Saturday, April 14, 2018--day 4

As the great Ms Skerrit once said, “Hi beauties!”

We’re only day four into this trip but it feels like we have been in Berlin for weeks. I’m not complaining though— Berlin has been so good to us!! It will be sad to say goodbye to this incredible city tomorrow, but today has been a perfect way to end this part of the trip. ​

Although today was not as emotionally heavy as yesterday, the places we visited were completely riveting, provocative, and captivating. the second museum we visited today is called the Judisches Museum, which even from the outside makes the museum unforgettable. designed by Daniel Libeskind, The building is encompassed with jagged edges and rugged grounds, ultimately (and successfully) portraying the absence of the Jewish population in post-Nazi Germany. 

Inside the museum, some of the most thought-provoking and jarring exhibits included a room with only a red light that would increasingly grow brighter until a painfully bright flash set off. another memorable exhibit consisted of a hauntingly tall, dark, cold room which held nothing inside but a giant steel ladder. one element that made this part of the museum so distinct was the feeling of fear it incited. also, the building never had any 90-degree angles but instead had slanted hallways titled either the “axis of exile” or the “axis of the Holocaust”, and the “axis of continuity.” I thought that these three axes illustrated how despite being forced out of their homelands and into concentration camps, the Jewish population continues to live on today regardless of those hardships. 

Yet my favorite exhibit we saw today is called the Fallen Leaves, or “Shalekhet”, crafted by Menashe Kadishman. walking into this section, I came in with an advantage of having researched this particular exhibit, but I could have never imagined the emotions that this piece evoked. the Fallen Leaves commemorates all of those lives lost to violence and war, and consists of a block’s worth of metal faces scattered across the floor. even though it was difficult to engage in this particular exhibit, it demonstrates how it is impossible to ignore the painful clanging sound of the faces and thus ignore the painful loss of the Jewish population in the Holocaust.

On another note, our last night in Berlin was exciting to say the least. eating Mexican food was a treat and encountering the electrifying energy of Berlin’s community was the cherry on top. we get to sleep in until 8AM tomorrow which is the best news we’ve heard all week. traveling all day tomorrow will be the perfect time to sit back and reflect upon all of these incredible moments we’ve experienced together.

As they say in Germany, “ciao!”