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  • Day 45

    Big Day in Berlin

    October 18, 2017 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    After a relaxed first day in Berlin, it was time to do some sightseeing. Got a 48 hour Welcome card with discounts and free travel.

    Navigated the S-bahn to the German History Museum. Found a really nice Christmas shop on the way. Very tempting. Museum was really good - covered events from early days to today. Seeing that span of history made us realize the sheer number of wars (and that's wars, not battles) that have happened. Crazy.

    Then a currywurst and fries with a beer in the sun. Such a nice day!

    Walked to see the Brandenburger Gate and Reichstag. Continued on. Missed a memorial which we'll come back to tomorrow hopefully.

    Stopped for oven fresh pretzel (soooo good) and then some delicious ice cream (loving the pistachio flavour).

    Then took train to the Topography of Terror - where the Gestapo headquarters (and etc.) were housed.

    They estimated that, in the end, 400,000 Germans were involved with the Nazi regime. The result of the regime (apart from the wider war) was a massive death toll (6 million Jewish, 500,000 Romas, and so many Polish prisoners of war, mentally ill or physically disabled German citizens), families torn apart and people displaced. Sobering.

    Especially sobering when you realize how many Nazi's escaped justice and how many served only a small fraction of their sentences (eg. just 3-4 years) - even if they were personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Some even went on to have positions of power again....

    Interesting to see a German perspective - many Germans in the post war years saw the trials as "victor's trials" - basically a chance to judge them on the basis that they had lost the war vs the actual crimes against humanity that had been committed. Because if it had been the latter, then the people responsible for the bombings of Dresden (killing so many German civilians) and other atrocities would also have had consequences to face.

    Was also interesting to see how the general German populace shifted the blame to officials when faced with the reality of Nazi regime, and were more preoccupied with their own sufferings - especially in East Germany. Though culpable ownership of that terrible history is clearly taken now.

    Then a trek to find a board game shop. This one with a big collection and also the ability to rent games for €3/$5 per day. May have gotten a bit lost (Wade's bad) but got there in the end. Then metro back to home and had some delicious and cheap Turkish (has been one of our favourite foods so far in Germany - not that we've had a particularly large range).

    Then we played the rented board game (Ascension expansion) and had another beer ($1 for 500ml from the supermarket!). A good if rather long day.
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