Blog #1
Just from walking the streets of Berlin one thing cannot be missed; this city presents its history and stories everywhere you look. Germany has had a dark history that cannot and should not be ignored. Only through recognition and explanation of the past, does the future have the chance to learn its lesson. Well this is the idea isn’t it; so why haven’t I experienced this sort of open book approach to history in the United States?
Growing up in rural America, in a small farm community in Wisconsin, history isn’t presented the way it is here. Education is one major factor concerning how different these two nations memorialize and express history. At home, my little brother doesn’t know the dates of the wars that Americans has fought it or even names of major battles. Although there are classes in grade school on American History, largely it is the highlights and victories that are focused on. I never once was taught the major blunders and reasons for America’s withdrawal from Vietnam. But I would suspect that here in Berlin, it would be nearly impossible to ignore or be oblivious to the facts so openly displayed all around.
It’s rare to see statues or monuments commemorating our troops or fallen citizens where I am from. Perhaps cities of great importance, especially Washington D.C. maybe different, but since I have never been to that city I wouldn’t know. Even the more rare is to see are monuments dedicated to those people or nations that American’s actions or policies have hurt in someway.
We haven’t had major overthrows of the government since the days of the American Revolution in 1776 and I wouldn’t say that in the North or Yankee states it is much talked about. America, while being a relatively young state in comparison, hasn’t had the same repressive history of governmental or radical control. Even for that matter, The United States hasn’t had as many battles or rulers – our culture and history simply isn’t as deep root and rich.
Although no military is perfect, and America is certainly no exception, American citizens have not had to bare the public guilt and shame of its leaders actions in the sorts of ways that the Germans had and in some ways still do. I can’t look back in my history and say there is a president that I have literally ‘hated’ or would have made me or any other generation fear for their lives. Yes the Vietnam War wasn’t largely supported at home, but at least there were thousands of people that very publicly stood up to the Administration and didn’t stand by without a fight. In Germany the atmosphere was so different that the hippie lead protests of Vietnam would not have been able to occur since the concept of free speech was squashed under the Their Reich. This is just another indicator of how different our societies are.
There undoubtedly were Germans who didn’t support the activities of Hitler, many of which recognized in history, yet the shame that Germans have felt was because of their strong ability to look away or even condone the Third Reict’s actions. In Doris L. Bergen’s account of German Nazi History, in A Conscious History of the Holocaust “it was as if Hitler and Goebbels were taunting the German public with its complexity – we Germans are all in this together, they insisted, and all of us will have to pay the price if we surrender.” It’s as if the Nazi’s purposely tried to make the general public also liable for their actions, or even their inactions in some cases. When American troops quarantined thousands of Japanese citizens during WW1 on the West Coast, little if any attention has been given to this in my classes. It’s more of just a general “this is what happened” not “you have to bear the guilt of previous actions”.
Although in the city of Berlin there are major constructions and renovations underway, the city still bears the scares as a constant reminder of its devastatingly brutal and unforgiving history. In stark contrast America has never had to show bear its defeats for everyone to see, save only for September 11th reminders.

Amy