Today was a really long yet interesting day. We walked around Berlin for most of the day and saw different sites that were of importance to Nazi history. My favorite sites were all of the memorials that we saw because I thought it was really cool how each one had different architecture which lead to interpretations.
We saw a memorial for the Sinti and Roma, two of the most persecuted gypsie groups from the Holocaust, which was just built in 2010. It was so recently built because the Sinti and Roma still endure prejudice even today which I found to be crazy. I really liked this memorial because of the symbolism that every part of the memorial held: the stones surrounding the pond were all fragmented as to recognize the broken history of the Sinti and Roma, the triangle in the middle of the pond represented the badges that the Sinti and Roma concentration camp victims had to wear, and the live flower in the middle of the pond represented life.
The other memorial that I found to be interesting was the memorial for the murdered European Jews. Upon first glance, all of the stone slabs look extremely similar. But upon closer inspection you can realize that no two are the same size and shape. This was symbolic of the Jewish population that was stereotyped during the Holocaust. It was also very cool how as you went deeper into the memorial, the stones seemed to surround you.
Today was a really long yet interesting day. We walked around Berlin for most of the day and saw different sites that were of importance to Nazi history. My favorite sites were all of the memorials that we saw because I thought it was really cool how each one had different architecture which lead to interpretations.
We saw a memorial for the Sinti and Roma, two of the most persecuted gypsie groups from the Holocaust, which was just built in 2010. It was so recently built because the Sinti and Roma still endure prejudice even today which I found to be crazy. I really liked this memorial because of the symbolism that every part of the memorial held: the stones surrounding the pond were all fragmented as to recognize the broken history of the Sinti and Roma, the triangle in the middle of the pond represented the badges that the Sinti and Roma concentration camp victims had to wear, and the live flower in the middle of the pond represented life.
The other memorial that I found to be interesting was the memorial for the murdered European Jews. Upon first glance, all of the stone slabs look extremely similar. But upon closer inspection you can realize that no two are the same size and shape. This was symbolic of the Jewish population that was stereotyped during the Holocaust. It was also very cool how as you went deeper into the memorial, the stones seemed to surround you.