Three Months In Review: Lots of rambling

I think where German history started to click with me was when we went to Dresden. I'd learned a lot about the Reformation and how that shaped German history prior to this, but the true nature of the German willingness to persevere didn't hit me until Dresden. Here was a country that had been torn apart by religious differences in the 16th century, didn't unify until 1871, suffered a demoralising defeat in 1918, saw the rise of a totalitarian government and a genocide, was divided in two for 40 years, and yet managed to come together and make something of it. Dresden was important because you could see how the country had rebuilt itself through the buildings that lay in ruin for the entire GDR period. The people actually stopped the authorities from building over these places, and I think it showcased the spirit of getting on with life and yet remembering the past that I associate with Germany.

I say 'getting on yet remembering' in that Germany remembers their past, but doesn't dwell on it, wanting instead to move forward into the future. The remains of the Berlin Wall, the concentration camps, the rebuilt buildings in Dresden: they all serve to remind of what happened, but also stand as a reason to move on and prevent (especially with the concentration camps) the past from being repeated.

I think some of the most significant journal entries include: Dresden, Berlin, going to Buchenwald, Berlin again, Halle, Leipzig, and Munich. These were some of my favourite places we went, and some of them were not part of our class trips but had importance to me. Munich was interesting because it sort of brought the American stereotype of Germans about face (when we think of German, we're actually thinking of Bavaria) and made me examine it. I actually prefer this area (Sachsen-Anhalt and surrounding areas) to Munich. Visiting Berlin the second time meant I could see some things that we didn't get to see the first time, and it was the first time I felt confident in my German skills (we really did get lost, and had to learn how to navigate the U-Bahn/S-Bahn on our own, and I was so proud of us). Buchenwald was something I will never forget and visibly upsetting, but something that I'm glad I did regardless. The other three were class trips I particularly enjoyed--mostly all because I was really able to get a sense of what East German life was like and I enjoyed that. I think it's important to remember East Germany and how it shaped the East German states--it really makes them unique, in good and bad ways.