Hi from Rick: Living History in Berlin
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| Berlin's Reichstag dome overlooks the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. |
Dear Traveler,
It's easy to assume that Europe's most worthwhile historical sights are hundreds of years old. Not so in Berlin, where only a generation or two separates today's traveler from epic events. Standing at the Brandenburg Gate, you'll face Berlin's fashionable new heart, Pariser Platz, surrounded by vivid reminders of its tumultuous recent history: the vast and poignant Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe; a smaller memorial to Hitler's first victims — 96 politicians who dared to speak out against him in the early 1930s; the glass-domed Reichstag, where on May Day 1945 Russian troops quelled a furious Nazi last stand; a "subway station to nowhere" that went unused through the Cold War and today attracts crowds as a 1930s time warp; and nearby hills created entirely from the rubble of a city bombed nearly flat just six decades ago.
The newest addition to the neighborhood is the Kennedy Museum, filled with such JFK lore as a scrap of paper with hand-written phonetics for his famous Berlin speech in the summer of '63. As I read his note, I could hear his voice: "Eesh been ein Bear-lee-ner."
With the amazing story of Berlin swirling through my head — a dictator's burning body, the heroic American airlift when the Communists attempted to starve a free Berlin into submission, Kennedy's speech, followed 24 years later by Reagan's demand to "tear down this wall," the euphoria-turned-to-challenge of Germany's reunification, and the gleaming city that visitors marvel at today — I waved down a cab to get a Berliner's perspective.
I asked the driver if he was a Berliner. When he turned to me, I realized he was a Turk. He said, "I've lived here 31 years. If Kennedy, after one day, could say 'Ich bin ein Berliner' then I guess I can say I am a Berliner too."
Europe's history isn't just old — it's alive and taking shape every day. And when we travel as "temporary locals" we can taste and feel it. In this month's Travel News we'll help get you started, with articles that take you strolling through the back streets of Córdoba, empathizing with French geese, getting acquainted with Montenegro, and lots more.
Next stop for me: Prague. Ich bin ein traveler.
Happy travels,
Rick