Deportiert

I had originally intended this post to be a facebook album, since it's built around pictures. However, as I thought about what I wanted to say I realized that FB was going to cut the comments off, and that would be sub-optimal. Hence I've made a photo-heavy blog post.

While I was looking for cool things to do in Berlin, I read that there were special bricks scattered around the city sidewalks delineating where people had been deported. I decided to look for them when possible (as much as I could while avoiding running into the hundreds of cyclists on the streets) and photograph every one I saw. I didn't do this to be disrespectful or intrusive on the residents of the city, but I figured if the people of Germany found it worth the permanent reminder, then it was worth me remembering it.

[As you read through these, please keep in mind that the translations are my own with the help of Google translate.]

This is the first one, and the only one I saw on Friday:

The inscriptions:

HIER WOHNTE ELLI ABRAHAMSON GEB. KORTOWSKI JG. 1879 DEPORTIERT 14.12.1942 ERMORDET IN AUSCHWITZ
HIER WOHNTE DR. KATHELEWY JG. 1896 DEPORTIERT 26.10.1942 RIGA ERMORDET 29.10.1942

"Here lived Elli Abrahamson, born in Kortowski in 1879 deported 14 December 1942 murdered in Auschwitz"

"Here lived Dr. Kathelewy, born 1896 deported 26 October 1942 to Riga murdered 29 October 1942."

(Note: I am not 100% confident confident about the word "RIGA" in Dr. Kathelewy's inscription, but given that the word has no German translation, and Riga is a city in Latvia, it is my assumption that Dr. Kathelewy was deported to the city.)

HIER WOHNTE MAHJUB BIN ADAM MOHAMED 'BAYUME MOHAMED HUSEN' GEB. 1904 IN DARESSALAM VERHAFTET SEPT. 1941 SACHSENHAUSEN TOT 1944

"Here lived Mahjub Bin Adam Mohamed 'Bayume Mohamed Husen' born 1904 in Dar Es Salam arrested September 1941 [SACHSENHAUSEN] died 24 November 1944"

This is the only one I saw where the victim was obviously not Jewish. Also, Google translate tells me that "Sachsenhausen" translates to "Saxony dwell," so maybe Mr. Mohamed was detained in Saxony until he died? Also, this is the only brick I saw where the victim was listed as "died" and not "murdered," which adds some emphasis to the ones where the victims were murdered.

HIER WOHNTE ISAAK FEILSCHUSS JG. 1887 ABGESCHOBEN OKT. 1938 BENTSCHEN SCHICKSAL UNBEKANNT
HIER WOHNTE GRETE FEILSCHUSS GEB. FRIEDRICH JG. 1888 ABGESCHOBEN OKT. 1938 BENTSCHEN SCHICKSAL UNBEKANNT

"Here lived Isaak Feilschuss born 1887 deported October 1938 to Benschen fate unknown"

"Here lived Grete Feilschuss born in Friedrich in 1888 deported October 1938 to Bentschen fate unknown"

HIER WOHNTE HARRY HUTTEL JG. 1897 IM. BIDERSTAND VERHAFTET 3.3.1936 ZUCHTAUS BRANDENBURG SACHSENHAUSEN BEFREIT 5.5.1945 MAUTHAUSEN

"Here lived Harry Huttel born 1897 in Biderstand arrested 3 March 1936 [ZUCHTAUS BRANDENBURG SACHSENHAUSEN] freed 5 May 1945 [MAUTHAUSEN]

I really struggled with the translation on this one, but the good news is that Mr. Huttel was freed. My best guess is that Mr. Huttel was detained in Zuchtaus, Brandenburg, and Sachsenhausen before he was freed.

HIER WOHNTE ROSA KATS JG. 1989 DEPORTIERT 1942 ERMORDET IN AUSCHWITZ

"Here lived Rosa Katz born 1898 deported 1942 murdered in Auschwitz"

HIER WOHNTE ADOLF JACKS JG. 1895 DEPORTIERT 2.8.1943 ERMORDET IN AUSCHWITZ
HIER WOHNTE EGON JACKS JG. 1923 DEPORTIERT 15.8.1942 RIGA ERMORDET 18.8.1942
HIER WOHNTE WILHELM JACKS JG. 1925 DEPORTIERT 1.3.1943 AUSCHWITZ BEFREIT/UBERLEGT
HIER WOHNTE RAHEL EDITHA JACKS GEB. SEELID (?) JG. 1898 DEPORTIERT 2.3.1943 ERMORDET IN AUSCHWITZ

"Here lived Adolf Jacks born 1895 deported 2 August 1943 murdered in Auschwitz"

"Here lived Egon Jacks born 1923 deported 15 August 1942 [RIGA] murdered 18 August 1942"

"Here lived Wilhelm Jacks born 1925 deported 1 March 1943 Auschwitz freed/survived"

"Here lived Rahel Editha Jacks born Seelid in 1989 deported 2 March 1943 murdered in Auschwitz"

Speculation: From the dates, I think what happened is that the oldest son, Egon, was probably the first one to get involved in the resistance. He was arrested in August 1942 and beaten/abused so severely that he died 3 days later. His younger brother probably got involved or increased his involvement at that time, resulting in his arrest and deportation a few months later, in March 1943. And then they just decided to come back for the parents the next day. I can't imagine the terror their parents must have been feeling the night after Wilhelm was arrested. Unfortunately, he was the only one of the family to survive.

HIER WOHNTE PAUL ROSSHANDLE JG. 1890 DEPORTIERT 1938 WARSCHAUER GHETTO ERMORDET
HIER WOHNTE MANJA ROSSHANDLER GEB. HIRSCH JG. 1890 ERMORDET
HIER WOHNTE LEO ROSSHANDLER JG. 1930 ERMORDET

"Here lived Paul Rosshandler born 1890 deported 1938 murdered in the Warsaw ghetto"

"Here lived Manja Rosshandler born in Hirsch in 1980 murdered"

"Here lived Leo Rosshandler born in 1930 murdered"

Leo Rosshandler was the youngest victim I found, probably 8 if his and his mother's murders happened at the time his father was deported.

I didn't translate any of these inscriptions until I was done taking all of the pictures, but when I did it hit me that to plainly list so many victims as murder victims makes a very strong statement. I'm curious what the German people think of this in general, but they tend to be fairly open about the Holocaust in other places, too. For example, the Mercedes-Benz museum talks about the Holocaust as the "most terrible event in history," or something similar.

To be honest, I like the bricks. I think they're simple and meaningful. I definitely like them better than the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which to me seems like someone was going for simple and elegant, like the Vietnam Wall, and instead ended up in the land of "artsy and confusing." (Also, if you call it the memorial to the Murdered Jews, you leave out people like Mr. Mohamed, and others who were victims of Nazi aggression but not Jews.)

The one thing I do wonder about is whether it's really a good thing to be so self-condemning about the Holocaust. I'm not trying to make it sound as if it's not as bad as it was, but is it really good for a generation of people to grow up being constantly reminded that their grandparents/great-grandparents were murderers or accomplices to murder? I'm not qualified to answer this question, but I do wonder.

Of all the things I did in Berlin this weekend, this probably meant the most. Also, if you know German better than me and would like to help me understand some of these inscriptions, I would be quite grateful!

Berlin

There really isn't anything all that interesting to say about my trip to Berlin. I showed up, started walking, and after three days all I have to show for it is a lot of pictures. I think the most adventurous thing that happened during my trip is that it took about half an hour to get the change to pay for my train ticket when it started raining on Saturday afternoon. But what that means is that I didn't get mugged even though I spent all of my time walking alone (including at night) and I didn't get run over by a bike (even though I did my best) and I didn't get fined for not having a ticket on the U-bahn or the S-bahn (even though I did get checked). So I thought it was pretty awesome, but I don't know there's a lot to write about.

Total mileage over the three days is somewhere in the marathon range, probably on the high side. I did utilize the S-bahn the first day and the second day I caved after about 9 miles (estimating another 3-4 miles in the evening once I got off the training), but the only time I set foot in a train station yesterday was to scout out my platform for this morning, since my train left at 0600 and I wanted to make sure I know where I was going before my morning coffee kicked in. (My suspicions were confirmed when I got on the elevator this morning to head down to the lobby and pushed the number for the floor I was on...) I walked through a lot of neighborhoods over the past few days, and I probably could have seen some more cool things about the city if I'd rented a bike or better planned my trip, but I saw everything I wanted to see.

It became exceedingly clear to me that I am very much a history nerd, as the highlight of my visit was probably Saturday afternoon. My first stop of the afternoon was Checkpoint Charlie, the primary transit point between the American sector of West Berlin and Soviet sector of East Berlin during the cold war, including a visit to the Mauermuseum. The museum overlooks one of the original checkpoint guard huts, and has a lot of stories about how people escaped into West Berlin. After walking through the museum I visited the Tempelhofer Freiheit, or the airport where all of the flights flew in and out of during the Berlin airlift. Today it's Berlin's largest open park, and both runways are open for the public to walk/jog/bike/unicycle (yes, I saw some!)/rollerblade/paraglide/dog walk/whatever. I was slightly disappointed that I couldn't really see any aircraft wheel marks on the south runway, but I guess they paved it over to make it smoother for all the paragliders.

My most common experience was ordering food/drinks at restaurants. Typically, I'll walk up to a counter and order something in German--it's really not that difficult to say "ein kaffee, bitte." The nice person behind the counter then rattles off something in German, like, "schwartz oder mit milsch," and I would stare blankly at them. (The other common variation of this is asking for a scoop of ice cream and having them ask, cup or cone.) The person then usually changes into English that is more or less pretty good but always good enough for me to understand them. ("Black or with milk?") The lady on the train this morning told me I was sweet for trying and repeated things in English and German for me. Anyway, the end result is I'd like to thank the good people of Berlin for knowing enough English for me to get by.

Sorry to be boring, but everything else interesting about my visit is best told through all the pictures I took. So I think it's time to end this post and work on those. :-)