My Old Stomping Grounds--not so boring after all

I'm surprised I didn't read this article earlier. I assumed that Bonn would slowly fade away, but it appears that it's very much a presence in today's Germany. Alan Cowell wrote about it in the New York Times. In fact, Bonn has been growing in size even while Berlin stagnates. According to Bonn's mayor, Bonn has become "younger and fresher". How cool is that?
Cowell also finds space to address the Germans' endless capacity for historical navel-gazing. He closes his story with a quotation from Die Welt : “Why is this Berlin Republic incapable of sending out a positive signal of itself? ... Can the Germans find no way to articulate historical success?”       

Hanging out with Bertold

The weather this week in Berlin has been a big disappointment. With the exception of yesterday (July 1st), it's been cold and rainy. Susan and I actually bought jackets yesterday. Today we slept in and then we visited the Topography of Terror, which has been improved since last year! First of all, there's a new chronological exhibition that runs the length of the Gestapo-foundation ruins that covers the events in Berlin between 1933 and the present. There's also an exhibition commemorating the trial of Adolf Eichmann in the documentation center. There's no way I'm going to take another student group to Berlin without taking them to the Topography site.

The rain really put a "damper" on things (har har) and Susan and I spent a few hours at the Berliner Republic restaurant along the Schiffbauerdamm (next to the Berliner Ensemble theater). I got a photo with Brecht as well.

The Gedenkstaette Berliner Mauer

Yesterday Susan and I took the subway to the Berlin Wall museum in Wedding, a northern Berlin suburb. It's a huge memorial site, running many blocks along Bernauer Strasse. I shot the above video from an observation tower across the street. This is one of the sites I didn't have time to see last year.
The section you see is being maintained as it was in 1989. There's the "Hintermauer" or rear-wall on the East German side. Then there's a guard tower, lights, raked sand (so that any attempt to cross is clearly visible for Stasi investigators) and the western side of the wall. About a block away there's a documentation center as well. This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the wall's construction (August 13, 1961), and are a whole series of events and exhibitions in the works.

Dreigroschenoper! (Three Penny Opera)

Wow! Watched the current production of Bertold Brecht's "Three-Penny Opera" at the Berliner Ensemble last night. It was absolutely incredible! I found a brief review of the show online and embedded it below. I wanted to watch it last year, but it wasn't playing while I was in Berlin. Fortunately, the timing worked out this year.
I would describe the look of the piece as expressionistic, and it seemed like a mash-up of Tim Burton and Brecht. The makeup was striking and the costuming further accentuated the cartoonish/animated look of the piece. It was a creative means of achieving Brecht's "Verfremdungs-Effekt".
My favorite actor was Christina Drechsler playing Polly Peachum. Her interpretation of the character was dynamic--you couldn't take your eyes off her. She's the girl Mack the Knife is dragging onstage by her arm...

George Orwell on Operation Barbarossa-- June 23, 1941

George Orwell's diaries are available online, and his reflections are a window into the hopes and fears of the British 70 years ago.

I find everyone completely pro-Russian, though much divided in opinion about the Russian capacity to resist. Typical conversation, recorded as well as I can remember it: -



Wholesale poulterer: “Well, I hope the Russians give them a bloody good hiding.”


Clothing manufacturer (Jewish): “They won’t. They’ll go to pieces, just like last time. You’ll see.”


Doctor (some kind of foreigner, perhaps refugee): “You’re absolutely wrong. Everyone’s underrated the strength of Russia. They’ll wipe the floor with the Nazis.”


Wholesale grocer: “Damn it, there’s two hundred bloody millions of them”.

Happily, the doctor and grocer were right.

70 Years ago Yesterday--Operation Barbarossa

A Veteran of the Great Patriotic War
outside Moscow's Kremlin Wall

Hitler launched a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union 70 years ago yesterday, an act that historians agree marked the inevitable destruction of the Nazi regime and decisively shaped the twentieth century. The failure of "Operation Barbarossa" would result in the division of Europe, the strengthening of both the Soviet Union and the United States, even the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. Naturally, Russians and other Soviet successor peoples marked the "Day of Remembrance and Grief". The commemorations began at 4:00 a.m. Moscow time, when veterans and young people alike gathered for concerts, vigils, and recognition ceremonies. The Telegraph published a series of photos here. The Mail provides an historical overview. Spiegel in Germany is releasing a newly discovered photo album that documents the early months of the invasion.

Finally, here are some pieces from RT news. The first about the battle of Brest Litovsk, the second addressing Nazi racism.

Commemorating D-Day

Here's an odd commemoration: turtles and helmets. You can read more about it HERE.