An Update: Back to Berlin, Weihnachtsmärkte, and Bergfest at Oberursel

Classes have been continuing much like they started; I'm getting better at German (certainly not as fast as I would like), but the professors are becoming more and more understandable. We have three more days of school before Christmas Break, which is two and a half weeks long. I'll be staying here for that time; I'm very grateful for various families who have invited me to dinners and events during that time.

Last weekend I got the chance to visit Berlin again for the baptism of Noemi Müller; if you will remember, I stayed with Benjamin and Sonja while studying German at the Goethe Institut in September. It was very nice to see them again, this time with their new daughter. She's quite a cuttie and is nicknamed "Sonjamin," which makes me chuckle every time I hear it.

I'll upload more pictures with me holding Noemi when I get them from the Müllers.

There were six of us that traveled to Berlin from Frankfurt on Friday; group tickets make everything cheaper, which I was thankful for. We got in Friday evening and talked and chatted a bit. Travis Berg had made the trip from Ft. Wayne to be the "Patenonkel" (godfather)- he was in Germany two years ago and still remembers the language; we were about at the same level, which was comforting. He filled me in on the goings on at Ft. Wayne, which I don't hear much about anymore. There was also a secular Catholic German; girl there; she was a grade school friend of Sonja and had traveled in our group. It was interesting to talk about various issues, in spite of my broken German. We broke the two rules of conversation with new acquaintances: don't talk about religion, and don't talk about politics. It was hard to understand everything she was saying, but it was interesting to hear Benjamin respond to her concerns, until he retired for the night. After that, it was just Travis and I, but I don't think we completely got our points across; oh well. The religious points were about the Pope, tradition, Sola Scriptura, and Law and Gospel; and the political points revolved around the War on Terror and why America needed to go to war.

The next day, Saturday, Travis and I visited Simon Volkmar in his apartment; he had studied at Fort Wayne last year, and I made it a point to see him again. We gave up all pretenses of speaking in German; English theological (and political) conversation ruled. To be honest, I was relieved and eager to discuss theology and understand everything that the other people are saying. It was a treat, and one I don't have often. When we returned to Ben and Sonja's apartment (where we were staying the night), the religious and political conversations revived.

On Sunday, we all traveled via bus to the SELK congregation in Marzahn. If you remember what I said about SELK people and ordination, you should see them with a baptism. There was excitement among the congregation, and one of them even turned to me and said, "I wish we would see more of these." They just don't have many young families in the congregation, so the baptism was quite a big deal. The service was a normal Gottesdienst from their hymnal, but the baptism was in the middle of the service instead of at the beginning, as I'm used to. I don't think that having it in the middle is normal here either.

Afterwards, we all went back to Ben and Sonja's, packed into their apartment, and ate delicious food, talked, and drank beer. It was quite a good time, one that lasted the rest of the day. That night, instead of getting into politics or religion, we talked about literature and accents, both of which topics the three of us could discuss with some proficiency in German (sometimes in English). We watched Youtube videos of various English accents, and then some German accents. I learned how to distinguish Hessish, with it's now annoying "sh" sounds. Isch möschte gern nicht Hesshisch zu hören. In researching a good example, I found a hilarious video. For those who don't know English, just listen to the German's "sh" sounds. They get annoying after a while. Germans, I think you've love this.

On the way back, we traveled through Wittenberg, so I took a quick picture of the skyline, with the two churches (one is behind some trees to the left).

Moving on, Germany is known for its Christmas Markets. The best approximation is to think of a county fair but with a Christmas theme. There's a lot of stalls selling food, drinks, and crafts. There were rides at the bigger ones like Berlin, but not at the small one at Oberursel. Nonetheless all were very festive, and I heard a lot of English Christmas music. I drank some Glühwein (mulled wine), which was very tasty and did have a warming effect. I bought Christmas presents for my family, which they'll hopefully get before Christmas.

And then...Bergfest! Bergfest, which took place last Friday, was a bit like Reformationfest at the seminary. There was music, food, beer, and a talent show. I didn't take part in the last, I assure you that. The theme was "The 70s," so you can also be assured that I didn't dress the part. There were some very classy costumes and haircuts, though. (Some of the Germans told me afterward that I could've gone to an Army Supply Store, bought a uniform for cheap, and dressed up as a veteran, which would've provided some contrast to the hippies that showed up.) All the professors had something to perform for laughs, whether it was singing songs from the 70s, or giving a presentation about the sports, culture, and religion of the 70s. I was just waiting for him to make a jest about Seminex, but thankfully that didn't happen...otherwise Aaron Uphoff would've popped up saying "Seminex? What about Seminex?" (Sorry, inside seminary joke there.) The talent show was very well done, and the moderator kept us laughing.

Finally, I have a picture of the seminary for you. I realize that I don't put up many picture of myself, so I'll try to do that more often. This was taken with Prof. da Silva's camera and put on the Hochschule's facebook page. I hope I have permission to post it.

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The Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

I'm a bit late on uploading these, but the last one took me a while to write. I was going to leave Berlin on Thursday, September 27th, but things didn't work out the way we had planned, so I had the day free before leaving on Friday. Because it was a 2-hr train and bus ride away, I went to the Sachsenhousen Concentration Camp for the majority of the day, and it worked out really well, besides me getting off at the wrong bus stop and needing to foot it the rest of the way. Nevertheless, this was what I first saw:

The tour was free, but I had to pay money for the audio guide. Usually it's the other way around, but since I didn't have a guide, I went ahead and paid for it. I don't think I can stress this enough: if you EVER visit this place, you MUST get the audio guide, unless of course you are with a tour guide who might just know more. It was extremely instructive, and I spent much of my time listening to the fascinating accounts that it included.

I started the self-guided tour in the courtyard outside one of the corners, as you can see by the red dot in this picture:

Apparently there was a German researcher who developed the most effective concentration camp design, and Hitler allowed him to put it to use. As you can see, it's a triangle with a semicircle of barracks in the middle. More later on why that was "effective." The worst part, from the Nazi point of view, was that they quickly filled it up and needed more room; that's not a problem with a rectangular camp, but it is with a triangular one. You can see their attempts at expansion along the sides of the triangle. I doubt you can see it, but the column in the south (left) expansion is where cremations happened.

Also, Sachsenhausen was not technically a death camp like Auschwitz. The Nazis had two group of prisoners here, neither of which they wanted dead, at least immediately. The first were political prisoners; Sachsenhausen was not far from Berlin, and Hitler or the SS could summon one or more quickly for interrogation. Some indeed were released from Sachsenhausen after promising never to speak out against the Nazis, which they presumably followed. The second group worked in nearby manufacturing plants, one of which included German bombers. Somehow a few crashed unexpectedly outside Stalingrad, perhaps due to undetected sabotage. Some also worked in the largest counterfeiting operation ever- it's thought that one million pounds had been created and introduced into the British economy, obvious in an attempt to undermine the fragile war-time economy. They also did this against America, but there wasn't much information available regarding that. These workers, both manufacturers and counterfeiters, lived with their families and children in the barracks seen above. They could be beaten or killed for the slightest provocation, either in the camp itself or at work.

Even though Sachsenhausen was more of a work camp than a death camp, more than 13,000 captured Soviets were brought to the camp and murdered. I found it morbidly interesting in how this was carried out. It's one thing to gas unsuspecting women in enclosed showers, but it's another to try to kill 13,00 soldiers who would be fully willing to rise up, even if you have guns and they don't. 500 soldiers don't stand up well against that many men, even with guns. Not to mention that the Soviets had direct orders to try to sabotage whatever they could while imprisoned. So soon after the Soviets came, the Germans rigged a system to unsuspectingly kill the soldiers one by one: they took them through a processing procedure, which would be expected in any war camp, but the stadiometer (which measures height) was rigged so that someone from another room could fire between its slits into the person's neck. Loud music was played to prevent the other soldiers from knowing what was happening. Here's an example that I found on the internet from another camp:

It's going to be hard to stay away from the morbid during this post, so I apologize for that; that's pretty much the only thing that fascinated me in a good way, especially given the Germans' penchant for systematization.

Next I walked halfway down one side of the wall to the main entrance.

In front of the entrance gates stood the courtyard, where the newly admitted were humiliated, beaten, and sometimes even killed on the spot. To the left were some of the barracks of the soldiers in charge of the control of prisoners, and their captain would carry out these tasks.

The guard tower; on the other side in the little box on top was a machine gunner who would shoot almost anywhere in the camp due to the orientation of the barracks.

"Arbeit Macht Frei"- "Work Liberates"- a popular saying affixed to the entrances of various war camps. I can't remember which socialist book it comes from, but it's not meant to give hope to the inmates.

Upon entering, one saw the memorial flanked by two trees; the memorial had been erected by the DDR, which didn't want something more touching, so they chose a large cement slab with 18 triangles, represented the 18 nations that lost people in this camp. The triangle was the symbol of Sachsenhausen, due to its shape, and every inmate had to wear it on their uniforms with different colors designating different offenses. The memorial is criticized because it doesn't reflect the Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and others who died in the camp, because these social groups shouldn't be linked with their respective nations so much as a culture within Germany itself. It is however true that some were imprisoned here simply for being Russian, Czech, or Polish, though they were in the minority.

The wall around the inside of the camp had a second barrier to prevent the approach of any individual. The large barbed wires on metal poles were electrified night and day (sometimes inmates would commit suicide by running into it purposely), and two rows of looped barbed wire stood a meter in front of it. Add the fact that dogs were loosed between the wall and the wire, and you can see how this system was so effective that very few people ever escaped. The only ones known to have done so either dug under the wall or escaped while on work detail.

Next I toured a largely reconstructed barrack where prisoners lived. There were separate bathrooms for men and women, but all had to share the washing facilities; one could one wash one's feet and face. While it looks like there was plenty of room available, something like 200 people had to wake up at ~4:30am and all be ready by 5 for roll call, so you can imagine the chaos every morning just to get ready and out on the parade grounds.

Not only were there barracks, but there was also a prison for political prisoners, as I mentioned above. This prison was much larger than what is standing now; we can only see the foundation blocks for what it was. The posts you see in the picture below were used to crucify enemies by stringing up their arms behind and above them. Eventually their shoulders would dislocate and they would suffocate to death.

 A typical cell in the prison.

This is also the place where Pastor Martin Niemöller was imprisoned for a time before being taken to Dachau; he survived the war. He was a member of the Confessional Church (that's a title, not necessarily a description) which was formed in opposition to Hitler's Nazification of the State Church.

And, for those of you who are interested in the attempted Hitler assassinations, here's some more information about Georg Elser, one of the first to try to assassinate Hitler by blowing up the column behind the speaker's lectern in the Bürgerbräukeller. Hitler always spoke at this place on November 8th; Elser had attended the one the year previous, and after seeing the Kristallnacht, Elser worked hard to plant a time bomb inside the column. While he was planning everything, World War II started, and Hitler initially cancelled his speech. However, he changed his mind and attended, but wanted to return to Berlin that night, so he shortened his speech and left. Hitler left the beer hall, and 13 minutes later the bomb went off; Elser was arrested at the Swiss border, arrested, and severely tortured. He was being saved for when Germany had won the war, so Hitler could put him on trial. However, when the war took a turn for the worse, Hitler ordered him executed on April 9th 1945.

Here is the DDR memorial to the victims of Sachsenhausen; as you can see in the second picture, the freed prisoners son't look thin and gaunt at all, as the author had planned- the DDR made him alter the memorial to show a different message of Socialism.

Finally, I came to the death chambers of the camp. As I said above, this was not a death camp, but that doesn't mean that no deaths happened. Indeed, not only did Soviet soldiers die, but also the sick, elderly, and rebellious. Burning was simply the best way to dispose of a large number of bodies, especially to prevent disease from spreading. They recently found the place where many of the ashes and bones were thrown; you can see it in the first picture below.

And finally, there was the building where the gas chambers and crematoriums were. The Soviets tried to destroy these, partially succeeding, but one can still see the remains, protected from the rain by an overhang. There's also a memorial to those who perished.

And that's about it. There was a memorial set up, and any nation that lost citizens here in Sachsenhausen could put up a plaque recognizing what happened here. I didn't get a picture of it, but it's worth noting. There was much more that I simply didn't have time for. There was another part of the camp that served as a memorial to the Soviets who died. It was a bit of a walk, and I didn't have time, but it would've been interesting to see. Also, there were some medical buildings in which the SS doctors conducted medical experiments; they were quite well known for trying things on the inmates that were normally outlawed. I only got a glimpse in this part of Sachsenhausen, and it was pretty sickening just hearing the things they would do. Then again, man will do almost anything to that which he calls "sub-human." We should think of the unborn in our country who are en masse being slaughtered simply for being a called lump of "cancerous cells." If you haven't yet, I highly encourage you to watch the "180" Movie. It's 30 minutes long, but worth every single minute. It connects the mass murder of the Jews by the Nazis with the mass murder of innocent babies in abortions.

The German Historical Museum

Of all the museums I've visited in Berlin, the German Historical Museum covered perhaps the longest breadth of time. While the Pergamon, Bode, Altes, and Neues Museums all focused on a group of civilizations or a limited breadth of time, the German Historical Museum started with the earliest known records of Germanic settlements, both material (foundations, stones, and early tools) and written (when the Romans first explored the area), and progressed through the great breadth of time to the reunification of Germany. It is certainly worth going to when one visits Berlin, perhaps more important in my opinion than one of the many art museums in Berlin (especially the modern art museums). I enjoy art and beauty, and in my defense, I did see and enjoy both- however in the form of ancient paintings, sculptures, etc.

Back on topic. As any historical museum should begin, the museum first presented the remnants of the Roman conquests into Germanic country. I say "should," because too often speculation into pre-history has no basis upon which to stand. Instead of postulating how and where the Germanic tribes lived prior to any kind of evidence, all we saw were artifacts that had a date and place, with some commentary. I enjoyed this part of the museum, because it was quite honest about our ignorance of Northern Europe prior to any Roman records. So the first things that I saw picked up quite neatly from the Altes Museum, which housed the vast number of Greek and Roman artifacts. We saw remnants of a Roman villa in German, along with tools, weapons, and jewelry from the Roman times, although found north of the Alps. Below are pieces of a Roman arch, probably the remnants of a Roman fortification of some type.

From Roman times, the history skipped to Karl the Great, also known as Charlemagne (French) or Carolus Maximus (Latin). What confused me was how they could skip almost 500 years of history, but I suppose there wasn't much happening in Germania at that time, compared to the split of the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean region. Karl the Great (I'll stick with his German name, since I'm in Germany) was the son of Pepin the Short and ruled the Frankish Kingdom for 46 years. The Frankish Kingdom signified an interesting shift from the Roman empire to a Germanic one, and Christianity was the link between the two; Christianity having been embraced by Constantine, who announced freedom of religion through the Edict of Milan in 313, and the Roman Pope crowning Karl the Great as the King of the Holy Roman Empire in 800. Western Christianity had been moving more and more north as the result of missionaries being sent among the German tribes, which later became kingdoms. Karl's rule ushered in the Carolingian Renaissance, a flowering of Christian literature, art, and music; all focused in the city of Aachen, today in North-western Germany. That's him to the left, in a pretty studly crown.

Next came the Middle Ages, and with that time period also came weapons. And armor. And lots and lots of cool stuff to look at (such as chasubles, breviaries, and papal bulls).

         

Ahh...and now we come to my favorite weapon of all...the halberd. With it, a foot soldier could stab, hack, and bring a rider down from his horse with the point on the back end, which eventually became more and more curved like a hook. It's definitely a medium range weapon (in the same class as spears), so not well adapted to close fighting, but I'd take this weapon any day on an open field with room to swing and a horseman coming after me. In fact, this weapon was the preferred weapon of the Swiss Army, who also used short daggers for close combat...no, not called the Swiss Army knife.

Oooh...I love coats of arms.

 The breviaries, both in Latin.

     A neat looking chasuble.                       Who says we can't put religious symbols on our weapons?
                                                                                       (This is for Pr. McCain)

         

I'd like to think this is a family altar, but it's probably from some monastary or another, and used for private masses, given the chalice and paten, as well as the pyx for the adoration of the consecrated host.

A papal bull!

History now moves forward nicely from papal bulls to the Reformation. I got some nice pictures of Luther and Katie, which you've already seen before, so I'll post a picture I got of paintings of Frederick the Wise and John the Steadfast. Here's a shout-out to the John the Steadfast blog, which I read too infrequently.

And some pretty old copies (first printings perhaps?) of Luther's three most popular initial writings, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Of the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and Of the Freedom of the Christian. All are fantastic reads and required for seminarians in Church History III class.

And finally, I'll round off the religious part of the German Historical Museum with this famous sketch of the Seven-headed Luther by Johannes Cochlaeus. It pictures him as the seven-headed Antichrist from Revelation; the seven heads each bear a different title: Doctor, Martinus, Luther, Clergyman, Enthusiast, Visitor, and Barrabbas.

With the high Middle Ages came jousting, so here's a few pictures to sate your appetite. The helm seen below is different than what would be used in hand to hand fighting, because a sword could slip down it easily. However, it better deflected the tip of the jousting lance.

And now...I'm only halfway through. Unfortunately, I was expecting Bach at this point. I didn't see him. At all. This was the most disappointing parts of the whole museum. I even went back when I was in the WWI section to look for him, realize what I'd missed. I don't know how the German Historical Museum could forget about Bach. Maybe I missed a grand exhibit on another floor, which I desperately hope, or there was a serious mistake in not including Bach.

Next in German History came the Black Death apparently. I don't know why this small exhibit was after Luther and the Reformation, but maybe I was just mistaking the hooked beaked mask and skull and cross bones for some other plague that swept through Europe. Oh well. The Black Death swept through Europe in the early 14th Century and claimed a lot of lives...like up to 1/2 of the European population. Edit: the bubonic plague appeared more times after 1350, though not in the same ferocity, probably due to the growing medical knowledge of the time.

Now we come to colonization, in which Germany didn't take much interest, leaving the sailing to England, France, Spain, and the Dutch. Nonetheless, some Hessian mercenaries did fight for England in the Revolutionary War.

About that time, Napoleon swept through Germany and conquered Berlin, taking the Quadriga to Paris, as I mentioned earlier. After his defeat at Waterloo, Germany stormed France and took it back. See my other post. At this time there's more of a unification of Germany, which until now had been quite separated. In comes Kaiser Wilhelm I and his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Kaiser Wilhelm is perhaps the most beloved emperor in modern Germany; one can see his name and influence all over Berlin, perhaps for good reason. Through several wars and diplomatic measures, he and Bismarck expanded Prussia to include
Schleswig-Holstein, Bavaria, Hanover, and Hesse. That's an oversimplification of the history that I don't quite have nailed down yet. So moving on...

At this time (~1910), Germany experience growing pains once again, and started manufacturing like crazy. Take a look:

Then the Great War happened; as you probably know.

About this time, I looked at my watch and noticed that I had about 45 minutes before class would start, and I hadn't covered the whole other half of the museum, from WWI to the present. So I sped through, taking pictures at what was interesting and leaving behind too much. Yeah, it's unfortunate, but I realized that I had already covered much of this history through the Holocaust Memorial and the DDR Museum. I really should return and walk slower through this section of the museum. Anyways, here are some photos:

Ahh...the perfect Germans, according to the Nazis.

Thank you, Hitler, for building the Autobahn, because our tanks used it to invade your country. 

Hitler's grandiose building plans.

 From swords to this? Wow.

 Jimmie Dean was pretty famous in Germany. West Germany, that is.

 Another Trabi!

In commemoration of Einheit Day, which was October 3rd. 

And finally, you can see even more photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151168456353788.475726.500163787&type=1&l=4d867f197e.

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