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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 2016)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016 In Berlin, the past is with us Travel in Germany is an emotional experience By STEVE FORRESTER The Daily Astorian A trip to Germany is emotional. The past is palpably present. My wife and I dis- covered that in our recent visits to Ber- lin, Dresden, Bayreuth, Nuremberg and other cities. People and places are the joy and insight of travel. On our trip through Germany, Budapest and Prague, we had the good for- tune to meet an array of provocative, interesting guides. They included an Astoria man who has spent 17 years in Berlin, a Dresden native who bears scars of the repressive Soviet GDR (German Democratic Republic) and a young Ph.D. candidate who brought the Nuremberg Trials alive. A world city The images of Berlin in my head were of the Wall, the Brandenburg Gate and ruins at the end of World War II. It is much more than that. Berlin is heavily forested, with abun- dant park lands. Because some 65 percent of Berlin was destroyed in the war, it is largely a new city, but with many magniicent resto- rations. It has a relatively low population den- sity and excellent public transportation. My wife noticed that Berlin resembles Washington, D.C. Both are low-rise cit- ies with extensive embassy footprints. It is a world city. Brenda Penner/For The Daily Astorian This informational plaque explains Hitler’s bunker where he and Eva Braun committed suicide and were incinerated. A confession Most of all, Berlin is a sort of confes- sional. Evidence of the war and of the Nazi regime that started that war are all around. Unlike Japan, postwar Germany is excep- tionally open about the panoply of Nazi hor- rors. Even the park around Richard Wagner’s opera house in Bayreuth is akin to the Catho- lic confession box. At 41, Preston Meyer, is an experienced Berlin travel guide. He is also a member of the Astoria High School class of 1993. Pres- ton showed us the site where physicians decided whether disabled people would live or be shipped away for experiments before a death from neglect. In a park, he pointed out a stark monument to the homosexuals who were arrested by the Nazis. One of the most startling moments was seeing the vacant lot, under which was Hit- ler’s bunker — where he and Eva Braun com- mitted suicide and were incinerated. Today it is a sort of parking lot, but with an interpreta- tive plaque. On our Sunday walk through Berlin, its pending elections were apparent. Preston pointed out the campaign posters of the far right, racial purity party. On the recommendation of an Astoria friend, we visited the Berlin Museum. After seeing rooms that cover the close of World War I and the Weimar period, the rise of Hit- ler (including a scale model of Auschwitz) and World War II, and the allied occupation, we left, emotionally exhausted. Brenda Penner/For The Daily Astorian Former Astorian Preston Meyer at the Jewish Memorial, Berlin. He is an experienced travel guide in the city. Surrender While we traveled, The New Yorker pub- lished an article titled “Where Germans Make Peace with their Dead.” It is about a sort of therapy that is attracting people seeking emo- tional answers. Describing the participants, Burkhard Bilger wrote: “Most were middle aged Germans … unaccustomed to self-pity and allergic to national pride. … Theirs was a country responsible for history’s bloodiest war and most eficient mass murder … .” Preston showed us the place where all that ended — Karlshorst. In a former oficers mess hall the German surrender was signed. Outside the building, Soviet tanks are dis- played. Inside is an exhibit about what hap- pened in this building on May 8, 1945. In a large hall are the tables and chairs where the Allied powers sat and the small table at which German Field Marshal Keitel and two others were brought to sign the surrender document. East Germany was ‘the most perfected surveillance state of all time.’ Brenda Penner/For The Daily Astorian This portion of the Berlin Wall has been preserved against souvenir hunters. Emotional baggage If the Nazi past is emotional baggage, so is the Soviet occupation of East Ger- many. We heard about this from two guides. Cosima, a woman in her late 40s, said: “I wasted half my life under Communist rule.” She described how she was singled out as a Catholic in kindergarten and as a high school graduate not recommended for college because of her religion. She added this poignant observation: “The Communists created ruins with no weapons.” Cosima recommended a book titled “Sta- siland,” which describes the vestiges of the notorious East German secret police, the Stasi. Anna Funder writes that the Stasi’s ratio of spies and informants to population was higher than Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s Rus- sia. “After the Wall fell, the German media called East Germany “the most perfected sur- veillance state of all time.” Opera history Seeing Bayreuth and Wagner’s Festspiel- haus was the big draw of this tour. With a Scotsman from Edinburgh, we took the Ger- man-language tour. Sitting in the auditorium was being inside one of opera’s time capsules — a space that has been illed by big, exqui- site voices for 140 years. Like many outsized icons, this one has modest proportions. Walls are earth tones. It lacks the glitter that typi- cally festoons opera houses. We were thrilled to be shown into the orchestra pit and to stand on the stage. Outside the opera house is a panel with a simple label, “Introduction.” Two exten- sive paragraphs describe Wagner’s condem- nation of Jews and how Nazis took inspi- ration from his music. It also confessed his heirs’ cooperation in Hitler’s appropriation of the Festspielhaus. Next to this panel are some Ω30 panels titled “Silenced Voices.” They picture and describe singers and conduc- tors who were not allowed to perform there because they were Jewish or gay. Curtain calls Seeing live music theater abroad is an adventure. In Budapest, we enjoyed Hungar- ian operetta, speciically “The Gypsy Prin- cess,” composed by Emmerich Kalman in 1915. Our seatmates included family groups, sometimes of three generations. The woman next to me hummed the tunes. A man behind cued the words before they were spoken. Rhythmic clapping led to some 15 minutes of curtain calls. Steve Forrester is the former editor and publisher of The Daily Astorian. He is pres- ident of the EO Media Group board of directors. Brenda Penner/For The Daily Astorian Underneath this parking lot was the Fuhrerbunker, where Adolf Hitler spent his last weeks. Following Hitler’s suicide and that of Eva Braun, their bodies were incinerated in this space. DAVID F. PERO, Editor & Publisher • LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager • CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager • DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Founded in 1873
