laufen - to walk

a typical family photo

today we spent 4 hours in the jewish museum. the building, designed by libeskind, the architect who has designed the world trade center freedom tower, was created to look like a broken star of david. there is a "memory void" slashing through the center of the building in which no exhibit hangs. the walls, floor and ceiling are black, giving you time and space to reflect on what you've seen instead of automatically going from exhibit to exhibit. i found these areas to be extremely helpful for digesting the content, and resting the eyes.

we all learned something new as we circled through jewish history from the middle ages to the present. (i guess i had a little more to learn than the rest of the family.) the most interesting exhibit for all of us was a series of interviews on the street in 1959. a man with a microphone would walk up to random people on the street and ask them if they were in berlin during the nazi times. as they said yes their smiles faded and their expressions grew nervous. the interviewer would then ask if they knew jews were being killed here. some answered by walking away, others responded with a curt yes, and others gave long answers about how many of their friends were jewish. the next question that interviewed would pose to the people who stayed was "do you think we should forget or discuss what happened?" the only clear answer given to this question was from a tall, good looking man surrounded by people. he said, "i am in the german army. we should forget. that is all there is to do."