It was another beautiful day in Berlin! Oh, how I love to say that! It was a bit cold, but the slight chill didn’t stop Leasa and me from having a terrific day! Our morning began early as we woke after a semi-restful night and enjoyed a delicious breakfast at our hotel. I always tell my traveling family that one of my most favorite parts of our trips is our breakfasts…. While Berlin is not Israel, and NOTHING compares to an Israeli breakfast, this was really yummy! We were happy to have Anne and Richard Rubin join us for breakfast and the four of us decided to head to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, which was a short walk from our hotel. What better way for us to acknowledge Veteran’s Day than by visiting such a historical military site. One side note… The biggest joy of traveling with a group like this is the connections you make to others. While Leasa and I have spent quality time with Anne and Richard before, having such concentrated time with them was really special and allowed us to connect in new ways that we will hold forever. Thank you Anne and Richard for joining us this morning.
During our walk to the museum we came across this sculpture and pieces of the Berlin Wall. For me, it was the first time I came across pieces of the wall in Berlin and it was a chilling reminder that this trip would be filled with historical moments, both positive and difficult.
What really surprised me was the fact that on the building behind this sculpture had an Israeli flag flying. The fact that the Final Solution was initiated not too far from here (we will see that later in our trip when we visit the Wannsee Villa), now we see an Israeli flag flying proudly. Pretty amazing.
Anne and I noticed that the street had different colored bricks lining it and, after asking a German passerby, we learned that these outline where the Berlin Wall stood.
And here I am with half of my body in East Berlin and the other half in West Berlin. Crazy that I could be in both places at the same time (ok, I really didn’t take into account the “no man’s land” in between the two borders) and hard to face the reality that at one point there was no wall and within one day, people were separated from family and friends just because they happened to be on one side or the other. We learned of countless stories for how people risked their lives in order to reunite with loved ones on the other side of the wall.
Seeing Checkpoint Charlie in person was really quite moving. To think of the history that happened on this place was overwhelming. I am so grateful to be able to see this in person.
What was most amazing about the Checkpoint Charlie Museum was the many ways that people tried to escape to the other side, moving from East Berlin to West Berlin. Most of the time this was to reunite with loved ones, as we learned that parents who left their children with their grandparents when they went to work were instantly no longer able to get to their children. Husbands and wives were separated, there were thousands of instances where families were literally torn apart because of the conflict that led to the Berlin Wall being erected. We learned how there were teams of helpers who would try to get people across to the other side by smuggling them in cars, in stereo systems, in suitcases. The ingenuity was impressive and only goes to show you how desperate these people were to reach loved ones.
I know it is hard to see in these photos, but we read countless stories of how people tried to go through, over and under the wall. While I am grateful that many did get across, sadly there are far more stories of people who did not make it.
After a couple of hours here we walked back to our hotel to join some others who we were taking a tour with (thanks to Anne for organizing). While walking we noticed some white roses on the ground and as we approached we were able to see they were placed near these bronze tiles placed into the sidewalk.
These Stolpersteine are plaques that can be found outside many homes (or locations of former homes) which commemorate the fates of the Jews who once lived there. The plaques include the victim’s name, date of birth, deportation date and death date. In Berlin more than 5,000 Stolpersteine have been placed as a constant reminder of the many valuable lives lost tragically during the Holocaust.
If you look closely at these stones you will see some were sent to Terezin, a camp we will visit next week during our trip before they were murdered at Auschwitz. We believe that the white roses were placed on these plaques on the commemoration of Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass, which was observed on November 9, remembering the November 9 - 10, 1938 pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazis.
We took time to read the names and fates of each of the stones we came into contact with, and, as the day went on I was able to find many more scattered around Berlin. These stones are a way that Germans acknowledge the atrocities of the Nazis, and helps to remember the many names that seem to have been forgotten.
Our small group went to lunch at a local restaurant near where we were meeting the “Underground Berlin” tour. While enjoying a leisurely lunch and connecting with friends I noticed this table behind us with two nice ladies deep in conversation. I had to try to snap a photo…
While I know it is a little blurry, do you see the photo on the table sitting with them? When I noticed this those at our table tried to figure out who that was a photo of. I thought it might be of one of their husbands, and Leasa thought they could be sisters and this was their brother…. Steven Shapiro actually had the courage to ask and we learned that the man in the photo was the husband of the lady wearing blue, who sadly has passed away. Today was his birthday, and they were together “celebrating” his birthday. How beautiful to see the connection between this woman and her husband. A reminder that love is stronger than death. And how beautiful to see the power of this friendship between these two ladies.
The Underground Berlin tour was AMAZING, taking us under the city into bunkers that were constructed long ago. Here we learned of how people tried to escape East Berlin by going under the wall. We learned countless stories of how people successfully escaped and those that did not, and how the East Berlin Border Patrol tried to stop people from leaving. It only solidified all we learned at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum earlier. We were not allowed to take any photos underground until the end of the tour when we got to see an actual tunnel that was dug under the wall, the only one people can actually see today.
After finishing the tour we went up and saw the park that shows this tunnel underneath (the planks mark the path of the tunnel).
Leasa and I left our group and walked four a long time exploring the streets of Berlin before hopping into an Uber to get back to our hotel. This was supposed to be an easy day of acclimating to the new time zone after more than a day of travel. And, even with us “taking it easy” we found such depth of history here in Berlin. How grateful we are to be sharing this together, and I am so excited that tomorrow, after another light day on our own, we will formally begin our tour tomorrow night when the group gets to meet Ron Singer, who is our Israeli educator who will guide us through these next 12 days. I cannot wait for the group to get to experience the brilliance of Ron, as I know he will bring even more depth to these sites than they can imagine. I will do my best to share these experiences with you each night through this blog. Thanks for being a part of our journey!
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