After a second day in the former East Berlin, I'm a little overwhelmed by how messed up the last 50 years have been here. Well probably more. It's just all so extreme: the most over the top baroque vestiges of Fredrick the Great are nestled among, in no particular order, the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny, the memorial to murdered Jews, and the gigantic soviet space needle from which Soviet era propaganda was transmitted.
The Jewish memorial was incredibly moving and terrifying. The museum houses an exhibition that primarily attempts to bringthe 6 million number back into the realm of comprehension. Working through the history of the genocide year by year, city by city, and then eventually family by family makes the enormity of the loss more real somehow. It was incredibly sad.Fortunately we emerged to find these Chinese toursits posing with twin statues of Mark and Engels, so that cheered us up pretty quickly.
xoxo Jessie
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