Was in berlin last week..
did a guided cycle tour of the history of the third reich.. why the third reich? well, the guide, Wolf asked me this question and i answered- this was one of those momentous periods in history- of races and extermination, of ruthless effectiveness and of vicious crimes, of a city divided (Berlin) and of the start of the cold war... definitely something i wanted to learn a bit more about...
One aspect that emerged for me (apart from the very serious disquiet about the enormity of the atrocities against humanity commited by this regime) was the relative openness in Germany to examine this terrible period. It takes a lot of courage for a country to stand up and admit to its mistakes, and i must say- the amount of information available about this in Germany tells me something about its peoples.
Another thing that i hadnt known before- that the wall between east and west berlin was actually a ringfence around "west" berlin- it completely encircled a part of berlin occupied by the Western allies.
i wonder what it was like growing up in city to have 2 parts, both completely isolated from each other for almost 30 years...particularly for those in the East...
on a parallel note, unlike in China, i found communication a lot easier- everyone understands english, and i understand a bit of german, and found getting vegetarian food a lot easier (again, seemingly the chinese dont understand the notion of vegetarian food)
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