It is hard not to sound repetitive. Every place (okay, maybe not Ayia Napa, Cyprus) has us saying, this feels better than home. Pretty much everywhere has felt safer, more livable than the US (gun control, please, please, please). The challenge of each place while unique, is usually the history, and unfortunately even that sounds repetitive. Over and over the past is inequality, capriciousness and persistent cruelty of governments tempered by people\’s perseverance in seeking self-determination and maintaining culture.
Germany though has had the highest highs and the lowest lows. We have loved Germany. It is stupendously beautiful; countryside and cities. Forest, hills, valleys dotted with Fantasyland villages.
https://thechosenfugue.blogspot.com/2019/07/black-forest.html
The country generally is progressive, environmentally conscientious and makes serious attempts at reconciliation with their history.
Like most German cities, there was significant destruction from WWII bombing (Munich was hit particularly hard) so building styles were very inconsistent; old, new and reconstructed.
Alte Pinoktech Museum, you can see the repaired brick |
The inside was as beautiful as the outside,
Inside were also tons of tributes, kind of a city time-line + yearbook going back hundreds of years.
and of course, a cafe in the courtyard.
Around the Rathaus were fountains and statues in the main square (Marienplatz)
and on the streets radiating from the square, beautiful churches with a few different twists (best door knobs ever seen).
and a popular, huge park (English Garden) with a river (Eisbach, side-arm of Isar) where you can surf (with people waiting very patiently for their turn- no supervision, no cost). https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3d9way/welcome-to-munich-the-mecca-of-river-surfing
Georg Baselitz, new favorite |
Yes, he painted upside down, well his paintings not him |
Design exhibit |
Seen in a Munich park |
With the current world situation with so many populist leaders, it was difficult revisiting the origins of the Nazi party at the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, opened in 2017 on the footprint of the former Nazi headquarters
(https://www.ns-dokuzentrum-muenchen.de/en/documentation-center/historical-site/ ) The exhibit charted the beginnings of Nazism onwards through today in modern Germany and Europe. Early Nazi propaganda and practices unfortunately mirrored our current news- it was so disheartening watching history repeat itself countless times as we wandered through Munich\’s monuments and museums. The similarities were so frightening.
It was encouraging to see kids accessing historic sites; young kids on field trips in the old city center, numerous groups of teenagers in serious sit down talks with teachers around exhibits at the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, and at Dachau, and most poignant- a group of physically handicapped young adults, who would not have existed under Hitler, at the University\’s memorial to the student run White Rose anti-facist movement ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose).
Dachau was vast. It was unimaginable to think how many lives it once contained, controlled and eliminated. They said the biggest problem was overcrowding yet the space was massive and to realize it wasn\’t big enough for the volume of lives that were abused and lost, devastating.
Stopelsteine in Dachau, the city, about a mile from the camp |
Path of Remembrance from the train station |
Both Dachau and the Documentation Center admirably emphasized the absolute lack of individual accountability for the majority of Germans- soldiers, politicians, civilians. And that was the challenge of Munich, it was where the Nazis got their start and power but how does a city acknowledge and repent? Part of the problem is many of the buildings used by the Nazis were destroyed in the war and identifying those sites or existing buildings for educational purposes has been controversial. Munich is stuck between pointing out Nazi sites while preventing Neo-Nazis from congregating and revering them.
In front of a store, not on the street |
(https://www.muenchen.de/rathaus/Stadtverwaltung/Direktorium/Stadtarchiv/Erinnerungszeichen/Biografien.html.
So, Munich kind of encapsulates our (thus far) European experience; contemplating it\’s tragic and violent history against the backdrop of wondrous natural beauty, inspiring art and and persistent resistance, unfortunately often futile.
We\’ll continue to try to ride the wave of optimism.