Rick Steves' Snapshot Berlin by Rick Steves

Author:Rick Steves
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avalon Travel
Published: 2013-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

Over the next few years, the Memorial plans to gradually add more open-air exhibitions farther along Bernauer Strasse. Eventually the chain of sights will stretch all the way to Eberswalder Strasse and Oderberger Strasse, near the heart of Prenzlauer Berg.

Cost and Hours: Free; Visitor Center and Documentation Center open April-Oct Tue-Sun 9:30-19:00, Nov-March until 18:00, closed Mon year-round; outdoor areas accessible 24 hours daily; last English movie starts at 18:00, memorial chapel closes at 17:00; Bernauer Strasse 111, tel. 030/4679-86666, www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de.

Stolpersteine (Stumbling Stones)

As you wander through the Hackesche Höfe and Oranienburger Strasse neighborhoods—and throughout Germany—you might stumble over small brass plaques in the sidewalk called Stolpersteine. Stolpern means “to stumble,” which is what you are meant to do. These plaques are placed in front of the homes of residents who were killed during World War II. The Stolpersteine serve not only to honor the victims, but also to stimulate thought and discussion on a daily basis (rather than only during visits to memorial sites) and to put an individual’s name on the mass horror.

More than 25,000 of these plaques have been installed across Germany. They’re made of brass so they stay polished as you walk over them, instead of fading into the sidewalk. On each plaque is the name of the victim who lived in that spot, and how and where that person died. While some Holocaust memorials formerly used neutral terminology like “perished,” now they use words like “murdered”—part of the very honest way in which today’s Germans are dealing with their country’s past. The city of Munich, however, has banned Stolpersteine, saying that the plaques were insulting and degrading to victims of persecution, who would continue to be trod on by “Nazi boots.” Installation of a Stolperstein can be sponsored for €95 and has become popular in schools, where students research the memorialized person’s life as a class project.

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