Munich - Terror to Reconciliation Part 2

                                   

  

On Wednesday the 21st Gerri and I joined another walking tour, The Third Reich Tour. This particular tour took us to the sites where Hitler roused his supporters with his fiery oratory. We visited the beer hall where he launched his beer hall putsch, another spot we visited was the administration building where he had his office. The tour led us around significant parts of the city that were important to Hitler's goals as well being important for US bombing efforts. For the bombing efforts the pilots were told to use two particular church towers as their reference point.

The end result was virtually a complete devastation of the city. The devastation was so complete that all that was left to reconstruct buildings were their own reclaimed bricks. Buildings were reconstructed in their original style, even to this day any refurbished buildings have to maintain their original exterior design. The city today is a changed city with a thriving economy, cultural interests and tourists from all over.

With this trip Gerri and I learned so much about not only the Nazi's rise to power but also events that precipitated the march to war. We saw that World War 2 was in a sense a continuation of the First World War. The Treaty of Versailles and war reparations were the catalyst that started the war and even earlier the stage was set by the Habsburg empire. Unfortunately the world is still paying the price of those earlier conflicts.

With all that we saw and learned and needing to unwind, Gerri and I departed the Third Reich Tour and headed to Oktoberfest. Now that was an experience! We entered the grounds and immediately saw biergartens sponsored by different breweries. We walked around to different ones to get a feel for the festivities. Each biergarten had a band playing old Bavarian songs playing to hundreds of reveling party goers. It was a complete party in each biergarten with food galore and huge steins of beer. It was almost impossible to get a place to sit.

We finally ended up in the Lowenbrau biergarten. The band not only was playing Bavarian music but also some modern songs. With luck, and a persistent waitress, we finally were able to get a seat at a table. The tables are long affairs with people who may be part of a group or just strangers. The waitress made some people move down despite their protests so that Gerri and I could sit. Sitting down you could order your choice of typical German fare or just get a stein of beer. I opted for a huge stein of Lowenbrau, Gerri took the easy way out by getting something non alcoholic. 

We sat there enjoying the band and all the revelry that was taking place. We soon had some Canadians sitting at the table behind Gerri. They were completely decked out in traditional dress, lederhosen and all. I'm sure that this was not their first time at Oktoberfest. The Canadians were friendly and funny, we interacted with them for a while. After a couple of hours, I nursed that beer, we left to take the metro back to our apartment. Exhausted but relaxed, a fitting end to the past couple of days of deep concentration.

This ends our trip, we have one final day left before heading home on Saturday. For our final day we're going to use the metro, explore and have a final German meal. Auf wiedersehen!   

Munich - Terror to Reconciliation Part 1

                      

  

Today is Thursday, September 22nd. Gerri and I have been busy the past couple of mornings here in Munich. We arrived on Monday after a inch 5 hour train ride from Hamburg. The more we ride the high speed trains, the more we like them!

On Tuesday we joined a tour to Dachau, the first of hundreds of Nazi concentration camps. Dachau is about a 20 minute train ride north of Munich. Dachau was also the site of the SS academy where methods of torture and control were taught. The camp was originally set up to house political prisoners and anyone else the Nazi's deemed a threat to the party. During the course of its 12 years existence the camp became the site of thousands of murders. The camp was the smallest of all camps and because of logistics was not able to carry out the mass murders as were done at other camps.

The tour showed us replicas of the barracks used to house prisoners. The washroom and toilet facilities were sparse and as with everything else were intended to strip a person of their human identity. The SS were taught to never make eye contact with the prisoners, they were to be considered sub human. Prisoners had to keep their barracks clean, the floors could only be walked on in bare or stockinged feet. The least transgression whether real or imagined would result in whippings with a bull whip or being hung from the ceiling for hours at a time.

Then we went to the receiving station, there prisoners were catalogued with meticulous records and judged according to their work ability. We eventually made our way to the place where thousands were to take their final breath. Initially the building seems pretty non descript until you begin to go through and see how the Nazi's prepared their victims. First you see fumigation chambers where clothing was to be fumigated, then you go through a couple of more rooms until you come to another room where people were made to disrobe before entering the Brausebad for what they were led to be showers.

The gas chamber itself is not foreboding. It's a large room with strange looking "shower" heads from which the lethal gas was pumped into the room. The next room over is the room where the bodies were piled up until they removed by prisoners.Our next stop was a the crematorium. There were 4 ovens, each one could accommodate 3-4 bodies. 

Overall the setting of the camp could seem very innocuous  with trees, fields, and canals. Once you take in the sight of the guard towers, and the kill zone and the realization of what this all meant then it begins to strike you that this was all the result of mans inhumanity to man. This was a place where so many people suffered and perished losing all hope of a normal life.

We closed out our day with a train ride back to Munich, reflecting on what we had seen and needing to get some sense of present day reality.

Hamburg - Undiscovered

   

        

      

Gerri and I made it to Hamburg yesterday, Saturday the 17th. The train ride again was pleasant and efficient, but then it's the German railway system and they do keep their trains running on time. I wish we had a system like their's or even better, the European train system.

Since this was supposed to be a quick stopover before heading to Munich, I didn't really plan too much. Mistake! Had I known how much there is to Hamburg I would have tried to plan more time here. The train station happens to be across from the hotel that we're staying at, the Europaischer Hof. The hotel is rated 4 stars with nice rooms and amenities and with plenty of restaurants nearby.

Our initial foray after checking into the hotel was not the most comfortable one. Usually when we check into a place be it an apartment or hotel we'll venture out to check the neighborhood. Usually we feel very positive about the neighborhood. In our case we turned around the corner from the hotel and walked for awhile looking for a decent restaurant. However, we just felt an unease about the area so we retreated back to the hotel area where we found a very good restaurant to eat at.

As it happens there is a Hop On Hop Off bus stop across the street in front of the train station. So Sunday morning after breakfast we bought our tour ticket and set out to discover the city. It turned out we had been looking on the wrong side of the tracks for we were soon to be introduced to what is referred to as the Venice of Germany.

Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany after Berlin. There is a very large and active port and canals similar to Venice,  Italy. During the Second World War, Hamburg was bombed repeatedly to eliminate their shipping facilities, their U boat infrastructure and their oil refineries. During July 1943 Operation Gomorrah was launched which was a firebombing mission. Because there had been no rain for sometime, the dry conditions made for a tremendous firestorm. The fires created vortexes which spread flames so quickly that most of the city was essentially destroyed. The death toll was 42,500 with over 37,000 injured.

Reconstruction after the war created a new metropolis. New structures were built and the city revived. Luckily there were a fair number of old buildings that were spared or were able to be rebuilt. In our tour we passed through some very exclusive areas before arriving at the heart of Hamburg. The town hall or Rathaus is one of the most magnificent structures  that neither I nor Gerri have ever seen! The Rathaus if the seat of government or parliament for Hamburg.  The original town hall burned to the ground in 1842 forcing the staff to move to temporary quarters which lasted for 55 years! The current town hall was built over an 11 year period and was completed in 1897. There are 647 rooms with the building sitting on 4,000 pillars. There are 20 statutes of past emperors adorning the facade the ornate wrought iron gate at the main door leads into a grand entry hall supported by 16 sandstone pillars. It is truly something to see!

Not having much time left to explore, Gerri and I returned to our hotel to get ready for our train trip to Munich tomorrow. The trip is supposed to take 5 1/2 hours. Luckily the trains are fast, quiet and have a nice restaurant car. So my next post will be from Munich, just in time for Oktoberfest! So until then, Auf 

Wiedersehen!