Berlin Day 4

We started our day off with a reflection activity. Three questions were presented to us about space in our urban setting: what space do we take up, what space do we give up, and what space do we share? After reflecting on these questions, we headed to the former Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. 







Before we got to the church, Greg gave a presentation on a nearby street, where it is believed the architect of the Armenian Genocide, Talaat Pashar, was assassinated by an Armenian student, Soghomon Tehlirian, whose family had been killed in the genocide. It was interesting that there was no plaque to acknowledge the event despite its historical significance, but we appreciated Greg sharing this important history with us.



After commemorating this event with Greg and visiting the church, which was bombed during World War 2, we got to explore Haribo, Germany's famous gummy bear empire, and then grabbed some lunch from a local food truck market on Potsdamer Platz.


 

With Haribo in hand, we boarded a train and rode to the end of the line. 

With the cars emptying at each stop, we eventually pulled into the Oranienburg station, the end of the line just outside of Berlin. Walking down the cobbled streets between tile-roofed buildings, a small sign appeared on a post reading: "The Way to the Camp." The walk we took through tree-lined suburban streets was the same march that thousands of people were forced to walk from the train station to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. 

Bordered by a dashed-line of concrete wall, Sachsenhausen is nestled in the heart of a suburban neighborhood. The walk into the camp is still bordered by a high wall topped with (now rusting) barbed wire. Watchtowers rise from the trees, their windows now bordered. 




I thought about how the trees must have been making the same sounds, the gate was the same, the same birds, ravens, flocked around the camp. There is too much to summarize and reflect about the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in the time we have to write this blog. We will be adding more reflections later. 

-Eden '25 and Jorge '25


 

 






















Comments

  1. RcaragherJune 13, 2024 at 5:22 AM

    Very interesting that Greg was able to talk about the assassination of one of the three Pashas: Taleet Pasha, who was a major leader of the genocide perpetrated against Armenians in WWI (https://www.armenian-genocide.org/talaat.html). Yes, after the trip to Oranienburg, you two had a very difficult task to summarize this very moving day at Sachsenhausen. Such a sobering reminder of what happened... may we Never Forget!

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