After visiting both the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Topography of Terror in one day, so much was on my mind that I needed a day of recovery to gather myself to properly convey what it was that I had just experienced.

Beginning with the Memorial, I decided to read through the whole chronological timeline first when I arrived. Although it took quite a bit of time, as I read it I increasingly felt that it was more and more important to finish. As I was reading the information, I noticed that a lot of the people around me where looking up at the section written in German. I wondered how they felt about reading this. I saw the word German referring  to forces, authorities and soldiers many times and I realized that these were the ancestors of some of the people standing next to me. I can’t begin to know how one should go about dealing with being associated with such monstrosities. I know that these people could not have possibly been part of what happened to the Jews, and I guess what I’m wish I could tell them was that I knew that. History is filled with wrongdoings, that is why it is essential in schools, we must learn from our mistakes. I  claim American citizenship, yet I wish that Oppenheimer had never built the atom bomb. I also wish that we would not have invaded Iraq and Vietnam, and, and, and…

As you can see, my thoughts have strayed from the primary reason for the Memorial, but I like to believe that is one of the purposes. Our tour guide Boris mentioned a way that people should feel. Usually I am against enforcing a certain mentality, however, in this case, I feel it is certainly appropriate that at boy the Memorial and the Topography of Terror, people attempt to remain both self conscious as well as open to influence. After reading the Huberman, this is a good time to remind people that sometimes we have to force ourselves to imagine the unimaginable.