Berlin #2

Berlin #2

After getting some much needed sleep to recharge from from the 36+ hr journey after leaving Toronto on Sunday we were back out in the city this morning with Track 17, location of the Wannsee Conference, Bayerische Platz Memorial, and Check Point Charlie,  as well as, a piece of the Berlin Wall in passing.

Track 17
Track 17 had a different impact on me than the monuments/memorials from yesterday as this was real, this as a place where like myself once stood, their future in unknown.  The station which is still functioning today marks the place where Jews from Berlin were brought to be taken to places such as the Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz.

Along the remnants of the path run a walkway and on the walkway were dates from months throughout the early 1940s which included the exact date, number of Jews deported, and where they were deported to.   As Pinchas (the survivor traveling on Bus 1 later noted the Nazi kept very detailed records of their victims and events.

Wannsee Conference Location
- a villa located on the coast of a Lake (now a weekend 'cottage' town)
- the building now a museum and library (upstairs) covers the material surrounding the Conference and the decisions made prior to and after
- the Conference itself was held on January 20th, 1942; this date being the second time the Conference was organized as the original date (December 1941) was postponed due to the event of Pearl Harbour
- it was not the top senior officials that met at this Conference but those who were carrying out the operations to the 'Final Solution'
- killing was already taking place in Europe, however, this was where the final measures to kill 11 million Jews would be decided upon; on completion of the Conference more killing centers and camps we built

Bayerische Platz Memorial
- located in the middle of a park
- created in 1993 by an artist and a profesor
- old rules that the were inflicted on the Jews now hang on signs behind picture of an object that relate to the restriction (see pictures for example)
- the rules posted are in German; we were asked to wander the area find these signs (not at eye level) and ask locals to translate what was inscribed
- some were reluctant to translate or speak to what the Memorial represented; others were open and shared the information, as well as, additional facts/stories

Check Point Charlie/Old Gestapo Head Quarters/Berlin Wall
- driving through the city later in the morning we past 
- Check Point Charlie one of the main checkpoint during the division of the Berlin Wall
- the old Gestapo Headquarters is currently being converted into a museum if I heard correctly
- a large section of the old Berlin Wall stands fully intact to serve as reminder of the obstacle that stood there for so many years dividing a people and a city
- throughout the area there were a large number of tour buses as we were told that many people come here as it was a place of terror and fear, therefore, some souvenir booths sell items such as Soviet uniforms, gas masks, and Communists Flags