Odysseus Abroad: Berlin, Germany

Schaumburg - Berlin - Mitte - Hering Ceramics - Nordbahnhoff

Manatee Kandishman's Fallen Leaves reflect man's inhumanity in the holocaust

Berlin has long been a city stored in backlog for a visit, with much to be explored. My 2010 plan to visit was thwarted by Eyjafjallajokull's angry eruption closing air traffic over the Atlantic, my deposit on a riverboat hotel being favorably refunded due to "force majour". I had just run the Boston Marathon and was forced to return to Asia via the Pacific. We packed a huge amount in during a brief visit June of 2013, Liam, Conor and I. In September 2025 Annette and I visited Berlin (her first visit) for a week, staying on a wonderful apartment overlooking Nordbahnhoff station in Mitte area. Each way we drove the 700 kilometers over two days, staying overnight in Schaumburg, a village perched on a high ridge overlooking the central German plains. A castle tower stands there high on a bluff overlooking the Weser river valley to the south. One can enter for a euro and climb the many stairs to the top. Built for defence, or to intimidate potential enemies, one can imagine its place in a feudal German of the late Middle Ages. Large walls surround the compound and the gatehouse, worthy as a mansion in its own right, stands impenetrable from the outside, and a wonderful example of Middle Ages architecture form inside. The family now spends time in Scotland and has horses in Ireland we were told by a local. Even many of the century old mansions across the country and in the wealthy western suburbs of Berlin stand as fortresses reflecting the architecture of defense embedded in the history of Germany. The owner of one of those mansions in Berlin told me that by early 20th century that architecture started to change, becoming more open to the grounds like the British mansions, a change which may have been premature, being that Germans was twice the main belligerent in the world wars. My perception is that the entire history of Europe is war, as was the history of Rome, with moments of peace emerging periodically. Caesar wrote of the fierce German warriors, the only tribe in Europe who could hold the Roman's back at the Rhine through centuries of hostility. Geography matters in war and the power balance of the world. Feeling hemmed in geographically in a changing European power balance, and left behind in colonial and global ventures, Germany overconfidently throw it's lot in with Austria and hoped to make France docile while fighting Serbia-Russia. What happened next was a brutal war which supercharged killing to an industrial scale. I once heard Yann Mantel read through all the declarations of war across the globe from 1914 to 1917, it tells a chilling story. War reparations levied on Germany were also brutal, resulting in the collapse of its currency and effectively all of its wealth. The pain was exacerbated by the Great Depression and set fertile conditioned for the rise of Hitler in the 1930's. Like Putin claiming the Donbas, Hitler started with claiming the Sudetenland, a hilly band of Czech populated by German farmers - there's no German farmers there today, maybe Putin should take note!

World War Two. Organized and industrial extermination of Jews, Gypsies, Gays and what they considered non-normative people was executed by the cohorts of the Fuhrer. Another lost by Germany, a small suicide in May 1945 and a recovery plan which provided much more promise than the first time, at least for the parts of Germany governed by the western powers, USA, France and Britain. East Germany, governed by Russia, which fell behind the Iron Curtain for four and a half decades did not fare so well. I suppose one could look away from all this history, and likely many do when the visit Berlin, but it would dominate our visit to the city. The terror, horror, betrayal, surveillance and inhumanity all on display and well recorded. All in contrast with the wonderful people and country of Germany which we also witnessed during our weeklong visit. How could it happen? "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes" were the words of Mark Twain, as we can see the seeds of Germany in 1933 rhyming with an executive power grab in the Unites States in 2025. Hitler was never really the problem, after all, there are Hitlers lurking in corner of society ready to take hold, like shingles lingering in the body ready for a point of weakness to take hold. Absolute power corrupts completely, and it is only a brake on power by the people and institutions which save us from tyranny. Now is 1933 in the Unites States, the Supreme Court and Congress are subservient to the emergent autocrat. Will the people take the country back, or will it rhyme with Germany's descent into madness in the 1930's? The path of Entropy increase in the universe is unpredictable at the local level so there is no way to tell if the rhyme will continue. Americans may well be advise to take council by walking the isles of the history museums of Berlin (either in person or virtually) to get an understanding of what they are up against and inform their actions to correct the current deviation from 250 years of success in constitutional democracy, or accept a bifurcation of the country - one part governed by rule of law and the people, the other by power politics driven by fear and patronage. To see what the latter part of such a bifurcation looks like, one can just look at Russia: Its economy of two trillion dollars annually is smaller than Italy, a fifth of it's potential under governance of rule of lay and the people!

Meanwhile back in Schaumburg we enjoyed the wonderful terrace at The Villa and two great restaurants, Paschenburg at the peak and Ritter in the village, served German food like I recalled living in Vienna thirty years earlier. German food is not found in the ranks of the global cuisine, but it's solid and good, the Wiener Schnitzel just as I remembered it. It must be special as German food does not travel well overseas, one must be in the country, or in Austria where they get the technique right. In Berlin we would find it harder to find genuine German food, but we did find a few restaurants including acht&dreissig, etc, and one evening friends invited us out west of town to the embassy neighborhoods, and Landaus Grunewald, an excellent German restaurant. Wine's always taste better in the country on visiting, and we had some great German wines during the week, including dry (Troken) Riesling, Grauburgunder and some solid reds (not the Noirs so much), enough to compete with the solid food. During college I gravitated to sweet German wines, Liebfraumilch and the like, which were cheap and I used to freeze before drinking. Realizing the freezing was subduing the sweetness, I evolved to dryer wines and by third year was over to French Medocs. A sweet wine ordered by my travel companion on a 2004 trip to a vineyard on the Rhine almost made me puke. Best no trace of sugar be left behind, but many German wines today are semi-sweet such that one needs be careful on the ordering. I turned one bottle back (before opening) on our visit as the alcohol was 11%, meaning probably 1.5% sugars remaining.

My 1988 Citroen CX would really have been the better car to round trio 1400 kilometers, much of it on the German Autobahn. It can cruise at 160 kmh like a bird through air and smooth as silk. Alas, it would not be. My mechanic had patched it together over the years (he even sent me a transaxle to Ireland when my CV joint failed), but he retired and my new CX garage was a stickler for details, having detailed more than I had originally paid for the car in repairs before even passing the APK (MOT) inspection. So it would be Annette's Honda Insight, a small hybrid car that had served us well over a decade, although it is rarely driven. It would get the cobwebs blown out on the trip to Germany. There were three lanes for much of the way - the slow lane doing 100 kmh, the middle land doing 140 kmh and the fast lane meant to be kept open with cars doing 160 to 250 kmh. We did find in the middle lane speed, but of course had to maneuver with traffic which is the hard part for the little Honda engine, which generates electric power to drive a motor, so little in way of acceleration. We managed, but one has to concentrate always, as cars emerge behind like bullets. At one point on our last stretch of German Autobahn I was up to 160 kmh to get by a slow middle lane before a fast fast lane closed in and the check engine light illuminated. We did no driving in Berlin, the trams, metro, trains and Uber worked great there.

Finally we were ensconced in our apartment above Nordbahnhoff. Sunday, our first fill day in Berlin was welcomed with beautiful end of summer weather, sunny, not too hot. As more of an anthropological experience and investigation we decided to make an attempt at visiting Berghain, the famous Techno club which emerged as a demonstration of freedom our the old east Berlin. We were dressed simple smart and darkish, but I knew as soon as we tagged on to the long lone at two in afternoon Sunday that we were missing a certain deviance which would be required to get in. Regardless we were glad of the experience to try and absorb the scene. The club opens weekends from Friday afternoon to Monday morning and is full all that time, with long lines and strict cool factor screening, such that many are turned away. What a business model?, revenue is essentially fixed and steady. Steam turbines and equipment were removed and two floors setup for Techno and House music, framed by the solid structure of the old industrial building. There's a small outdoor area, a bar on top floor and a male only sex club in the basement. Built around techno music, sexual fluidity and free expression, the bouncers choose the clientele and no-one truly knows the criteria, which can change morning to evening. Come in small groups, two or three optimum, arriving alone puts additional onus to impress. Loud or large groups don't get in. Locals favored, speak German to the bouncer if you can, tourists or just visiting for fun folks are specifically targeted for rejection. Some people complain about the writer and the "walk of shame" upon not getting in, but not us, we were exactly the people they should not be letting in. Not that we don't dance well and would have a great time, but while I love Techno music, Annette was explaining to two lovely gay guys from Milan in the line that she hates Techno/House and loves Tayler Swift. The boys laughed, but I told her to be quiet as "Swifties" are persons non grata at Berghain! We were also there just to explore for fun, not the hard core types they prefer. The couple in front of us were not to different in appearance, age and dress but for the lady had a see through top on. A wonderful South Korean lad, probably early twenties and out traveling in the world for the first time was dressed the part we thought, the most likely of the crowd around us to get in, but no luck. In his four days in town he seemed to have been to most of the other clubs. Poor lad just had his phone stolen by street scammers, so was likely going to cut him trip short. Two guis behind us looked arabic, slyly telling us they came from Tel Aviv, probably cautious regarding the death toll in Gaza. They were dressed in black and likely looked a little like drop in tourists for the experience. One of the two nice gay lads wore red pants, but while their dress looked conventional, they emitted a certain flair and they got in. People get quiet and split into their small groups as the line approaches the door. Everyone in the line has self selected to be there and also know they are ultimately like Schrodinger's Cat, both in and out until the bouncer makes the call, the wave function collapses and there is only one real outcome. We were in line for two hours, which was an experience in itself. When the bouncer looked at me I said "Zwei", meaning just the two of us. Instead of an immediate rejection, "Nein", as I had seen others before us, he hesitated, looked left to the other bouncer from whom he must have got a negative signal and then turned back to say "Nein". I take that to mean that we at least had a chance and probably with a bit more effort in sexually suggestive attire, we may have a chance next time!

The destruction of Berlin during WW2, especially in 1945 was extreme by any measure, having been bombed by Britain, USA, France and Russia. Most of the city was rebuilt with emphasis to save or mimic the classic older building architecture where possible, mixed in with a variety of modern architecture. Besides a few iconic buildings, Berlin would not rank too highly on the pretty architecture list, but the city was rebuild well, solid, simple and with great public transport, plus lots of green spaces.

Many mornings after coffee my morning run would take me north along the Sudpanke River behind the massive complex of the German Federal Intelligence Service, sterile but for two tall steel palm trees to distract onlookers. Venturing further out of the city center on these runs I observed some few classical buildings which were saved from war destruction, along with lots of dreary uninspiring apartment buildings, plus huge swaths of graffiti. While modest levels of graffiti might reflect societal decal, full on coverage brings back some artistic ambience and is a common sight.

My exposure to the German language is limited to a year in high school, where I mainly recall learning the "Our Father" prayer, and six months in Austria where I worked with German speakers at a gas facility who knew no English for the most part. Irish and English sound soft and squishy compared to the exactness of the German as I learned it, even more so if one listens to Hitler's speeches, but for the most part I heard a gentler side to the language we heard while visiting. I can't speak German or Dutch, but once trying to respond in Dutch (explaining that I couldn't speak Dutch) my stranger colleague switched to German - apparently I was speaking non-Dutch with a German accent, likely informed by the time in Vienna.

Monday afternoon we were invited to an art gallery, Hering Berlin, in the wealthy suburb near Mexicoplatz. I wasn't even sure I would take along with Annette, but I did and it turned out to be a highlight of our visit to Berlin. Stefanie Hering has been famous globally for her ceramic craftsmanship since 1992. She had collaborated with Pierce Brosnan on a set of ceramic vases recently, a limited production, one of which stands in our front room. The collection is called "So Many Dreams" set in three Hering vases, reflecting Brosnan's drawings called Mirage, Tryst and Solitude. The 1500 run of production was for charity. While Brosnan is world famous for his acting, his original training was in art, for which he maintains a passion. Coincidentally his father comes from my home town, Tralee, which is probably not a great memory for him as his father had abandoned the family when he was young. Stefanie also has a connection to Kerry. Seeking an internship in pottery in Ireland and not liking her initial Dublin option, she high-tailed it down to Ventry (Ceann Tra) in Kerry to spend 6 months with Sheehy pottery there. What an experience for a city girl from Berlin to be out in the wilds of Kerry. She describes it warmly along with many stories. Annette and I got a set of ceramic plates when we married, which we still use today daily. I can't recall ever breaking one. That's how tough ceramics are. Well, it is really a combination of tough along with some flexibility, so the shock wave generated when they hit a tike floor is dissipated rather than turned into destructive force. Being an engineer I asked lots of geeky questions which Stephanie and Tom answered gracefully, its art after all, not engineering, but the technical details do matter a lot to them due to the high standard they maintain in production. A number of plate designed with hundreds or thousands of holes (on the rim) caught my eye. A special drill bit is used and they are drilled manually, so it is up to the crafts person to develop a spacial cadence on the go to produce the goods. This is the type of plate you expect at Michelin start restaurants, many of whom are her customers. Stephanie's partner Tom Herr helps run the business end of the business and they both spend an hour and half with us, discussing all sorts of topics along the way. They run the business from the ground floor of a mansion in west Berlin, but the manufacturing is done a few hours away. A long oval table in the garden is also a Stefanie production, along with many other ventures in lighting, wine glasses in a modernization of the traditional German style. The Brosnan-Hering collaboration also resulted in a plate, which they could individually distribute (also for charity) and we returned home with one.

Each day Annette and I explored town at our own pace, by train an don foot, usually meeting up in the later afternoons at some venue, but we focused on museums of interest, which were many. Museum Ephraim-Palais, housed in a rare fine old mansion which survived the bombing, houses exhibits on Berlin history. Already in the first part of the twentieth century, the Berlin Dr Magnus Hirschfeld realized that gay and trans-sexuality was not a choice, nor a disease to be treated, but a core trait of such people which should be accepted and tolerated. Berliners supported the war machine, men working in munitions factories, women in aircraft and propeller factories. Historically the city was badly affected by spread of plagues due to poor sanitation and there was little the pointy nosed plague doctors could do. Improved sanitation helped. What brought me to the vicinity of the museum was another of more interest to me, Design Panoptikum, dedicated to 20th century industrial objects. Just the kind of quirky theme I enjoy, but it was only open Thursdays. Returning there I met the owner, who was a photographer and started collecting industrial objects as props and later out of interest. He had started collecting at the right time, when derelict old businesses and factories were selling off equipment at firesafe prices after the failure of communism. He encourages visitors to be inquisitive and imaginative on interpreting the functional purpose of the wide ranging objects. He held up two aluminum objects, mirror images of each other and potentially used in combination, noting that other visitors imagined them to be related to medical leg or neck braces. I was not fooled and called them out as they were, door handles, for which he was impressed. The Photography Museum on Oranienburg Street was well worth the visit. Take the stairs there, as the graffiti in the stairwells and landings are one of the most impressive features of the building.

Midweek we made it out east to the Stassi Museum, located in a grand complex of buildings from which the most brutal security police lorded it over the people of east Germany for four decades. A derelict building across the street was strewn with graffiti as if staged purposefully in contrast to the order of the Stassi building. An orderly concrete mesh masks the entrance. On the courtyard stand walls of posters outlining the horror of state security in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was neither a republic nor a democracy. Millions escaped so they finally built a wall, The Berlin Wall, across the city. Berlin is situated deep within East Germany, but its governance was quartered among the allies and Russia. The American, British and French parts ended up being West Berlin, free but an island in the tightly controlled communist east. Inside the museum rooms tell of the detained methods and tactics used by the security police to surveil the people. As many as 5% of the population were snitches to the police, telling on their neighbors. Police would disguise as maintenance workers and intrude in people's houses and apartments when they were out at work to find evidence of deviance from the party line. Polaroid cameras were used to instantly record the location of things, which could be restored on departure. The Minox miniature film camera was the standard for longer term surveillance. Phone tapping, sound recording in people's houses, invisible infra red camera technology, shadow surveillance on the street and more were deployed on the people to keep them in check under a system. People voted with their feet and left before being imprisoned or disappeared. The west welcomed them, a brain drain from the east who would strengthen progress in the west and beat witness to the horror show which was communism. Many leftists in the west too easily ignored the brutal methods used to control the people, instead seeing the potential for a fairer way to govern, but the escapees told a different story. Totalitarianism is a dangerous game even for those in the leadership, as suspicions could turn to purges in their ranks. In many ways we have sleep walked into a surveillance state globally in our modern world, cameras everywhere, facial recognition, video and cameras everywhere and it would be a lesson from the past which should guid us to put some limits on it's legitimate use. Erich Mielke, asshole in chief as minister for state security 1957-1989, claimed during a 1989 parliamentary hearing that he loved the people. He was laughed at by those attending, they'd had enough. He was imprisoned for murdering police officers in 1931, but not for his role in terrorizing the citizens of GDR.

Thursday morning I finally got to the Design Panoptikum Museum, the industrial objects museum mentioned earlier. I was the first visitor and was greeted by the owner, Vlad Kornveen, who asked how I found the place. Always looking for interesting (quirky) places of interest, on the internet of course. Kornveen was a photographer, working with film maker Werner Bokelberg, and collected various industrial objects as props for his photography, eventually forming the museum. It was my type of place I told him, so on departure he advised I visit the Medical Museum, the Technical Museum and the Luftwaffe Museum which would be of interest. On the way to the Technical Museum I routed my walk by the Jewish Museum, housed in a large complex of buildings which tells the horrific story of the murder of 6 million jews of Europe, plus many others. From the three revolts by the Jews in the first century against the brutal repression of the Romans, which scattered them across many lands of Europe and Africa, to the last centuries of cruel treatment across the lands of Europe, the Jews have had a tough road to follow. They thrives in the areas of business, commerce of labor in which they were allowed by the powers that were in cities and rural towns where they landed. From labor to professions, science and finance they have made a huge contribution to European society, progress and wealth and in thanks they were vilified, blamed and used as the scapegoat for hubris, incompetence and arrogant wars of Germany which ruined the country early last century. The destruction of the Jews was built on a lie and revealed the true vileness capable of the human being against himself. The Jews were again scattered, half today landed in the US and half in the Zionist state of Israel. Iran, Hizbollah, Hamas, The Houthi's all deserve blame for the horror show underway in the Middle East today. In response Israel is executing genocide of the innocent Palestinians in Gaza. The Balfour declaration by the British in 1917 was clear that the Palestinians rights on their land should be respected. The moderated on both sides have been assassinated or made powerless, leaving the extremists run the show. The Israeli people must recognize that an injustice is an injustice, whether it is Nazis murdering inocent Jews in Germany, or Israelis murdering innocent Palestinians in Gaza. My American Jewish friends certainly recognize this and take a much more balanced view on the situation in Israel-Palestine, plus support a non-violent and peaceful resolution. The Berlin Jewish museum is impressive and well worth a visit. A center piece of the exhibition is the floor of flat faces cit out of plates of steel, a start reminder of what happens when we dehumanize our fellow human beings.

The Technical Museum is built around an old railway maintenance year with a central rotating rail circle designed to redirect train engines to the maintenance bays set around in a circular pattern. A set of massive steam engines are housed there. Inside the main building is a huge exhibit of shipping, aircraft and engines. There on display (as in the Lawman Museum, Hague) was a Junker Juno 205 aircraft engine from 1932. Unusual in design, it had 12 double opposed pistons in 6 cylinders, requiring two crank shafts at opposite sides. It was a diesel two stroke, which helped it gain back dome weight spent on the extra cranks. One piston cleared the intake while the opposite one cleared the exhaust (i.e. no need for valves, the piston opened vents on the side of the cylinder and the intake. The engine room had my attention, but there was also an interesting exhibit on sugar at the entrance outlining the background of sugar cane and later the development of sugar beat production in Europe and the specialized machinery used to harvest them. A large collection of model sail ships in housed there along with early flight machines.

Walking back north along Frederick Street I came across the famous Checkpoint Charlie, one of many openings in the wall for official transit from East to West Berlin. Alfa, Bravo, Charlie mark the call out of the alphabet by the US military which landed the name of the small white cabin now thronged with tourists. A few blocks west is the Topography of Terror museum and a good stretch of the Berlin Wall on display as a reminder of the madness. The museum is free to enter and houses storyboards as record to the chillingly brutal and cruel terror machine implemented by the National Socialists. It came to an end in the summer of 1945 with the Russians capturing the city followed by the allies. Among them they agreed to split the city into four governed regions. It was the end, but also the start of the future which would be negotiated in the Potsdam Conference late July and August of 1945. Potsdam stands west of Berlin and was one of the few places undamaged and available to hold a conference of the powers, USA, Britain and Russia at least to determine the future of Europe. We passed it both arriving and departing Berlin, but saw little reason to visit the site of the imbalanced conference, Russia having been handed what it wanted, for which we are still paying the price today. Churchill saw the disaster for what it was, but was losing power at home and had little sway. France was missing as they had formally capitulated during the war, but would have had provided more balance in discussion of the future. Truman was new to the scene and narrowly focused on US interests at the expense of Europe's future. Stalin played them all like a fiddle. Truman did bring a few good concepts to the resolution, the quick punishment to senior Nazi's, rejection of reparations, and a plan to stabilize the country and allow prosperity to pull it forward, rather than the financial ruin of the 1920's which fueled Nazism. An exhibit at the museum explored what happened to the Nazis after the war. It is important to remember that Hitler never killed anyone, it was his cohorts and a large cadre of Nazi's who did the harassment, torture and killing. A few senior members, those who did not suicide, were convicted and some executed. The majority dissolved like water where they could, either in Germany, or across the continent. Many went to South America. Imagine you're a Jew like Stephan Zweig and you flee to Petropolis, Brazil, and you keep running into the Nazi tormentors of you people. While the Nazis sought to disappear where they could, they have been chased for decades and each year new links to past murderous deeds come to light. Rarely after such atrocities do societies accept responsibility, but the German's did and owned the guilt of the horrors which is an important part of recovery and inoculation from repeating the deviations. It's all laid out there in the Topography of Terror museum, a great treasure of information and must visit in Berlin.

Friday morning I headed west to the large Charite medical complex founded in 1710 and which has been an important contributor to the city's health and well being. There I was to visit the Museum of Medical History, a gem in the city which maps out so many of the advances over the years, from surgery to vaccines and antibiotics. Clear from the exhibit is how recent our real knowledge had been in medical treatment which saved more people that it killed. Vaccines and antibiotics together have had a huge impact. Small Pox, Tuberculosis and polio killed and deformed hundreds of millions of people, but are now under control. Yet there is a disturbingly dangerous force of antiscientific ignorance in the world today, especially in the US, working to undermine this progress. Is it consolation to anyone who dies whether it was by hatred in the gas chamber or ignorance of medical science?

We found Berlin an interesting open city, well run and practical, easy to get around. Each day brought new adventures. In the Friedhof Berlin cemetery large and ancient family graves stood, having survived the bombing and were still attended by the families, those lucky enough to have avoided purge from the city, and their duty of care revealed in tows of plastic watering buckets, each lovingly locked by wire to a fence post by key or number lock. I wondered whether they could not have joined up to have a few communal watering jugs left around for mourner's use, but no, the ritual of unlocking ones own watering jug was the evidence of commitment to those past. Further along the corner kick was well attended. A Berlin staple, these kiosks are where the magic happens. No pretense of special service, just a few tables and chairs where on grabs a beer or a sandwich, a smoke or the paper for a daily stopover. As we prepared for departure on Saturday the city was also preparing for the Berlin Marathon. Boats plies the Spree River and sun draped the Reichstag while the Tiergarden Park teemed with people. Never too far from pains of the past, there was an outdoor exhibit and monument to the victims of the holocaust, which extended much broader than Jews. A Roma family from Netherlands were captured and while being shunted on rail of to concentration camp where they died, Dutch soldiers offered an escape path to the son who fled, survived and lived out his life as a florist in Netherlands. Between the killing remembered at Tiergarden and the killing of Palestinians being protested against up on Unter den Linden, there was the Brandon Gate restored in all her glory from the bombing for World War Two. Beneath the gate was the starting point for the Berlin Marathon and the many thousands were already gathering to collect their bib numbers.