The Jewish Plight: Berlin

It only seems appropriate that our final stop on this Jewish Plight series should be Berlin...where the Final Solution saw its final days. In particular, you can visit the site of Hitler's bunker hide-out. Until a couple of years ago, the site was not even marked for fear it becoming a Neo-Nazi shrine. Today, though not well publicized, the site of the bunker is marked and can be visited at the corner of In den Ministergärten and Gertrud-Kolmar-Straße.

The bunker itself is where Hitler spent his last days. Less than a month after marrying long-time companion Eva Braun in that bunker, they both committed suicide there...a final testimant to Hitler's defeat. Today, the non-descript site has a parking lot, a small grass plaza, and apartment buildings surrounding it. And according to our tour guide, the only commenmorative rituals that happen here are dogs doing their business.

Just down the street from where Hitler and his "plan" met their ends is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews...a assemblage of concrete slabs varying in height and placed linearly over a 5 acre plot. In the corner of the memorial, you can enter an underground museum which highlights the personal stories of many of those who lost their lives. Poignant, moving, and not for the faint of heart, the museum brings to life real stories of separation, torture, and death.

But the memorial brings to question how much a nation should commemorate its tainted past. For some, perhaps it symbolizes the German people embracing and facing their history...both good and bad. But as Martin Walser points out, the memorial is a "ceaseless presentation of our shame." In that same vein, should memorials intend only to commemorate the good or can good come out of commemorating the bad as well? I'll leave that for each of us to decide.