Wednesday, July 18, 2007

I'm a Jelly Donut! (Part 3) (Berlin Day 2)

After that point we went onto our next destination, which Hitler made REALLY famous. It was the Bebelplatz, a square that held the 2000 (or was it 20000? Found out it was around 20000) book burning. With Humboldt University Library on one side and the Opera House on the other, it was quite a sight to see (not sure what building #25 was, but I could probably look it up (Can't find anything about it, I'll try to find out more later when I have more time)). #24 was Humboldt University, #27 was part of the Opera House. St. Hedwig's Cathedral was also there as well, but it was under reconstruction, so nothing but a billboard there right at the moment. Come to find out that when the Allies first started bombing Berlin, the Opera House was actually hit. Well, instead of spending money on food and all that for the people, the Third Reich decided to rebuild the Opera House. On picture #29, you see a picture of empty bookshelves. These empty bookshelves represent the books burned. It was quite stunning, would have been better if the window wasn't dirty.

Okay, for #30 through #33, I can't really remember everything that was there (Found out that the area is called Gendarmenmarkt). #32 was a French Church, and #33 was a German Church...(not sure about the German Church (ha! I was right! It was a German Cathedral)), if I'm not mistaken it was after the 30 year war that the German's brought the French to Berlin to repopulate the city. Sorry, can't really remember that much more. (Found out that #31 is the Konzerthaus, basically its a concert hall at this time)

1 comment:

Aunt Pat said...

Jim....this is the first time I have ever read a BLOG! Can you explain how I can look at the pictures you describe? Your aunt is slightly internet illiterate!