Memorials of Persecution and Resistance

Although my cooperation with House of One is the main reason why I came to Berlin, much of my free time in Berlin I am spending on visiting museums and memorials that tell stories of persecution (of Jews and of many others) and resistance (by non-Jews and Jews) in the Nazi era. Last year, after its Summer Academy in Berlin, Centropa asked me to write an article on such monuments. The article was published in a compendium, but I wanted to publish it separately, online, and to turn it into a go-to guide for teachers and (their or other) students who want to learn more about those dark chapters in the history of Berlin, Germany, the Jewish people and Europe. Also, in the compendium Centropa didn't embed the links (for each and every museum and memorial) to Google Maps that form an integral part of my article. 

Whenever I find time I go out and take pictures of the sites. I will post some of those pictures in this blog.

By the way, I often tell my students that we in Israel can learn a lot from our German friends about dealing with the more difficult parts of our country's history. It's far from perfect (*), but Germans do not tend to sweep things under the carpet, and in Berlin, every street corner almost breathes history, including many, many stories of and about the Holocaust.

(*) For example, on Friday at the German Resistance Memorial Center, I noticed that Arthur Nebe did not appear in the long list of officers and civilians who took part in the failed coup attempt of 20.7.44. I asked a staff member about this, and he explained that Nebe is mentioned elsewhere, but that he is a very problematic figure in the story of that coup. An understandable omission, but still.