The painting above was part of the Berlinische Galerie where we received a wonderful tour. It was themed around some of the major ideas in our course such as “what is a nation” and how political turmoil affected the city. What made this space special was that every artist had some connection to Berlin in one way or another. I love seeing the vibrant art scene around town. More specifically, this photo reminded me of the Schneider reading about women breaking societal norms. In the Weimar republic years, women cut their hair short and dancing became a very popular form of self expression. This dance was referred to as the “trance dance” because people would feel like they were in an alternative state of mind after watching for a while.
0 Comments
The image above was taken on the tour given to use of the Rütli school in Neukölln. I thought back to the practical presentation Blake gave when he discussed its history. Although Rütli had a questionable reputation back in 2006 (when it made headlines for the teachers calling for a shutdown), it has since been put under new management and now represents a high educational standard. The kids I talked with directly were respectful, curious, and fun. Furthermore, they made it very clear that racism was present in other schools that were very homogenous (in terms of ethnic group). But Rütli was a blended, happy establishment where kids from different backgrounds can come together peacefully. They had lots of artwork themed around cooperation and unity in the hallways. Addie and I made connections to our topic when we both heard students talking about how Marzahn was not an open and welcoming place. Within my group, we also discussed the presence of the AFD and youth politics.
This Tuesday’s educational experience revolved around the Muslim community. The picture above is the mosque we visited. The imam provided insightful information regarding life as a muslim in Eastern Germany and about the religion in general. I was reminded of the readings we did that concerned guest workers, their influence, and islamophobia. Furthermore, our discussion in class also came to mind. In the Islam conference, the speakers brought up the theory that Germany has always needed a scapegoat. This was illustrated by the shift to discriminating against people of Eastern dissent once the wall fall. I gained a new perspective on life as a Muslim.
In our individual group excursions today, Group two traveled throughout Berlin in an effort to gain more knowledge about our topic in the field. First, we traveled to the German Historical Museum and viewed exhibits pertaining to the nature of democracy, German history during the Weimar, leading up to/during the second world war, and pre and post unification. Second, we went to the former headquarters of the East German secret police known as the Stasi. The informational exhibition pertaining to the rise and fall of the GDR was especially relevant to Addie and I. And lastly, we traveled to see regional differences in East German through the sprawling high rises and socioeconomic disparity. I wish I could talk on every part of what we saw/every picture I took because I thought it was immensely helpful. I’ve chosen two pictures to emboy themes of the course and things I found fascinating. The first image is of a rocker named Tatjana playing music in East Berlin. However, looks can be deceiving because she was revealed to be a Stasi informant under the name “Kim.” I thought of the main female character’s plight and the totality of Stasi surveillance communicated during The Lives of Others as well as Schneider’s readings in Berlin Now. She was very involved in the artistic scene but stasi pressure forced her to turn against her boyfriend. No community was safe. The second picture ties in more broadly to our group’s theme. It was the first thing I saw in the first exhibit regarding what democracy looks like. It connects to my paper topic about the political culture in the Berlin Republic.
The past few days have been full of walking, knowledge, and deep reflection. On Thursday, we continued thinking about the persecution of Jews and remembrance. This picture was part of an exhibition by Menashe Kadishman called “Falling Leaves.” It is a collection of 10,000 metal faces placed in the void of David Libeskind’s highly conceptual Jewish Museum building . Despite criticism that accused it of being improper and degrading (because you walk on the steel faces), I felt profoundly moved. Walking along created loud noises that sounded like screams echoing through the tower. The video we watched in class called Annihilation: Destruction of the European Jews paralleled many of the messages in this work. The shock of the Jewish people and scale of depraved Nazi acts comes across despite different mediums. Berlin’s diverse and creative takes on Holocaust education have been a privilege to see. The artists put so much care into the consideration/representation of an almost incomprehensible event. I look forward to taking what I’ve learned here and sharing it with others.
This Wednesday’s itinerary covered important themes from our course such as the East/West divide and Holocaust remembrance. Firstly, we listened to two lectures by IES founder Dr. Barbara Gügold and Dr.Sabine Berking. I especially enjoyed Dr. Gügold’s because her personal testimony about life in the GDR is relevant to my research topic. Both of these lectures touched on readings from O’Brien and Schneider about the stigma placed on the East and general political culture following the GDR’s end. Secondly, memorialization was front and central at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial and museum. I thought it was a powerful, imposing, and very subjective experience. More literal presentation like the facts and figures at the museum are still effective. But the blocks’ presence put everything in an entirely new perspective. They represented the immensity of lives lived by millions of people. I could feel them with me in a way I’d never before. It was upsetting to see people not being more respectful in the space (taking couples photos, playing tag, leaving trash etc). However, the misbehavior still sent a powerful message about public perception regarding the Holocaust and its place in everyday life.
Today, we traveled to one of three large sections of the Berlin wall that are still intact. This part in particular gives viewers an authentic idea of what the wall’s later editions looked like. I learned even more about the reasons behind the physical separation of East and West. After losing about 3 million people following the division of German land among the allies, the GDR thought the only way to sustain and build itself would be to stop the mass exodus. A movie we watched called Goodbye Lenin and the reading about how to memorialize the wall came to mind. Like in Goodbye Lenin, this pseudo wall attempts to create an authentic version of eastern German life (but with other motives in mind). The strip of land dedicated to remembering the Berlin wall represents the fruition of ideas put forth for preservation. In the reading, the difficulty of maintaining the wall (especially in a time when all people wanted to do was tear it down) comes to mind. I was really impressed by the approach and execution.
The picture above was from one of many sections of the Berlin wall standing at the East side gallery. We biked there in the morning shortly before our bus tour of the city (which was an interesting experience in and of itself). After dodging cars, busses, and other bikes, we found ourselves in front of one of the most consequential structures of the 21st century. As related by the readings and the movie The Lives of Others, the wall (and this art) called the deep sorrow, isolation, and paranoia of Eastern German citizens into mind. I tried to put myself in the mindset of east/west before the fall as the wall stood, reminding all of the conscious and state sponsored attempt at control. I also thought about my paper topic: Political culture in the Berlin Republic. The physical presence of the Berlin wall reinforced the truly difficult circumstances and oppressive mindset that people in the GDR came out of when assimilating into western liberalism.
|