My Very Good, Complicated, Fascinating, and Ultimately Uplifting Visit to Berlin

The last time I went to Germany, it was the summer of 1989. With my Eurail Pass, I took a train from France to Germany and was woken up in the middle of the night by a uniformed German officer who demanded my passport. It didn’t sit right with me. I set foot in Munich and became physically ill. My friend and I dropped our bags at a hostel and headed to Dachau. We then did some sightseeing and headed to the Hofbräuhaus. I couldn’t wait to leave. I hated the sound of the language, and I glared at older people, wondering where they were during the war.

This year, when my family planned a Thanksgiving week trip to visit my youngest who was studying abroad, we decided to add Berlin onto the trip. I didn’t want to, but I was convinced by many people, including my own parents who are proud Jews and ardent Zionists, that it was a fascinating place and a must-see.

After the year we (meaning Jews) have had, I did not want to go to Germany; I did not want to confront the Holocaust when I was still stuck on October 7, 2023. But, I booked the trip. At the suggestion of friends, I engaged the services of Jeremy Minsberg, a Jewish American-born tour guide who has lived in Berlin for approximately twenty years.

I want to go back to Berlin. I have a whole new appreciation for Germany. When Jeremy met us, he was wearing a large Jewish star. He insisted that Germany was the safest place in Europe for Jews right now. The only graffiti I saw said “F**k Hamas”. I did not have time to see everything I wanted to. The Holocaust memorials alone could’ve taken days. They are built into the city, even on the stairs to a subway station. Right near that subway station, we saw where Jewish merchants had their shops and where Kristallnacht took place. Jeremy pointed out brass plaques in the ground commemorating victims of the Nazis. The plaques, known as stumbling stones, or Solpersteine, include the victim’s name, date of birth, deportation date, and death date, if known. Jeremy polished the plaques we saw with his shoe, explaining that is a sign of respect and what you are supposed to do. No matter where you look in Berlin– at the ground, at the stairs, at the buildings– you are forced to remember. Each child in Germany visits a concentration camp; their education is run by the federal government, and their history is ingrained in them. Buildings are left with damage. Jeremy explained that Germany does not back away from its history; it confronts it. The damage to buildings is left so that no one forgets. “Never again” is not an empty slogan in Berlin.

I am working on a novel that has a lot of themes of inheritance in it. There are physical things we inherit—like heirlooms. There are personality traits we inherit, and there is generational trauma we inherit. Heirlooms can be stolen, as so many were from the Jews in Europe, but the other inheritances are passed down.

 As we rode the Berlin subways, I was unpleasantly cognizant of the fact that I was on a German train. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which intentionally leaves visitors isolated and unmoored, left me shaken. At the Jewish Museum, the “Voided Void” or Holocaust Tower was equally unnerving; additionally, the cold, dark, empty room made me think of the tunnels that the hostages are being held in. The Topography of Terror on the former site of the SS and Gestapo Headquarters meticulously details what transpired at that site and throughout Europe.

Yet, much of Berlin is new and dynamic. I broke up all of the darkness with a visit to the food hall at the KaDeWe department store, high tea at the Kafer restaurant located in the dome of the Reichstag, a visit to a lauded cocktail bar, and shopping at Rausch’s chocolate. It was a surreal visit filled with incongruous moments. Berlin is renowned for its nightlife. There is fantastic art and culture there. Moreover, the Cold War history of the formerly divided city and its subsequent reunification is riveting.

Jeremy told us a story about people he knows who were in Israel in April when Iran was getting ready to attack Israel. They were able to get the last two seats on a flight to Berlin. The irony of Jews escaping Israel to safety in Germany was not lost on anyone. Miraculously, it turns out that these people would have also been safe if they had stayed in Israel. Here is the uplifting part: Germany is a staunch ally to Israel, and it is a place that is very safe for Jews. Moreover, Jews have their own country where they are not visitors and will never be forced to leave. And Israel is a country of heroes who project strength and can protect themselves. These developments are our grandparents’ dreams come true.