If you’re a museum person, you can easily keep yourself busy in Berlin for weeks. There are all kinds here – history, art, culture, and just plain weird – currywurst museum, anyone? I knew I had to visit the Topography of Terror, a museum chronicling the rise of the Third Reich, the Holocaust, and the aftermath of the war through photographs and stories, located on the former site of the headquarters of the SS and the Gestapo.

Walking through the Topography of Terror museum is like being unable to put down a really well-written book. And the photographs, always my favorite thing to pore over in the history books, have been chosen with care and appropriately reflect this time period, even at its ugliest. The images sometimes are so appalling that the second my eyes landed on them I had to look away, and the stories beneath them are so heart-wrenching that I felt

compelled to read each and every one, lest someone’s story be forgotten. These are a few of the images that I felt captured the essence and the horror so fully that I haven’t been able to get them out of my head – a man refuses to salute with other workers at the launch of a German navy training ship, Hamburg 1936;  soldiers from a concentration camp relaxing with female camp attendants on “time off” 1942;  young boy surrenders to SS during Warsaw Ghetto uprising 1943; young women reach out to shake hands with Hitler, Breslau 1937; German task force executes Lithuanian jews on the outskirts of Kovno Ghetto; the sneer/smile on the face of the German soldier at the Jewish man’s humiliation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the grim Topography of Terror museum visit, sat outside in the sun and my attention was drawn to a balloon hovering in the sky very close by, which had the word “Die” emblazoned on it. Not a great marketing slogan I thought, but when the balloon turned slightly and I saw it was actually “Die Welt Balloon” (“the World Balloon”)…a strong steel rope attached to a basket allows you to hover 500 feet in the air and to enjoy a panorama over the city. On my way there, a demo happened out of nowhere, celebrating diversity. Sun was shining, great demo, perfect day.

 

 

 

I thought I’d do weird…Currywurst- it’s inspired a museum, a musical composition. This is the distribution of the chain through Germany! A dish of sliced and grilled pork sausage with a sauce consisting of ketchup and curry powder – the snack was first created on September 4th 1949 in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, by the German woman Herta Heuwer.  At the time, the area was under the control of the British. In the post-war period,  Allied soldiers were introducing new foods and eating habits to Germany, such as Americans eating tomato ketchup with steak, which was adapted to eating sausage with ketchup. Curry powder was brought over by the British.   My view….pork sausage and mustard still a winner!! The little sampler you got after your tour of the museum was enough for me, had to pair with a prosecco for lunch! 🙂

Strolled past Check-point Charlie, the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin West/ East crossing point during the “Cold War” (1947–1991). 

Berlinische Galerie (of Modern Art) had an exhibition of Swiss artist Christine Streuli’s latest work which I wanted to see….loved the chromatic intensity, patterns and shapes, quite surreal.  Not so much Monica Bonvicini’s offerings (a wall of steel scaffolding – her work explores the relationship between power structures, gender and space – don’t ‘hear’ what she’s trying to convey through the scaffold medium!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delightful onsite cafe for coffee and mango and passionfruit mousse cake after the museum visit.