10) Personal Excursions
The first country that I independently visited on spring
break was Amsterdam. Amsterdam is unlike
any city I have ever visited. On our
first day in Amsterdam we went on a walking tour where the most important value
of the Dutch, tolerance, was explained.
The Dutch have always been a tolerant people in comparison to
surrounding countries, but their current liberal policies are tied to the most
recent World War. After World War Two
the Dutch people decided it was time to implement policies that would stop
innocent people from being persecuted.
Amsterdam was one of the only places during the Second World War where
the non-Jewish citizens attempted to protest the treatment of the Jewish people
in their community. This was a
non-violent resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Dutch, which began after
Jewish citizens were deported during the day bringing the injustice to the
public’s attention. Unfortunately, this
protest led to the death of Amsterdam’s mayor who refused to force the citizens
stop protesting. Still it was
inspirational to hear about a group of people risking their own safety to stand
up for their neighbors.
On our second day in Amsterdam we made a trip to the
Keukenhof Gardens. Simply calling this
place a garden is the understatement of the century. Kerkenhof had more than 7 million bulbs this
spring and 800 different types of tulips.
It was amazing to see so many different colors of flowers. Amsterdam also had lots of pretty flowers
scattered throughout the city.
On our last day in Amsterdam, I had the privilege of visiting
the Ann Frank house. I had to wait in
line for over an hour, but the experience was more than worth it. Visiting the Ann Frank house really helped me
see the holocaust from an individual level.
I was able to see where the Frank family went into hiding and how they
had to live their lives while they were in hiding. Blurbs from her diary were posted throughout
the house where she discussed what it was like to live in hiding. The sentence that stuck out to me the most
was “I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and
know that I’m free.” This particular statement grabbed my attention because Ann Frank was living during the most devastating World War and was
being for persecuted for something she had no control over, but she was still
just a kid. She wanted a normal
childhood, but the Nazi’s took that from her.
She wanted a bike, but antisemitism forced her into hiding and the Nazi’s
murdered her and the majority of her family.
After this unique experience, I headed to Berlin where I had the
opportunity to learn even more about World War Two and the aftermath of the
war.
Berlin looked different than any other city that I have
visited, as the buildings were much more modern.
Most of Berlin was destroyed during World War Two and the majority of
the buildings were rebuilt with a modern design. This was different than Dresden, who seemed
to rebuild the city exactly the way it was before it was bombed.
Berlin was so interesting to me because the history is
both crucial to American society and very recent. During our time in Berlin I was able to see
the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
This memorial is unique for a couple different reasons. First, the name is much longer than most
memorials. Our tour guide pointed out
that this is purposefully done to point out that the persecution of Jews is
unfortunately not limited just to the holocaust. Second and more importantly, the architect
who designed the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe will not explain the
design or what it means. The
memorial can mean different things to different people.
My friends and I also took a tour that was specific to
Berlin after World War Two. A large
portion of this tour discussed the Berlin wall and its effect on the
community. Something that I didn’t realize
was that at the beginning the people of Berlin could freely move from East
Berlin to West Berlin. Because so many
people disagreed with the government in East Berlin, around 3,500,000 moved
from East Berlin to West Berlin before the formation of the Wall. This rapid movement of qualified workers from
East Berlin to West Berlin is what prompted the Berlin Wall’s creation. I also didn’t recognize that the Berlin Wall
went up in one night. That meant that
brothers and sisters, lovers, and best friends that lived only a few miles away
could have been separated for more than twenty years with no contact. It was heartbreaking to hear some of the
stories of people who woke up on the wrong side of the wall and suffered the
consequences for decades.
The Berlin wall itself was not that high, but was thoroughly
protected. There were actually two
walls, the shorter wall was the first wall that could be seen from East Berlin,
and the Berlin Wall was the actual boundary.
The area between the two walls was known as the death strip. The death strip was filled with sand, so that
footprints could be easily detected. If
footprints were found in a certain area, the Soviets knew which guards to
blame. There were also nails underneath
areas of the sand, so someone could jump over the small fence and think they
were landing on sand but land on nails.
There were also over 100 watch towers that were occupied by three
different guards. These guards never
knew who they were working with so that the government could ensure no groups
of guards would plan escapes. The guards
were also hand-picked from a certain section of East Berlin that couldn’t get
access to West Berlin radio, so they were the most influenced by Communist
propaganda.
I was able to see the memorial for the 136 people that lost
their lives attempting to escape from East Berlin. Some of the slots had pictures, but no
names. Some had names, but not
pictures. It was difficult to keep an
exact death count as the Soviet Union attempted to keep these deaths discrete. The stories of people dying while trying to
escape were so heartbreaking because I realized how desperate someone would
have to be to attempt to escape East Berlin.
These people would rather risk their lives for freedom than be stuck in
communist East Berlin. My trip to Berlin
certainly made me realize how fortunate I am to be a citizen of a free
country.
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