Brooke Skinner

 

 

 

Project

 

Memorials

 

Memorials: Debates in the Media

 

 

 

Journal: 3.10.2008-3.15.2008

 

 

*This photo was taken in front of the last remaining section of the Berlin Wall.

 

3.10.2008

 

     Today is the beginning of our tour of Berlin’s memorials to the Holocaust.  As I have never visited Berlin (or Germany, for that matter) before, I am not sure what to expect.  However, it will definitely be interesting to assess memorials using my theoretical background. 

…..

 

     We just viewed the memorials to the Soviet soliders who died liberating Berlin.  The best word to describe the memorial was “Stalinist”—by Stalinist, I mean that it was a giant solider holding a sword in oxidized copper.  The writing on the memorial itself was in Russian so I could not read it, however, a Russian speaking classmate determined that they were names of soliders. 

…..

 

     We saw several other memorials today, including the remains of the Reichstag, the Jewish Museum, Neue Wache, and the book-burning memorial.  I had mixed feelings about these memorials and the city as a haven for them as well. 

     Seeing these memorials made me consider several things.  First of all, how do I feel about the number of memorials in Berlin and, secondly, does the large number of memorials add or subtract from their significance?  It seems to me that Berlin is a city of memorials, with most of them being those which we have been studying.  This gives me mixed feelings about the memorials because I feel like things that are overtly stressed tend to lose their meaning, but at the same time the Holocaust was such a big disaster that it needs to be stressed.  Perhaps this is a concept that I will continue to consider throughout the trip. 

     I also had mixed feelings about the different memorials.  I loved the way the Reichstag  was renovated, and, to paraphrase Maria, it shows that it is focused on the future rather than the past.  It is open to the people (including tourists) and is great for viewing the city (and other memorials). 

Neue Wache was very peaceful, but at the same time disturbing.  Consisting of a statue enclosed in a tiled edifice in the city, I felt that while the structure was calming and moving, it was mostly “eye candy” and the peace was constantly disrupted by tour groups moving in and out of the structure.  It is curious to me that people are able to rush into the memorial, snap pictures, and leave without thinking about its significance.  Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of memorials as a place for thought and reflection?

     I enjoyed the Jewish museum to a certain extent, but definitely had mixed feelings about the way Jewish history was portrayed.  The architecture of the building was very interesting and the significance of the various features was fascinating.  However, it was curious that the architecture puts Jewish history into the context of the Holocaust and I’m not sure how I feel like that.  The exhibits, on the other hand, provided good information, but they were only mildly amusing and I found myself watching Felix the Cat after only a few minutes of browsing.  Perhaps the architecture was more interesting to me because it required more creativity to understand and was overall more moving than the commoditized history of the Jews found on its upper levels.  Personally, I think the museum would have been more interesting as a structure without the stuff. 

     The only memorial that I was not conflicted about was the book-burning memorial.  The site was very thought provoking due to its unrecognizable form as a monument from a distance and the way it was presented to the viewer.  Looking through the ground at empty shelves was compelling due to the lack of the “in your face” memorial aspect.  The shelves instead looked as if something had been taken away instead of added, which left an empty feeling in my soul and caused me to think rather than just look at some sort of statue, like the Stalinist monuments.  The monument was beneath the ground and marked only by a small plaque, and this simplicity seemed to make the memorial even more moving for the group and me. 

 

3.11.2008

 

    I find that reflection after our return to the hotel makes analyzing memorials easier, so from now on I'll be writing in the past tense. 

     The major memorials that we visited today were the Berlin Wall, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the largest synagogue in Berlin.  The Berlin Wall was cool but very touristy.  It also didn’t have much to do with the Holocaust.  I guess I’ll move on.  The main Holocaust memorial was huge; taking up an entire street block, the space was filled with large, concrete pillars.  This memorial was kind of interesting, but I just couldn’t get over the fact that we visited a very similar memorial yesterday.  There were some key differences, but they weren’t significant enough to make me feel like the artist had been completely original in his idea, which I think is valuable to the meaning of memorials.  In order to remember memorials (and therefore events), it is necessary for them to be unique and thought provoking, which I think this memorial lacked after seeing pretty much the same thing the day before.

    The synagogue was probably my favorite memorial today.  First of all, it was HUGE.  It was especially cool when I paid the extra Euro to go up to the top level and look out on the street below.  It's amazing how the Synagogue looked down upon most of the other buildings in the area.  Second, I liked learning about it because I felt knowing its history made it more “alive” and meaningful.  It also helped me to better understand Jewish culture in Berlin prior to WWII.  But while the museum aspect was really interesting, it was also incredibly eerie.  The way they redid it was nice, but they should have made it into something like a community center.  Nazis wanted to use the synagogues as museums, which weirded me out and made me think, whoa.

 

3.12.2008

 

     Today we visited the University of Potsdam students in order to get a head start on brainstorming for our projects.  At first it was kind of scary (well, meeting strangers is hard enough and it's especially strange when they are from another country and speak a different first language!), but the Potsdam students were so nice and friendly and it seems like this will be a great experience. 

     I decided to choose memorials as my group topic because I can use the trip as a foundation for the project (there are memorials EVERYWHERE here!) and I'm also very interested in the theory behind memory.  We are planning on researching the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe because it seems that many people have mixed feelings about it and I'd be interested in finding out more about the debates surrounding the memorial aside from the readings we read for class. 

 

3.13.2008

 

     Today we left Berlin again to visit a small town in former East Germany called Halberstadt.  The train ride there was a long one, and it's bitter cold outside.  I was glad to leave the city and see some of the countryside because I'm tired from walking all over the city with the strike still occurring. 

     We walked to the Jewish museum then took a tour around the city.  I've seen Jewish cemetary before, but I've never heard anything about their history and I must admit I don't know much about Jewish culture.  I was happy to see that the area was preserved and found the stories about several of the gravestones fascinating. 

     We toured the rest of the city and saw components of both the Jewish and Christian cultures in the town, including some beautiful churches and christian cemetaries.  We also saw a few extremely old houses in the town that dated from the 12th and 13th centuries, which are memorials themselves in a way. 

     Post-tour we had lunch at a cafe that was affiliated with the museum.  I cannot stress how unbelieveable the food was AND it was all Kosher.  Wow.  There was chicken soup, salad, latkes, perogies, lox.... amazing.  It's a shame I was too full for much chocolate cake after the meal, although I did manage a bite.  (As you can tell, the lunch made quite a mark on me.)

     Perhaps one of the most moving parts of the museum were the photographs.  Everyone had a story.  It's something that I think about often and it manages to make me pretty emotional.  Everyone has that moment--your first words, your first steps, for many the first time you ride a bike or learn to drive a car.  For this reason the photographs were sad for me, but they were also that much more real.  It's hard for me to believe that the Holocaust really occurred--and then I see the pictures.  It's always a scary reminder of what an imperfect world we live in and that genocide can happen.  Awareness is important. 

 

3.14.2008

 

     I'm not sure how I feel about concentration camps as a memorial after visiting Ravensbrook today.  I think they are important to preserve as reminders of the past, but it's really eerie to peer at the beautiful trees and wildlife in the site of a former camp where so many people were starved, worked, and mudered.  (Don't even get me started on how strange it would be to live in that town today.)

     The beginning of our trip was full of rain, which added to the whole concretration camp experience.  Overcrast skies and gloominess seemed to fit with the somber mood of the group, and although I didn't particularly enjoy getting poured on while walking around the grounds, it would have been weird if the day had been beautiful. 

     Our tour guide was very interesting and definitely knew his stuff.  While he tried to give us a typical concentration camp tour, he must have known we were studying memorials because he also explained everything he didn't like about the memorialization of the concentration camp, which I appreciated.  

     In my opinion, the concentration camp, while eerie in its effect on the visitor, is definitely empowering in its nature.  The usage of the female guards houses by a youth hostel (to agree with the tour guide), is a display of the people's dominance over the Nazis.  And the preservation of the site as a museum, as the Nazis hoped to do with synagogues shows the perserverence of the prisoners.