [:)].

[warspite1]

Berlin Cathedral

The cathedral is very impressive - although frankly could do with a damn good clean.....

I wanted a nice central picture, but can you spot the problem with taking a picture at that angle? [:D]


Whoops!



That's better - although not as good as head on

[warspite1]

The scars of war

This old building is ravaged with hits from small arms fire and shrapnel. This seems to be actually quite a rare sight (certainly in the areas I saw) as there are so few older buildings left standing.

[warspite1]

Final two posts on the Berlin Wall

To the north there is another section of the wall that remains along with a memorial to those who died trying to get across. This part of the wall appears to have gone through a cemetery - although respect for the dead was no doubt of no concern to the East German authorities as they hastily built the wall overnight....




East German soldiers were amongst the victims



The actual death toll may never be known

[warspite1]

The Berlin Wall - the victims

At this memorial there was a number of pictures of those who died. Two caught my eye. One because he was just 11-years old when he died, the other because he appears to be an East German soldier. In neither case do I know their story - but regardless it was all just so pointless...




This little boy - top row - was 11 when he died.



Who I wonder was the soldier in the top row? Was he one of those trying to escape, or did he die trying to stop would be escapees?

[warspite1]

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

I've never been to one of these before. Although I knew the name, I wasn't really sure what to expect, not least because I didn't know exactly what this camp was used for.

Sachsenhausen is a little way to the north of the city but the train ride - on a double-decker train no less! - was less than an hour. We signed up for a guided tour with a firm called Insider Tour and our guide was a very impressively knowledgeable guy from Indiana called Jared. Had we had additional days in Berlin we would have signed up to at least a couple more of their tours based on the quality of this one.

Sachsenhausen was built in 1936 and was designed to accommodate 18,000 inmates. Originally these were political prisoners but the range of prisoners soon expanded - among them, homosexuals, Christians, asocials, Gypsies, and of course Jews. At its height it was the prison to 35,000. There was no increase in accommodation or beds or anything else to reflect this increase....

200,000 people are thought to have passed through the camp. It is known that 50,000 died, although a great many of the remainder are believed to have died after being sent elsewhere.

After going through the initial intake process (this building is no longer standing) the prisoners went through Watchtower A.


Watchtower A today and during the war

[warspite1]

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (cont)

The wall and the guard towers remain. Most of the huts have gone, but where they stood can be clearly seen.

Two of the huts that do remain are in the Jewish section (middle picture). These huts were set fire to by a couple of German holocaust deniers in recent times (bottom picture).

[warspite1]

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (cont)

Not much room for 500 prisoners....

[warspite1]

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (cont)

The T-shaped solitary confinement wing of which one hut remains standing. The catalyst for Kristalnacht was the murder of a German diplomat by the German-born Jew Herschel Grynszpan. Records show Grynszpan was incarcerated at Sachsenhausen until 1942 at least, but it is unknown what exactly was his fate. He would have spent periods here. The three poles in the ground were used to hang people by their arms (tied backwards to dislocate the shoulders).



Execution Trench



The plaque says it all.....

[warspite1]

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (cont)

A handful of prisoners died at the hands of Zyklon B gas here as this camp was used to test the effectiveness of the gas. The East Germans tried to blow up this part of the facility but its foundations remains - albeit fragile (top picture).




Meanwhile the method of shooting prisoners in the neck was perfected so that there would be as little psychological effect on the executioner as possible... Rooms 11, 12, 13 and 14 on the plan were used for this purpose. Notice the double walls for sound proofing so the other prisoners are unaware of what awaits them....



No.18 on the plan above was the oven for disposing of the bodies....

[warspite1]

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (cont)

The memorial to the victims

[Missouri_Rebel]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

The DDR Museum - The Trabant

And no story of the DDR could be complete without mention of this technical marvel [:(].....no cooing system and no petrol gauge....

I'm surprised those thorough Germans didn't spell "brakes" correctly.The Trabant was essentially awful (and dangerous) but it did boast a few good features. It was front wheel drive, which was unusual when it was first built and freed up interior room. Also, the Duroplast body was made from recycled materials and was relatively strong and very long lasting, and it had independent suspension. Having said that, almost everything else was appalling and with a space/time warping 19KW (26 hp) on tap in the final model, you weren't going anywhere fast.

It's not true to say it no cooling system, as it was air cooled. Many Porsches have been air cooled and air cooling has much to recommend it. It's simple and water cooled vehicles have greater rust problems, especially if they are not regularly used.

Cheers, Neilster