germany

During Hitler’s reign of terror- Jews had to wear yellow stars to identify themselves as being Jewish. There was also a Nazi boycott of Jewish stores, so the star was painted on the storefront window to signify that is was owned by Jewish people.

The Nazis burned the books of authors whose writings were viewed as subversive or whose ideologies undermined the National Socialist administration. Aye-yi-yi! So paranoid and insecure.

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat in Nazi-occupied Hungary who led an extensive and successful mission to save the lives of nearly 100,000 Hungarian Jews. The cobblestones are originals from a Jewish ghetto and the bronzed briefcase is said to be Raoul Wallenberg’s- although something I read stated it was a replica. On January 17, 1945 he was taken into Russian custody and never seen or heard from again. Some reports say he died in 1947, others that he lived into the 1980’s. From all accounts, he sounds like an amazing man who risked his life for other people’s freedom.

There was an entire section in the Checkpoint Charlie museum devoted to non-violent revolutions. Gandhi and Martin Luther King were obviously focal points but there was a smaller wall of people who were killed/murdered fighting for peace, justice…for humanity. I had never heard their names before, but their stories are extraordinary. Individuals making a difference! The story below is about a woman named Barbel Bohley who was an artist and one of the co-founders of the Initiative for Peace and Human Rights. (One of my very good friends from Montreal is named Barbel – so when I saw the name I was drawn to her story.) Sounds like an incredible woman- just like my friend!

The black and white photo was taken during the Cold War. You can’t see the dividing line in the old picture but the white line was the dividing line between Communism (the East) and Freedom (the West.) The picture below is of me walking over the line. It was removed and placed in the museum after the wall came down.

There were many things on display at Checkpoint Charlie that were from failed and successful escape attempts. It is hard to see in this photo, but a person could hide under the front hood of the car while the driver drove through the border control (hopefully) without the vehicle getting searched.

We really loved Berlin. Our favorite museum was Checkpoint Charlie. I was in East Berlin before the wall came down in 1989. It feels completely different today- in a very good way. These photos were taken outside of the Checkpoint Charlie museum. (Charlie was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.)