This past week in Germany has been full of new discoveries. Some things I will miss when we return to the United States are the Haribo gummy bear selection. In every grocery store I have been in there are flavors and shapes I’ve never had before and there is a Haribo store in downtown Berlin with even more (so far my favorites have been the Smurf shapes, the sour pasta, and blue raspberry straws). I am also going to miss the crusty rolls that St. Michaels Heim has at breakfast every morning as they are the best way to consume Nutella.
I find the transportation infrastructure of Germany to be impressive and fascinating. There are bike lanes on almost all roads (and on the sidewalks so you don’t have to worry about being hit by a vehicle) and extensive bus, above and below ground train systems. They seem to be a popular alternative in Berlin to fossil fuel burning automobiles and it has been a fun challenge to navigate the bus and train routes. Another interesting thing is the lack of paper towel dispensers. Instead, there are reusable drying cloth dispensers, which you pull down on the cloth and it gets sucked back in when you are done. This low waste system along with the successful public transportation systems show how much more sustainable Berlin is compared to the U.S. which I think is pretty cool.

Sachsenhausen was designed by engineers to be the “perfect” concentration camp. The triangle shape with guard towers on the corners made escaping the torturous environment nearly impossible. For me, walking around such a space was fascinating and terrifying. People had suffered there only decades ago; not in a different era or millennia. The hardest part to grasp was that such evil is possible and can be carried out on such a large scale to hurt so many. I was walking on the ashes of people who were murdered during the war and nothing I or anyone else can do would ever make up for that.
Later we went to the East Side Gallery, murals painted on the still standing segments of the Berlin Wall. While the wall was erected post-WWII, it is another indication of the suffering that occurred in Germany. What it led me to realize is that art can be a powerful coping mechanism not only for the painter but also for the viewers. Some of the murals were positive, hoping for peace in the future. Others were macabre and portraying painful deaths from the previous decades. Across such a spectrum, the paintings were more than colors on a wall. They showed pain, love, hope, fear, anger, and above all, people trying to make sense of the world around them.
Overall, Germany does a better job at acknowledging its history (and therefore working to learn and grow from it) than the United States ever has. I’ve seen a burned book memorial in an otherwise empty courtyard, museums dedicated to the survivors and victims of WWII, and a modern Parliament building representing transparency. Germany, while having a painful, sorrowful, and deadly history, also shows signs of strength and growth.

Visiting Sachsenhausen was very somber experience. The museum was a strong portrayer of the horrible things that happened during WWII. It was very humbling to walk around the place where so many people had once walked, and many of which only walked in, and never out. Even though there aren’t many buildings left, the markings of where the buildings once were gave a view of how large the terrible operation of concentration camps were. Things that happened during the war were a very dark time in German history. Seeing the preserved remains of the small gas chamber and incinerators gave me chills, just thinking of the things that once took place there. I think that it is good that the German people are willing to talk about their past and remember the tragedies, so that it might not happen again.

This first week in Germany has showed me both how different and how similar Germany is to home. My first impressions are good. For me, I can’t make a very close comparison between city life here and in Grand Rapids since I don’t live directly in the city. Getting from place to place takes much longer here using public transportation rather driving my car anywhere I please at home. One thing I have noticed is that you are never far from a bus stop, and the rail system is huge. There is a bike lane next to the sidewalk and you have to stay out of the bike lane or you might get hit by a bike. It is really weird seeing so many of what we call “foreign” cars here. After one week, I can still count the number of American cars I’ve seen on my hands. There are many more exotic cars here than in West Michigan like Porsches, Lamborghinis, and Ferraris. One thing here I wish we had at home is a food called a Doner, you can get it in bread or in a box. They are very good and are a lot of food for the price.