Day #1 and #2: Berlin

It was impossible to post blog entries for day #1 thanks to a combination of jet lag and exhaustion.  After a rocky start at Logan Airport--thank you Lufthansa computer system!--we raced to board our flight to Munich, swiftly making a connecting flight and arriving in Berlin shortly after noon.   Our group perfected the fine art of the count off--48 in less than 40 seconds---and we took off for our first stop: Track 17 in the Gruenewald area of western Berlin, where most of the Jews deported from Berlin, after being trucked here from other parts of the city, were packed on railway cars and sent east, mostly to Auschwitz or Theresienstadt.  The memorial at this site---simple plaques running in chronological  order  along both sides of the track--tell a chilling tale.  Day after day, trains left: 1000 Jews, 750 Jews, 500 Jews, 1100 Jews.  This is one of the most affluent areas of Berlin.   Beautiful homes flank the ramp leading to the tracks.   Commuters go in and out of this station at all hours.   Is it possible that no one knew what was happening or wondered where all of these people were headed?

Our next stop was the lakeside Wannsee Villa, where in January 1942, Reinhard Heydrich led a meeting with mid-tier Nazi officials met to decide pm what they referred to as the "final solution to the Jewish question."  Today it's an educational center and museum of sorts in a breathtaking site.  How could so,etching so heinous be decided in a place like this?

Today's itinerary was mostly on the outskirts of Berlin, designed to take maximum advantage of the bus we had!  Our next stop was the Olympic Stadium, site of the 1936 Olympics, in the early years if the Nazi regime.  A big propaganda coup for the Nazis, the stadium is a prime example of Fascist architecture.  We were taken all over, from the jacuzzi in the locker room to the VIPseats.   It was impressive.

Our final stop was at the Bayerisches Viertel (Bavarian quarter), with its discreet set of signs noting actions that slowly ate away at the Jewish residents of this part of town.  We also saw several Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) marking the homes of former mJewish residents in the quarter whose lives ended under the Nazis.

Needless to say we were all grateful to arrive at our hotel, skillfully choreograph a luggage brigade in the elevator, troop up the five flights, and check in.  After a quick local dinner, everyone headed to bed.

More tomorrow; the students were asked to work on blog entries about today in their rooms tonight.

PS: it seems that all the ATM snafus have either been worked out or we have gone to the money buddy system.  If you are a parent ferrying or helping with this, many thanks! (Ms Freeman)