Scars: To Heal or Not to Heal?

Any European city is incredibly rich in history, but in light of the last century, Berlin seems especially potent. What is also interesting is that Berlin is divided in terms of how to represent that history. Many people would rather have the city openly display its scars, as evidenced by the many bullet indentations in buildings all over central Berlin, and deliberately replacing lost walls and roofs with different materials to blatantly show what is old and new. The hope behind this is that those who see the history will be less likely to repeat it. Another approach is to restore the city to its former (pre-WWII) glory so that Berlin’s image won’t always be war-torn. Berlin’s medieval royal palace, the Schloss, was destroyed in World War II and is now being cloned brick by brick in its original location. I saw the construction during a German Culture walking lecture, along with other buildings being restored in such a way.
The culture class is great because it’s about half lecture and half walking around the city to experience the sights. It’s not hard to learn things just by walking around, since Berlin has so much history and so many memorials. As my professor Jan said, you can’t walk a hundred feet in Berlin without running into a monument.
Berlin has also recently become a hub for artists and designers from around the world. Classical art collection combined with the influx of people with new ideas have created many unique art museums around the city, in addition to historical museums and archives. I’ve visited many of these so far with the culture class.
In addition to experiencing Berlin, the program has taken day trips to Potsdam and Dessau. Both towns are smaller than Berlin but also rich in history. Potsdam was subject to bombings in World War II and is also home to a summer palace that was favored by Frederick the Great. Dessau features the Bauhaus, a design school that was internationally recognized from 1919 to when the Nazis shut it down in 1933. My favorite spot so far has been the Bauhaus. Wassily Kandinsky, an artist I really like, taught and lived there (I got to see his apartment!) and it was fun to imagine how it would have been to go to school there.