Celtic Way

It was Saturday, the last weekend before the kids started school. What should we do? Suggestions included - nap, play computer, play Leggos. No - let's get outside - let's hike. We had heard that if you take a different trail, one that branches from Philosopher's Way, you can find some cool ruins. And we had seen some things from Konigstuhl on the south side of the river. So we set off with our water bottles, hiking shoes and rain jackets to explore. What a great day! It was about a 7 mile hike (if my pedometer is close to accurate) - half of that was straight up - but it was worth it!



The first thing we came across was a tower, built in the early 1900's. We climbed it to find some amazing views of Heidelberg.













We kept going, not knowing what we might find. The hike itself was beautiful - through the forest. The path was wide and well-maintained but went up and up and up. We met many others since hiking on the weekends seems to be a favorite German pastime.






The next thing we came across was the ruins of an old monastery, Stephanskloster, built in 1090. We climbed the tower to see Heidelberg from even higher up (can you see the kids at the top of the tower?) and explored the old ruins.














































A view of Heidelberg from Stephanskloster. Remember we started out down by the river and at this point still have some climbing to do! You can see Konigstuhl at the top of the mountain and the clearing in the trees for the old train that takes people up to Konigstuhl.







We continued to climb and the things we stumbled upon were more interesting as we ascended.

We passed by a restaurant. A sign said it was built in the early 1900's. Just around the corner we saw a large brick structure. We turned off the path to it. It was a huge outdoor theater. We then remembered that our relocation agent had mentioned this. It was built by the Third Reich as a place to hold political propaganda rallies. We entered through the door that led to the stage and the seats lay spread out before us.




Here we are standing on the stage. The entrance to the stage from the back is just to the left of Ellen. The orange sign says it was built by the Third Reich in the mid 1930's. This place echoed with voices from the past. It did not take much imagination to visualize this place in 1936.








I am on the stage and the rest of the family is climbing the steps that run through the center of the seats. Signs elsewhere indicated that this theater had seating for 8,000 and standing room for another 5,000. Apparently the SS would march, in step, down the sides (you can just see these stairways on the side isles of the seats) and their steps would echo in rhythm. They would continue on marcingh up to the steps on the sides of the stage and form a ring from on top of the stage, down the steps. For evening rallies there were massive spotlights placed on the sides and the stage.






Here is a view of the stage from the seats. You can see how massive it is, the steps leading from both sides to the top of the stage and the flag poles in the center.








The place was obviously abandoned. It really could be a beautiful summer theater but there is still too much emotion, guilt and disagreement about what to do with structures like this so it just sits empty and weeds grow.






We kept hiking. Our goal was something marked on the map that looked like the remains of an old church. We were close.


We ended our climb at Klosterruine St Michael, the ruins of another old monastery. This one was larger and more elaborate than the Stephanskloster. We climbed towers and explored the various rooms. Signs indicated what each room was used for by the monks of St Michael.




















The grave of someone who died in 1070!





















The conversation at this point went something like this...
Can I jump Mom, can I? Dad did.
Do not break something. I am not carrying either one of you up the 50 steps to our front door!









All bones still intact!














A view from the Kloster tower.

Can you see Ellen and Daniel peeking from the top of the second tower?

This is a view of much of the Kloster ruins from the top of the tallest of the two towers.

On our way back home we stopped at the restaurant near the outdoor theater, had something to drink and laughed and laughed. It was such a nice day and a perfect way to spend the Saturday before school started!

Some views from our way back down...

You can see our house in this one. I'm not going to point it out on the world wide web for just anyone to see but if you are interested, call or email and I'll try to describe it so you can pick it out!

Buchenwald

Nestled in the woods, overlooking the peaceful, rolling German countryside is Buchenwald. It seems a location more appropriate for a children's summer camp or a family retreat/resort than the site of a former concentration camp in which torture and mass murder took place.

We drove from Weimar (which still contains buildings that served the Nazis), north toward Buchenwald, not sure what would be left of this awful place - we wondered if the GDR preserved the site, did they erect a memorial, what would we see? It was a really gray, cold day - any other weather would have seemed out of place during this sobering afternoon. You won't see many pictures of us in this set - it didn't really seem appropriate most of the time. We turned onto Blutstrasse (Blood Road), named because it was constructed by the prisoners of Buchenwald. As we drove along Blutstrasse we saw some of what is left of the railway track that was used to move people in and out of the camp.


We parked near a series of gold-colored, multi-storied buildings which we later learned were former SS training and administrative buildings. This was an important site for SS training. It quickly became clear that this was an enormous complex - much bigger than we imagined and it had been carefully preserved by the GDR. They also constructed a huge, impressive and moving memorial to those that were imprisoned and/or lost their lives in Buchenwald. (We visited that as we were leaving.)




The entrance to the concentration camp itself consisted of a gate flanked by low-rise cement buildings. The buildings were the location of cells for "special" prisoners - political prisoners, etc.












This is the inside of one of the low-rise wings of the entrance gate. Cell number 1 was where an inmate spent the night before s/he was to be killed. These buildings were also the places where horrible torture of prisoners occurred. Many of the cells had photos, brief bios and memorials (flowers, candles, etc.) in memory of those known to have occupied a certain cell (see example below).




















The gate itself bears the phrase "Jedem das Seine" or "To each his own or Everyone gets what they deserve."






This is a view of the fence line extending from the gate buildings. You can see a guard house at the corner. The building with the red roof was where prisoners could trade what little they could bring with them for things of greater necessity. In the basement some prisoners were put to work making soap. Members of the resistance bravely made Molotov cocktails in the basement which they smuggled out to the resistance. Outside the fence, all around the camp is a paved walkway used by the SS to patrol the perimeter. The women you see are standing at a small memorial. These kinds of memorials are scattered throughout the camp to honor specific groups of people or nationalities and even individuals that were imprisoned here. They are covered with flowers, stones, wreaths, candles, notes...



The inmates' barracks were no longer there but the foundations are and the foundations were "filled" with black stone. Row after row after row after row, what was left of the barracks were laid out. It was eerie. Many of the barracks were marked with plaques indicating that a certain barrack was for children or for prisoners from a particular country or for gypsies, etc.











This is a memorial at the site of the "Little Camp", a particularly horrible addition late in the war. Prisoners were brought here from other concentration camps. Overcrowding, famine, disease, lack of sanitation ran rampant. Very few of those who spent much time in "Little Camp" survived. Many of those sent on death marches near liberation came from "Little Camp."

The crematorium...












and the ovens inside...













Scores of urns filled with the ashes of those who died were found in cellars of various buildings, some unearthed as late as the '90s. The ashes are no longer in these urns. They were buried in the cemetery part of the Buchenwald memorial.













The Dietrich Bonhoeffer Memorial site in the exposed basement of an SS casern. The basement contained detention cells. Bonhoeffer, although executed in Flossenburg, was held here, in these basement cells, in Buchenwald.



















Some prisoners worked (often to death) in this ammunition factory just outside the camp's fences...













others in a nearby quarry. Notice the beautiful view of the German countryside and quaint towns from what remains of the quarry.





As we walked and explored the region surrounding the camp we came across the remains of several buildings like this one. Unmarked. We wondered what we would hear if these walls could talk. We wondered if we would want to hear.





Buchenwald was built in 1937. After 1943 the inmates (which after 1944 included women) were severely exploited in work sites around the camp. Medical experiments, especially associated with typhoid, were conducted here by the SS. A short time before liberation the SS tried to evacuate Buchenwald and sent 28,000 inmates on death marches. 21,000 inmates (including 900 children and teens) remained in the camp. The camp was liberated by units of the Third US Army on April 11, 1945. From its opening in 1937 to its liberation in 1945 250,000 people were imprisoned in Buchenwald. More than 50,000 of them died there. Many others were sent from Buchenwald to extermination camps. They included people from many countries, Jewish and non-Jewish. From 1945 to 1950 the camp was occupied by the Soviets who used it as an internment camp for those who had served the Nazis in an official capacity. Of the ~28,000 internees, more than 7,000 died.

I don't have words to describe for you how emotionally draining this afternoon was for all of us. We found ourselves walking mostly in silence, whispering when communication was necessary because talking seemed inappropriate. I think all of us shed silent tears at some points(s) during our visit.

On our way out of Buchenwald we stopped at the enormous, impressive, deeply moving Buchenwald Memorial. We were glad that we saw things in this order. It seemed appropriate to end with something that honored those who lost their lives rather than the camp itself. Here are some pictures from the Buchenwald Memorial.



The bell tower and monument on the left.

















Graves of those who died after liberation because disease and/or malnutrition had gone too far.



















The circular structure in the background is one of three naturally occurring depressions that the Nazis used as mass graves. All three are now incorporated into the Memorial.








A boardwalk with individual huge structures (left side) recognizing 18 countries - representing the homelands of most of the inmates.







A walkway leading toward the boardwalk of nations lined with huge stone reliefs representing what life was like at this camp.

Berlin

Sioux City has prairie dogs, Omaha and Chicago have cows, Berlin has bears...

We spent three days in Berlin and loved this city! We saw so many things we thought we would only dream of seeing. We learned a lot about WWII history and also about Berlin during its division by the Berlin Wall. We loved Berlin's museums, in fact, Jeff had to drag the four of us out of them or we would still be there! Here are some highlights of our three days in Berlin...











Brandenburg Gate is more magnificent than we expected. This symbol of German reunification still has a celebrative feel, even more than a decade after the wall came down.







On the steps of the Reichstag, Germany's parliament building. We took an elevator up to a large, glass dome that we climbed to see Berlin below. The dome had pictures that covered the history of German government and of this building which was stormed when the Soviets took Berlin at the end of WWII. It was the burning of this building in 1933 allowed Hitler to blame the communists and sieze political power in Germany. The center of the dome has a mirrored funnel that is fun to see as you climb the ramps to the dome's top.



A view of Berlin (notice the Brandenburg Gate) from the top of the Reichstag dome. There was construction everywhere!










In the Reichstag dome.

















The massive, breathtaking Berliner Dom.








There is not much left of the Berlin wall. Near the Brandenburg Gate the location of the wall is marked by bricks in the cobblestone and by occasional brass plates in the cement like this one.








Sections of the wall can be found scattered about the city, complete with their awesome graffiti. This piece was in Potsdamer Platz which is thriving after sitting idle, bisected by the Berlin wall for nearly 30 years.










The kids are straddling the former wall. I wonder if they really appreciate the significance of what they are doing?











At one corner of the Tiergarten (a huge city park, analogous to New York's Central Park) is a memorial to those who lost their lives trying to cross the Berlin Wall.








This is quite a long expanse of the wall, intact and in its original location. The picture is of the former GDR side - note the lack of graffiti. This is also near the entrance of the "Topography of Terror", an open-air exhibit about Nazi atrocities during WWII and also about the Nuremberg Trials which included recordings from the trials themselves. It is built on the site of former Gestapo headquarters and the SS Central Command. We learned so much here about the great potential humans have for evil (the Nazis) but also about the real potential humans have for great good and courage (those that resisted, etc.). Some pictures from the "Topography of Terror" follow. We had headsets in English to help.






























A memorial at the site of the first Nazi book burning. The square the kids are standing next to is glass. If you look down through it you see empty bookshelves on all four sides.
In the background of the picture you see two interesting things. The statue of a stack of books (with famous German authors on the spines) - one of many "Germany land of ideas" sites. This one commemorates Germany's invention of printing equipment that allows mass publication of books. The buildings in the background are part of Humbolt University. Einstein and the Brothers Grimm, among other famous people, are former faculty members.







Beautiful Schloss Charlottenburg.










No trip to Berlin is complete without a visit to Checkpoint Charlie...





















The museums of Berlin are amazing! And there are SO many of them!



Our favorite was the Pergamon Museum. Here is the entrance to the Pergamon over the Spree River. An island in the Spree is called museum island because there are five massive museums there. They are undergoing lots of renovation. Some were not open or were partially located in a different building because of renovation.








The boys were getting in the spirit even before we went inside!
















Our favorites included the Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate (both shown here) as well as the massive Pergamon Alter. The boys liked the bones of dead people and we also loved the Aleppo Room.





Another favorite museum was the Egyptian Museum where we saw the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti as well as lots of mummies (favorites of the boys). Audio guides in English made the museum exhibits a real memorable and educational experience for us all. The extremely well-done descriptions of the exhibits made everything interesting! Seriously - we would still be there pushing the buttons for each and every exhibit if Jeff wasn't moving us along!!





















One of the biggest highlights for Jeff was our visit to Berlin's 1936 Olympia Stadion (Olympic Stadium). And, WOW, was it ever impressive - with its amazing remodeling/modernization for the 2006 World Cup it was a stunning combination of history and modern technology!



































In this picture you can see both what is left of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche after it was hit by allied bombs in WWII and the Hall of Worship, built in 1961. Both are beautiful in very different ways and together make an impressive statement about the futility of war.

Here are a few pictures of the insides of both buildings...








































With our last couple of hours in Berlin we decided to go to Anne Frank Zentrum. As we entered we eavesdropped on an interview the staff was conducting with an old man who (because we listened in) we learned knew the Frank family. Wow! The most interesting exhibit here featured the winners of a writing contest sponsored by the Anne Frank Zentrum. Students were asked to find peers, relatives, family friends, neighbors, etc. who experienced war as children. They were to conduct interviews and submit an extensive report/essay. The winners included a girl whose grandmother was the daughter of one of the men killed because of his involvement in a Hitler assassination attempt, teenagers from Serbia, etc. It was really well done and fascinating!





















We visited several other smaller museums and several churches. As you can see we used our time in Berlin well, learned a lot and had a great time!