Bernhard led us on a day-long walking tour of Berlin Mitte, during which we learned from a personal perspective the history about many points of interest. These pictures represent only a small fraction of what we experienced on Monday.
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| First inner courtyard of the Hackeschen Höfen |
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| First courtyard in Hackeschen Höfen |
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| Bernhard explaining living conditions of the average worker in 18th Century Berlin |
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Stolpersteine / Stumbling stones
Gunter Demnig's memorial to Jews and others murdered by the Nazis -- each stone tells the story of a life cut short by intolerance and violence |
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| All these people were taken from this one house |
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Herr Balzer's bakery is still open today
During the Nazi reign of terror, Herr Balzer secretly provided food to imprisoned Jews and worked with a green-grocer colleague to rescue people from deportation to concentration camps |
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| Bakery Balzer |
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| Tommy eating a Berliner, a local specialty that the current Balzer generation makes especially well |
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| Signs on the walls of the missing house show where people lived before it was bombed out |
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Site of the first Jewish retirement home in Berlin
The Nazi's used it as a collection point for Jews who were deported to Auschwitz and Theresienstadt |
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| Outlines of the rooms in the Jewish retirement home |
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| In memory of the women who suffered and were murdered in Ravensbrück |
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| Entrance to the Old Jewish Cemetary |
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In memory of the oldest Jewish cemetery in Berlin
Used from 1672 to 1827 and destroyed in 1943 on order of the Gestapo |
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| Grave stone in memory of Moses Mendelssohn, who is buried on the grounds of the old Jewish Cemetery |
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| New Synagoge in Berlin Mitte |
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| Near Bahnhof Friedrichstraße |
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| Many were deported to concentration camps |
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| A few traveled on their own to England and to safety |
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| Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Center (library) of the Humboldt University |
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Life-sized copy of Käthe Kollwitz' sculpture in memory of those who fell during World War I
The mother shows a strong resemblance to Käthe Kollwitz, and the dead soldier to her own son, who died during the War |
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Bebelplatz -- site of the large Nazi book burning in Berlin
Here books by many famous people, including Nobel laureates, were burned as "anti-Nazi" |
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| Konzerthaus / Concert Hall at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin |
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| French Cathedral, seen from the steps of the Concert Hall |
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| Chocolate version of the Brandenburger Tor / Brandenburg Gate at chocolatier Fassbender & Rausch |
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| Chocolate version of the Reichstagsgebäude / Reichstag building |
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| Bernhard at Checkpoint Charlie, showing us where the Berlin Wall used to divide the city |
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| Checkpoint Charlie |
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| Trabi Safari |
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| Home base for Trabi Safari |
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| European bear |
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Learning history of the present Finance Ministry building --
built as Ministry of the Nazi air force, used as GDR's Ministry building |
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| The three arms of socialist society working together |
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| Holocaust Memorial |
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| Brandenburg Gate from the Holocaust Memorial |
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| US Embassy seen from the Holocaust Memorial |
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| Reichstagsgebäude / Reichstag building |
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| Bernhard showing us how this part of Berlin looked right after the Second World War |
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| Brandenburger Tor / Brandenburg Gate |
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| Demonstration against atomic energy, Berlin Alexanderplatz |
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| One Professor, one hat |
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| Same professor, another hat |
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| The Twelve Apostels restaurant |
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| Mmmm. Asparagus with parsley potatoes, a late spring specialty |
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