Ich bin ein Berliner!
By Matt Mislan
As
John F. Kennedy once said, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” Although he actually stated,
“I am a jelly donut,” the notion of being one with the people of Berlin still
makes its way through time. This is precisely how I felt during the time we
were in the historic city. With history being my favorite subject, and World
War II being one of my favorite events to study, a three-day trip to Berlin was
exactly what I needed to experience. There are so many places to visit and so
many sights to take in that I had no idea where I would begin! I could not
believe I would be getting the opportunity to walk along the roads where tanks
patrolled and where the wall ran through the city. My excitement over what laid
ahead was one of the main things that carried me through the trials of a
six-hour train ride…and of course a little bit of sleep could not hurt either.
With
the train ride over, the next thing for us was to travel hostel that was
actually less than a minute away from a tram stop. As per usual, Jason led us
in a circle around our destination and we ended up right where we began.
Finally, we arrived at the hostel and my first impression was that it was going
to be incredibly difficult to actually leave and experience all that berlin had
to offer. With a bar, billiards and foosball tables, basketball court and
soccer field outside, how does one expect anyone to leave this place? However,
with our guided walking tour beginning soon, we were forced to leave sooner
rather than later.
As
I anticipated from the start, walking around the great city of Berlin was
breathtaking. Traveling alongside the cobblestone strip that defined where the wall
once stood, I truly felt what it must have been like for the Berliners during
the Soviet occupation. It was difficult to truly put into perspective what it
must have been like for family and friends to be separated by the overnight
building of the wall. However, after seeing the cobblestone path where the wall
once stood and then the remnants of the wall itself, I began to feel what it
would be like for my own town to be separated in two and not be able to
associate with some of my best friends and family members. How terrible it must
have been for these people to endure this struggle for twenty-eight years. I
felt as one with the citizens of Berlin during their time of trouble. This
feeling was brought up again following the tour when we went to listen to a
German by the name of Rainer Schubert, who for three years smuggled citizens,
or prisoners, from the East Berlin side to freedom. His “crime” landed him in
prison for nine years, with two of those being in solitary confinement. I was
in awe of the way he conducted himself during the daily questionings he
received. With a disciplined military background, he knew exactly how to handle
himself and keep his spirit from breaking.
Following
a fantastic night of sleep, I was ready to witness all that the Judisches
Museum had to offer us. Being world-renowned for its meaning, as well a the
architecture, this museum is a must-see for anyone traveling to Berlin. With
his family decimated during the Holocaust, architect Daniel Libeskind proudly
presented a design for the building to the Berlin Senate and eventually won the
opportunity to make it a reality. In Daniel
Libeskind’s words, “It thematises and integrates for the first time in post-war
Germany the history of the Jews in Germany, the repercussions of the Holocaust
and spiritual displacement. It is also just a museum with exhibits on the
walls” (Berlin.de). The material spans the time between the Romans until the
present, covering over two thousand years of history. As great as the exhibits
were inside, my favorite part of the experience was the actual architecture of
the building itself. Each of the three passageways, or axial routes, has a
specific meaning. No hallway or corner in the museum is there by chance. The
first axis leads to the Stair of Continuity and the permanent exhibition; the
second leads to the Garden of Exile and Emigration, and the final one leads to
a dead end known as the Holocaust void. As I traversed through this
architectural masterpiece, each turn I encountered enhanced the experience that
much more. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent there and walked away with newfound
knowledge of the Jewish people in Berlin aside from the Holocaust and respect
for a modern architectural marvel.
Of course,
this was the just the beginning of my favorite day of the trip to Berlin. And,
of course, we were desperate to find a nearby doner place following the tour.
Being the home of the doner in Germany, it was necessary to compare one from
here to the adaptations we have had in every other German city we had been to.
It certainly did not disappoint, and soon enough we were getting off a tram at
Alexanderplatz. Jason wanted to meet up with Anja and some of the other girls,
as Azalea apparently wanted to do some “base flying” thing from the top of a
building in the area. After killing some time walking around, we actually
stumbled to the front of the building in which this thrill was taking place. We
watched in amazement as one person after another free fell from the peak of
this forty-story building. Somewhere during the time we spent watching, I had
half-jokingly and half-seriously said that I wanted to do this. No sooner did a
woman from the company that sponsored fall come over to talk to us about it.
The usual price to participate was out of my price-range, but I guess it was
our lucky day because it turned out that they were running a fifty-percent off
special that day. At this point, it was beginning to become difficult to say
no, and Francisco and his friend decided that we would take part in the thrill
of a lifetime.
It still had
not hit me yet about what we were about to endure. Yes, falling off a building
sounds scary in itself, but the reality of actually doing it had yet to sink
in. Naturally this feeling did not last too much longer once all the paperwork
was finished and we had reached the top of the building. Immediately, the
scenery around me brought me to that reality that I had been trying to put off
in my mind. Many questions of why in the world I was about to fall off a forty-story
building rushed into my head. No! I told myself that I was going to do this and
I was surely not about to back out now. The anticipation was certainly a
killer, so I decided that when it was our turn to go I would be the one to fall
first. This time rapidly approached, and before I knew it, I was strapped into
my harness and given a preview of my “flying position.” Well, my time of
reckoning was now upon us, and I nervously, but proudly, made my way to the
ramp that led to the end of the ledge of the building. I mean, I already made
it this far, so all I had to do was just do the fall. The cable, or “seat belt”
as Kevin called it, was strapped onto the harness and I was raised. My feet
were raised up behind me next, and I was now looking down at the city of
Berlin. This was the absolutely most terrifying part of the entire experience,
and possibly of my life as a whole. After a thumbs-up to my friends watching
from the ledge and a deep breath, I was released. The rush was incredible! No
drink that could be drunk or drug that could be smoked could ever compare to
the feeling I had while traveling through the air at free-fall speed. And
then…it was all over. The cable tensed up and my fall was gradually, but also
very quickly, subdued. With the aid of the attendant at the bottom, I was once
again standing on flat land. It still took a few moments to truly understand
what I just did. Never would I have thought that I would have gone through with
doing something as incredible, and possibly insane, and free-falling off a
building in the middle of Berlin. If not for the event itself, I will never
forget this moment as it should show that regardless of how nervous or scared
one may be to go through with something, he or she may be missing out on one of
the greatest experiences of their life due to fear. Berlin will forever be in
my memory for more reasons than one, but this will certainly be the first thing
that comes to mind when asked about my time in Berlin, and possibly my entire
time in Germany.
Bibliography
Emery, D. JFK:
'I am a Jelly Donut' ('Ich bin ein Berliner'). Retrieved from urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/jfk_berliner.htm
Judisches Museum. Retrieved from
www.berlin.de/orte/sehenswuerdigkeiten/juedisches-museum/index.en.php
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