Driftwood and Daydreams

I've always loved history since I was little. Ancient history that is. The closer an event comes to present times, the less interesting I find it to be. Therefore, when it came time to study World War II in high school, I could hardly even feign interest.

Fast forward and I'm standing in Berlin. Suddenly I'm surrounded by all these places mentioned in my history books that I let slip out of my memory. And, while it was easy for me to try to forget about these events before coming to Berlin, the German had to live on a day to day basis, remembering the atrocities their country had committed, constantly surrounded by memories of the past. It would have been easy to simply bulldoze all those memories- destroy them and cover them up with new buildings that didn't harbor such pain. But instead the Germans acknowledge their past.

This is evident in sites such as The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. I was told "Everyone experiences something different." when they encounter this memorial. Indeed, walking through these rows of blank, concrete pillars was an experience. Slowly the path way sinks down as the columns become taller and you feel a strange sensation of being engulfed by the monument.

Not far away is Bebelplatz; the plaza of the infamous Nazi book burnings. To remember the event and acknowledge the loss, a memorial was installed underground which can be viewed through a glass plate. The memorial beneath is nothing but empty bookshelves, enough room for every book burned.

Just across the street from Bebelplatz you can find the Memorial for the Victims of War and Tyranny. Inside the building is a sole statue of a woman holding her dead son. Above her is a hole in the ceiling, exposing her to the weather. She endures the blazing sun and the freezing snow, symbolizing the suffering of victims. It is said that when it rains it looks like she's crying.

And it was from these monuments that I learned this lesson from Berlin: don't forget your past or you will repeat it. Germany committed some horrible acts during World War II but instead of denying their past, covering it and smilingly warmly at tourists, they admit their faults. This acknowledgement is what enables them to move forward, strive to do better, and create a new era in German history. If we, as individuals, could only accept in ourselves our faults and failures of the past, maybe we too could move forward and be better people.