The sun was out most of the day so bikes were more plentiful than usual. Another observation, on the train or bus I see bikes (some collapsible) and teens galore wearing those teeth-straightening gadgets – braces. I don’t know anything about health and dental care here but suspect the dental care is affordable? Most of my eight-hour day was spent at the Holocaust Memorial which is free to tour, by the way. Exiting the exhibit I grabbed two brochures, one to keep and one for a friend who has taken the recent resurgence of anti-semitism to heart. She is active in her synagogue and must have some Holocaust stories. What makes the memorial is the stories. One after another there were old shared photos from before this reign of terror and how life was and is supposed to be without hate. Saying you support a biblical view of a man and a woman bound in marriage is not hate. Disagreeing with me does not make me hate you but I might feel sorry for you (sorry). Hate is killing innocent people. Hate is divising murder chambers. Hate is shooting children. Hate is labeling any human being as being less than another. Hate is you thinking you are superior. It starts with things that go unnoticed like taking money from taxpayers and giving it to only men who are black. The list could go on and on but the result of hate and the murder of European Jews, the disabled, the elderly, the gypsies, etc, is the end of hate – MURDER. People lost their property, then all rights, then freedom, then their lives all over Europe. The death camps were not just in Germany. I remember being fascinated in the 60’s by my parent’s ancient collection of National Geographic Magazines. I have written about this before because the memories that have emotion attached to them make the strongest memories. A magazine photo showed a giant grave with many bodies in it. I was shocked and asked Mom if it was a medieval picture and she said no, sadly it was about 15 years. I could not believe that such barbarism could exist so close to my time. It was the Holocaust. The memorial is actually named the FOUNDATION MEMORIAL TO THE MURDERED JEWS OF EUROPE. It is about remembering the people who lost their lives to such madness. It is a reminder of all who were targeted; also homosexuals, the Roma, the infirm and elderly, remembered with survivor testimonials. To survive what others died through also results in survival guilt. What happened to these people was deemed fully legal at the time. I stopped for a coffee to think about how best to pray since we cannot save these people. Before touring I wrote, “May God restore joy to your people in the name of Jesus”. I walked the perimeter and prayed at many stations above ground then went in-between the concrete slabs or ‘stelae’ arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. Originally the design was to have 4,000 slabs but only 2,711 would fit on 4.2 acres with the actual memorials beneath the ground. 54 rows go north-south and 87, east-west. If it was exhausting to review these stories, I can’t imagine living the reality. At the end I used the powder room and two women were loudly discussing, in English, which bag they were planning to buy at the shop they had found. They must not be Jewish. The nazis smashed them like bugs. Back on the bus I saw so many skin colors, so many hair textures, so many eye shapes, so many different smiles or not. Are we better now? Since Germany is more a melting pot than it was, 2020 numbers show 86.3 % German, 1.8% Turkish, 1% Polish, 1% Syrian, 1% Romanian, and all others at 8.9%. Faith numbers declared are Roman Catholic 27.1%, Protestant 24.9%, Muslim 5.2%, Orthodox 2%, other Christian 1%, other 1%, none 38.8%. We can’t hate or target anyone anymore. In the cities like Berlin, the numbers are very different. For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whoever would believe in Him will not perish. These people were innocent. Follow Jesus and follow love. One of the quotes from a Holocaust victim was, “You didn’t have to be a revolutionary to put yourself in deadly peril. It was enough simply to be oneself. It was sufficient to take one single step and one ran into the traps maliciously set for Jews”. The Brandenburg Gate is Berlin’s most famous landmark and a symbol of German division during the Cold War. It is now a national symbol of peace and unity but the history will not be buried. Photos to follow.
