Cologne Reflections: Should Governments Pay for Synagogue Fixing?? NO!

There was this woman that NYU Berlin had hired to give us a tour of Jewish Berlin. I mention her in my last blog too if you want a more completely story, but she had mentioned how the stained glass in the major Cologne synagogue was vandalized recently and how the city of Cologne would not pay for it. I was especially surprised to see how mad she had gotten when saying that the city government and tax payers money should not pay for it. Granted governments all over Europe have funded a lot of reconstruction of their city, but as far as I can see, it was never really favoritism of religion, though it may seem that way in retrospect. Also, it was often after sometime disastrous...like war...The grand Dom (cathedral) of Cologne stood as a major symbol of the city--after all, it towered over everything in its beauty. To many, it was just something they saw on the way to work, not necessarily where they pray. To others, it is a major tourist attraction that draws people into the city, to stimulate its economy. Yes, you could argue that all the way back even when the cathedral was built, the "Evil" Christians were still persecuting the Jews, but really...this just goes back to whether or not people can try to move on, or if they still need to keep repenting. What the cathedral is NOW is a symbol of the city, and that is why it deserves funding. The synagogue of Cologne is completely isolated from the community. It is not something easily accessed by the public. Its architecture is not completely remarkable. Its beauty, if you ask me at least, is extremely limited compared to important buildings of the rest of the world. At this point, this woman just really confused me.

Memorials=Tourist Attractions

While my parents were here in Berlin we (me and Dave) took a walk to the Holocaust Memorial with them. In the past week before they got here, in a class discussion my class talked about how it really was just a tourist attraction rather than a memorial. I never really thought about memorials in this way before, but its definitely true.

Many people are upset at the creation of the memorial because of its former potential and

current status as a tourist attraction, but for those of whom it does mean something, I think it was worth it. When I visited the Holocaust Memorial the first time I honestly had no idea what it was. I'm sorry to say that I actually used it as an ordinary park the first time I saw it. I sat on the big concrete blocks and just hung out. I really had no idea.

The second time I visited, I have to say I didn't have much of a different experience because we learned about the history of the monumental, rather than having a discussion or

reflection of the actual Holocaust, or what it symbolized. Apparently the anti-graffitti spray used on the monument was supplied by a company that used to supply gas to many of the gas chambers during the Holocaust (but that's just a side note).

The third time, however, was the time with my parents, when we gave them a tour of what the memorial symbolized after learning about it in another class. Apparently you are supposed to feel more and more disoriented the further and further you get to the center. The ground is uneven as you wander through, and what appears to be very uniform from the outside is very overwhelming/confusing/strange on the inside.

But back to the idea of a memorial as a tourist attraction--Yes. Very true. Each time I went to the memorial I hadn't even walked through it...So I couldn't even tell you if I fell disoriented or

confused o overwhelmed on the inside, that is only how I imagine it. Each time I visited it seemed we were in a rush, or it was just a stop on the way, which is an awful thing, but just further proof that memorials are a tourist attraction. Yes, you heard me...Memorials are often transformed into a tourist attraction, just like our monuments in the states. What IS the Washington Memorial? WHY do we need one for Lincoln AND Jefferson?

Surely, I think the ones for the wars deserve much more credit, as people actually go to them and they are quiet and respectful, but the atmosphere just isn't there in the Berlin Holocaust Memorial. I haven't seen one person say a prayer or leave flowers on it. Apparently, no one actually uses it to remember their loved ones...but whose fault is that! Maybe if people actually used it in the beginning for its function instead of being bitter...it wouldn't have such an awful atmosphere.

What I think of German anti-Semitism

While in Berlin, I have become more and more “aware” as some people call it, or more “cynical” as my former self would call it, of what is happening in Germany. My romanticized idea that all of Europe was like a super-sized amusement park with beautiful sites, delicious food and few problems, has since died.

I've found a great variety of people here representing just about any political party you could imagine. I'm not sure if I'm a big fan though, but that is why I am excited to go and live amongst the friendly coexisting disagreeing non-hostile people of America (this is something I have to come back to...keep posted).

In my German Politics class we discuss a lot about remorse and how much of Germany still feels the need to repent for what it did to the Jews. While, yes, this is the focus of the discussion in that one class, I was also introduced to this one Jewish woman who lives in Cologne. She felt that any sort of symbolic tributes or ceremonies in honor of the Jews who died in the Holocaust was a waste. Well, she didn't say it was a waste, but she mine as well have. NYU Berlin was in Cologne the weekend before the 20th anniversary of Mauerfall, but that day--November 9th, was also a day many Jews had died by the hands of the Nazis. So firstly, she not only criticized the people of Berlin for celebrating their wall falling and forgetting what happened to the Jews, but she also criticized the fact that the mayor was going to visit her synagogue (which is the main one in Cologne) in remembrance of what happened that day. Did I forget to mention that this woman also spoke in a tone against the German youth and implied through her talk that the majority of the German public was incompetent and lacking a moral understanding of the Holocaust? I feel badly for what has happened to the Jews, and of course I will never really understand what these people who have lost so many family members do, but I don't think I am incompetent by any means to understand what happened during the Holocaust. I also don't feel that I am incompetent because I think memorials and public remembrance is a good thing, despite its obvious flaws. And as a distant American student, I think I can say safely that many German students also are not incompetent in understanding their history. Of course there are a few radicals, but they are in all countries.

As a relatively free and open minded American I can sort of understand where this woman is coming from, but at the same time I must ask, as some of my German peers from Cologne did...What is enough? And if you don't like it, then what do you want? Others had asked if she would rather appreciate NOTHING be done! I must admit, I chuckled a bit because it was like a slap in the face. She couldn't seem to formulate a good response, besides turning red and raising her voice.

Another thing I was a bit skeptical to believe was all of the hatred that this woman had both experienced

or described, but I soon realized how serious the nature of what was happening to her really is. This is really a response to what I had written in my paper in my last post in case you are wondering... After hearing it over and over from more and more people I started to get (at least what I consider to be) a good understanding of what is still occurring in Germany. Anti-Semitism is still a very real thing. Yes, in the US I can watch my South Park make Jew jokes against Kyle, but here (in Berlin)...I think it would be entirely looked down upon, and I think people would

think you are completely insensitive or completely agree in a very serious way (I don't say this in a mocking way, just stating how I see it). The reason why people are very sensitive is because they know just how many people still harbor those dark thoughts against Jews. The very reason why Hitler's swastikas are illegal on the posters of Inglorious Bastards here.

There are apparently still many students who are taunted for being Jewish, and many young and old adults who are completely anti-Jewish. There are still violent crimes against Jewish people, and harassment occurring on the subway. The only image I can conjure is from the past, when Jews had to wear a yellow star on their jackets and get taunted in their own streets prior to WWII.

Perhaps in the future, as the young people of today are growing up and see all of these things they will realize the terror that occurred, but in Germany, I still am unsatisfied of the amount of anti-Semitism there is, and wish that the rest of the world would realize this about Germany as well. I wish there was more external pressure in this globalized world on Germany to fix the situation.

Excerpt from my last paper for 20th Century German Politics

Before coming to Berlin, I had mixed ideas of what I thought Germany was. The first time I came to Germany, I passed through in a car from France to Italy, stopping only in Cologne to see a “Dom” that was heavily under construction, and beer with sauerkraut and pork knuckles. I was thoroughly unimpressed as a 13 year old. The second time I visited Germany I had only seen the sites around Dresden and Munich, and even then my sole purpose for coming to Germany was to see the “Sistine Madonna” in Dresden, while my father wanted to see the beer halls, or the many “Bierpalast” in Munich. So essentially, when I pictured Germany, what did I see? Neuschwanstein Castle, beer, rundown cathedrals, and Sistine Madonna.

Initially my plans to study abroad were in Florence, as the NYU curriculum there included many of my required business courses, only to have my visa application rejected because of a missing form and horrible Italian bureaucracy. Two weeks before the start of the program—I switched in, and so, I did not prepare for Germany like the other students did; I did not brush up on my German history, nor did I start learning German. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, until on September 1, 2009 I arrived to a dark rainy Berlin not knowing what to expect. I had high hopes for some delicious salty pretzels and perhaps some goulash like they had in Munich, but to my dismay, I eventually learned that Berlin was in the state of Brandenburg—not Bavaria.

As for my political thoughts of Germany, I had always severely isolated what I had learned in History classes from what I had thought of the people today. Perhaps I was simply just ignorant of what culture and humanity is—a development of what was given to us by our ancestors, into something we will pass down to future generations. Yes, I had learned about the Holocaust and read many books like Anne Frank’s Diary and Night, but as a youth I never really put anything together. I had knowledge of the concentration camps and Hitler, but I always naturally gave the world the benefit of the doubt that things had changed, and that the Germany of today is unrelated to the Germany of the past.