Berlin - awesome

For want of a better explanation, Berlin was awesome. On the Monday, we went on a tour to Potsdam, the capital of the Federal State of Brandenburg. As on any good tour, we saw two castles, Schloss Cecilienhof and Schloss Sanssouci, (Schloss meaning castle). Cecilienhof is a quite large palace, but has the quaint appearance of an English Tudor country lodge. Behind the castle is a grassy slope running down to a private lake. Interestingly, this relaxing country setting is the location of the historic Potsdam Conference. Held at the end of WWII, this was the conference where the Allied leaders (Truman and Churchill) met with Stalin to decide the future of Germany. Sanssouci is the former summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. Built in the French Rococo style and set in a terraced garden, Sanssouci is much grander than Cecilienhof, but ever so slightly more tacky. The entrance of the palace leads into the most notable room, the Hall of Shells. The walls of this room are covered with fossils, shells and semiprecious stones. While being ridiculously tacky, the lighthearted feel of this room and the other whimsically decorated rooms are in keeping with Frederick’s desire to keep the palace as a place to escape the pomp of the Prussian court. Apparently, Sanssouci comes from the French term which loosely translates as "without cares", or in Australian "no worries".

On Tuesday, we did a bus and walking tour of Berlin. Berlin is a very interesting city, but I wasn’t a fan of the tour. The tour guide spent the better part of an hour telling us about a shopping mall that had been rebuilt after the war and the construction challenges that were faced, yawn. In the arvo, Kristin and I visited the Checkpoint Charlie museum, the Jewish museum, the Holocaust memorial and saw the place where Hitler’s bunker used to be. The Checkpoint Charlie museum was interesting, albeit overpriced. The museum related various anecdotes as to the ingenious methods that eastern Germans used to escape over the border into west Berlin. The Jewish museum was interesting, however it mainly consisted of Jewish artefacts of Jews who were killed by the Nazis and a vague insight into the Jewish culture in general. Certainly interesting, but I was hoping for more of an insight to the history surrounding the Nazi persecution. The Holocaust memorial consists of a large square filled with grey tomb-like stones. Apparently, the company that provided the graffiti proof material for the memorial is the same company that produced ‘Zyklon B’, the gas used to kill victims at Auschwitz. That’s what I call, getting in on both sides of the market.

On Wednesday, we visited the villa where the Wannsee Conference was held and also visited a Stasi (pronounced shtazi) Prison. The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior Nazi officials, held on 20 January 1942, to inform them of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”. It is scary to think that a small group of insane people can do so much damage to the world. As a general rule it is a good idea to keep power out of the hands of lunatics, “hello, America, are you listening?” In the afternoon, we visited the Stasi prison. One of the former inmates of the prison spoke to us about his experience being imprisoned there. This man was imprisoned for 7 years without trial, and spent 10 months in complete isolation in the underground prison that was affectionately dubbed the “U-boat”. He was involved in a student organisation and while he was visiting eastern Berlin to give financial assistance to some of the students there, he was arrested by the Stasi on suspicion of being a high level spy. He said that the complete isolation and “psychological torture” dished out by the prison guards, led to many inmates developing psychiatric conditions. This man had however survived unscathed. He gave three reasons for his ability to survive. 1. Mental exercise. While in isolation, he continually recited things he had learnt before and created hypothetical situations and solved mathematical and other problems. 2. Keeping perspective. Instead of focussing on what a bad situation he was in, he said that he always tried to “sit beside” himself, looking at his situation in the context of the broader machinations and problems of the time. 3. Artificial arrogance. He fostered a sense of “artificial arrogance” within himself. The prison guards would never use his name and would merely address him by stating “come”, “go” and “turn around”. He considered the guards as children, too silly and foolish to be able to really cause him concern.

On Thursday, we visited the Reichstag. The parliamentary building where the German parliament (the Bundestag) resides. The building is a place of significant historical significance. The building was built to house the original parliament of the German Empire opening in 1894. It mysteriously burnt down in 1933 (thanks Hitler), and the communists were blamed. It was only reopened as recently as 1999 to house the Parliament of united Germany. Anyway, being a group of law students from Germany's only private law school, we were lucky enough to have a talk from Hans-Ulrich Klose. He is the former mayor of the free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg and a current member of the Bundestag and Chairman of the German-American Parliamentary Group. This man is very impressive and hearing him speak was really interesting. Klose jokingly said that he thought Europeans should be allowed to vote in American elections because US policies directly effects Europe. When asked who he would vote for if he were allowed, Klose said that the American/European relations were currently at a low point (no doubt due in no small part to George Bushes arrogance and unilateralism) and that the election of the Democrates would be expected to improve relations. Klose said that if Hillary Clinton were elected this would spell three decades where two American families have controlled American politics. Seeing this as a dangerous outcome Klose said that he would support Obama. I was shocked that Klose was so frank about who he would support in the US election and I'm not so sure his position makes sense. It does not matter who controls government, so much as it matters that they are the best man for the job. As to whether Hillary is the best 'man' for the job is a whole other question...