I've been feeling much better the last couple days (in case you were
wondering) and have therefore managed to leave the hostel! Yeah! First
thing I did was a 3.5 hour free walking tour of Berlin. It was an
amazing way to get an introduction to the city and touch on places that I
will go back to for a better look later in the week. One example is the
Holocaust memorial down town and the Pergamon museum (on my 'must see'
list). The tour guide was helpful in giving tips on how to jump the
queue for the Pergamon by purchasing tickets about 2 blocks away at a
small corner store... little known fact as the queue snakes around the
building and down the sidewalk a fair ways.
The walking tour covered almost 700 years of Berlin history which
was a bit overwhelming to say the least. One particular part of history I
had no real previous extensive knowledge about is the Berlin Wall and
the political situations that lead to it being built and the destruction
of it. In all my high school history classes it was mentioned but never
really covered to any degree (I also had no interest). From what I have
since learned as far as the reason for its falling was a poorly
prepared press conference. Essentially it came down to one man being
very unprepared for the press conference as he missed the briefing
meeting prior to. The conference was more about the lifting of the Iron
Curtain and the unrest surrounding that however he accidentally said
that the Berlin Wall would also be coming down, that very night. Oops.
Not what was planned at all. Anyhow thats the very abridged version but
fairly stupid on his part.
Speaking of 3.5 hour walking tour, about one hour in some silly
tourist managed to sprain her ankle while walking on the cobble stones
down the side walk. What a mess. She was limping the whole time and
wouldn't stop complaining the rest of the tour. You will never guess who
that tourist was. It was me. And I wasn't complaining out loud, it was
all in my head... but agony! It is just about impossible to find ice for
sale (or for free) in this city. I still haven't managed to find any.
But wait, it gets better...
Today I was feeling even better (as far as the cold goes) so off I
go to visit the Sachsenhausen concentration camp about 20mins north of
Berlin. It is less well known than Auschwitz or Dachau but its what the
Nazi's considered the 'model' for all the other camps. It wasn't the
first to open but it also was the headquarters where the SS were trained
how to run the other camps. In this post, you will not find any
pictures of Sachsenhausen as I did not take any. For me, taking pictures
of a place where tens of thousands of people where murdered just didn't
feel right. I also think it is something each individual person must
see and experience for themselves as just being at the camp and standing
on the grounds has an atmosphere of its own. Its easy to look at
pictures of concentration camps in textbooks, information books, or on
the internet but until you are actually there and physically see where
it happened, a true understanding cannot be reached. I was there, I saw
it, I still don't understand how or why but I am a step closer to
understanding.
I will try to put into words what I saw and give a bit of a
background about Sachsenhausen. I did a paid tour of the camp as I felt
it was the best way to visit it. We all met up in Berlin and took the
train north. We got off the train at the same stop the prisoners would
have and walked up the same street to the camp as well. This camp was a
labor camp meaning the prisoners either died from working until
exhaustion, malnutrition, or disease. This is compared to one such as
Auschwitz which is classified as an extermination camp. The prisoners at
Sachsenhausen were required to test the soles of different Nazi army
boots by walking continuously on a rocky path while carrying 50lbs sand
bags all day. If a prisoner was assigned to this task, his life
expectancy was less than 12 days meaning that if he came into the camp
and started this task, he would only survive for 12 more before he died
from exhaustion. There were many similar tasks but the main production
coming from this camp was bricks for Nazi buildings in Berlin and for
other concentration camps across Europe. Anyhow, this could go on and on
but I'll spare more detail. Most of the original buildings were
destroyed in the early 50's as the thought was 'why would anyone want to
see a place such as this'. There has been a fair amount of restoration
work done on a couple of the barracks but most buildings within the camp
walls were left where they fell. One building that was almost untouched
and has been restored was the infirmary. This is where the medical
experiments were carried out by 'doctors' on the prisoners.
Sachsenhausen was liberated by the Soviets in 1945 however it
continued to be utilized by the Soviets for their prisoners of war for a
further 5 years. It also held Nazis before they were trailed at
Nurnberg.
It took about an hour longer to get back into Berlin than expected as
the 2 of the train systems are down. This did not bode any better for
said sprained ankle that by this point in the day is the same size as my
upper thigh from even more walking. Why, might you ask, didn't you, an
Athletic Therapist, tape your ankle before going on the tour today? Well
my friends, I did not pack any tape. WHAT?!! Ya, I am S-M-R-T. The
thought crossed my mind as I was packing my bags in Calgary however, in
the mad rush to go on vacation for 6 months... I forgot. For some
reason, the part of Berlin I am staying in doesn't seem like the type of
place that would have tape of any kind... but more on that in a few
days.
I am in Berlin until Wednesday morning. Tomorrow (Monday) is October
3rd meaning its Reunification Day. This means its been 21 years since
the East and West have come together to become one. Huge events going on
all over the city so that's what I will be up to all day... and night. I
met some Americans on the tour today so we may see the city together
tomorrow. Some how the topic of baseball came up (if you really know me,
you will know I LOOOVE the Dodgers so it really isn't strange that the
topic came up...). Anyhow, one guy was a pitcher who was drafted right
out of high school. He was with the team for a year before he went back
to college (part of the contract... another story all together). This
wasn't because he never played, it was because his house got broken into
while he was home so he grabbed one of the robbers and started beating
on the guy when robber number 2 grabbed his arm and dislocated it. Long
story short, no more baseball for awhile so he decided to travel for a
few months before school starts again.
Ok, I think that's long enough of a post.
K
PS. I wrote this on Sunday but am posting it on Monday...
