Who is behind the history?

The group started today at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche), which is known for extensive damage by bombs during World War II. Only a small portion of the church remains, and the only part that can be entered is a souvenir shop – this is where I captured the photo of the woman lighting a candle. It doesn’t appear that much work has been done to preserve the remains of the church, and this may be somewhat controversial. Wikipedia states that “in December of 2007, Charles Jeffrey Gray, a former British pilot who carried out World War II bombing raids over Germany, joined a campaign to rescue the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church from decay. After reading about the condition of the Church, Gray contacted Wolfgang Kuhla, the chairman of the church’s advisory board, urging that its tower be restored. In response, a fund was launched to help raise the costs of its repair.” I did see many posters around the site which seemed to support this cause.

After lunch and a quick visit through KaDeWe, a big department store that I would liken to Harrod’s in London, we visited the Allied Museum (Alliierten Museum), which is located at the center of where the United States occupation sector was in Berlin. If anything, this visit helped remind me how history is as much about past events much as it is really about those who write it. There are a few references to the “good” side (aka, the Allies) winning in the end, “like a fairy tale” (web site) and I can imagine that from a different perspective the hardship that these events brought may not have been something that would be called a win. Our tour guide mentioned yesterday that there are a few people  who may feel that the communist-style of government of the past was just poorly executed, but not a bad idea – although this isn’t an opinion that I have ever heard expressed in Berlin, so don’t take this as fact. . I’m sure this topic could be argued around the world about various governments.

I’ll share a few more pictures, but hope to have more tomorrow as there will be a bit of free time for exploration. There will be a group outing tomorrow night to see a play, and then a walk through another former squatter or squatter-style area.

Here are a few other shots from around Berlin: