Having walked almost 28000 steps
on my last day of stay at Berlin, I needed a break, some rest. And so I sat
down on the green grass between the famous Berlin Dom and the Altes Museum. I
closed my eyes for a few moments to recollect those beautiful places I had visited
in the city and suddenly I saw a short man with toothbrush moustache standing on
the huge steps of Altes with his hand raised in salute and blabbering like a
madman in German.
I decided to walk up the steps,
took the man by his ear and walked him around the city to meet a few people who
he may have forgotten. I took him first to Willhelmstrasse and asked…“Do you
know what that is?”
Meekly he replied, “I used to stay here in Berlin, but what on
earth is this piece of steel doing here? It wasn’t there in my time.”
“That is George Elser, a
carpenter by trade, who later worked as a clock maker. He almost killed you in
Munich on 8th November 1939 when you had gone there to celebrate the
Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 when, along with the communists, you tried to take power
through an armed revolution. George had done immaculate planning and had fixed
bombs on the pillars from where you were to deliver your speech. You, however,
advanced your program and left the Beer Hall at 9.07pm after addressing a large
crowd and after 13 minutes the bombs exploded bringing down the ceiling,
killing 7 men and injuring many.”
“You were damn lucky. If you had
blown off on that night at Munich, the world would not have seen the nightmare
you brought upon it. George was caught, tortured by your men and died in a
concentration camp in Dachau on 9th April 1945, four weeks before the
Allied forces defeated yours completely.”
I then dragged him to one of
Berlin’s most iconic structures…the Reichstag or the parliament whereon it is
written, Dem Deutschen Volke (For German
People).
“Ja, I know this place well. We started a fire here in 1933 and blamed
the communists. It was here that we forced President Hindenburg to give all
powers to me and appoint me the Chancellor of the Reich.”
“But do you remember Julius Moses?”
I asked. He looked lost. So I took him aside the Reichstag building where a
strange memorial was kept.
“Let me refresh your memory. On
23 March 1933, the Reichstag met in Berlin. The main item on the agenda was a
new law, the 'Enabling Act'. It allowed you, Mr. Hitler, to enact new laws
without interference from the President or Reichstag for a period of four
years. The building where the meeting took place was surrounded by members of
the SA and the SS, paramilitary organisations of the National Socialist Party that
had by now been promoted to auxiliary police forces. You had only 37% seats in
the parliament and with terror tactics cowed down most of the opposition. With
444 votes in favour and 94 against, the Reichstag adopted the Act. These are
those 94 brave parliamentarians who stood up for democracy and opposed you and
your dictatorial plans.”
“These were the men like Julius
Moses, who, you then had arrested and persecuted. That is why they are revered
as protectors of democracy and their memorial stands outside the Reichstag to
remind all what cataclysm dictatorship can bring about. All Dem Deutsche Volken.”
“Here, look at Berlin which is
such an open city, there is but one building in one corner where a few windows
are sealed.”
“Ja I know the place. My Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels was living
there. But why are the windows sealed?”
“He was the man who created not
just aura around you but ensured every bit of news including what common people
spoke about would reach the police and voices of protest would be fast put to
rest. A part of his propaganda was to control film censorship. They called his
ministry Reich Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda. He ensured that only
films that showed you in good light were produced. On a Christmas Day in 1937,
Goebbels gave you 12 films of Walt Disney. Writing in his diary, Goebbels said,
“The Fuhrer is very pleased and very happy about this treasure.”
“You were such a fan that you
dreamt of creating a German version of Walt Disney’s studio, and instructed Goebbels
to establish the ‘Deutsche
Zeichentrickfilm GmbH’. The aim of the film company was to rival movies
like Mickey Mouse while spreading the Nazi ideology and propaganda through a
less aggressive entertainment source.”
“But Goebbels also ensured that
no one ever spoke about one man in Germany…Charles Chaplin.”
“The reason is not difficult to
guess. In the ‘The Great Dictator’, Chaplin played his trademark Tramp
character, re-imagined as a Jewish barber in the fictional country Tomania.
Chaplin also portrayed Tomania’s autocrat Adenoid Hynkel, a parody of you.”
“Ja, I saw the movie twice in my private theatre. I was heartbroken
after this film and made sure no one uttered his name ever in Third Reich.”
“Had you paid heed to what
Chaplin said in the movie even then, you could have averted so much bloodshed.
In the famous speech, Chaplin goes on to say: ‘I should like to help everyone if possible—Jew, Gentile, black man,
white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to
live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to
hate and despise one another.’
“Now let me also show some other
places close to the Reichstag that might bring back some memories and maybe
some remorse even after so many years.”
“This is the memorial to the
500,000 Sinti and Roma victims of your genocide. These were the
gypsy people who you felt were the weak who had to be wiped out. The memorial consists
of a dark, circular pool of water at the centre of which there is a triangular
stone. The triangular shape of the stone is in reference to the badges that had to be
worn by concentration camp prisoners. The stone is retractable and a fresh
flower is placed upon it daily.” The words of the poem "Auschwitz" by Italian Roma Santino Spinello are written around the edge of the water basin:
"Sunken in face/ extinguished eyes/ cold lips/ silence/ a torn heart/ without breath/ without words/ no tears."
"Sunken in face/ extinguished eyes/ cold lips/ silence/ a torn heart/ without breath/ without words/ no tears."
“And who can forget what you did
to the Jews not just in Berlin but all over Europe. This is one of many such
memorials in the city.”
I finally took him to a place
near Potsdamler Platz. He recognized the place well. It was the only sign of
Fuhrerbunker today.
“Ja ja this is where I had my bunker in Berlin. This is where I married
Eva. This is where I met my end.”
I lost him there. Just then there
was a Whatsapp message in response to my earlier blog on Germany. Wow…Ally
texting me, “Hey Mate, are you in
Berlin?” Yes at Potsdamler Platz, said I. “My wife Elizabeth just got transferred to Berlin and we are staying at
an apartment right where you are. Can we meet?” Ally was a school friend
who I last met 37 years ago when we passed out in 1982. And now from nowhere in
a new world we connected…Mahakumbh for me and readily I said yes to the
friend’s offer. In our younger days we raced each other in sports, Ally was always
a step or two ahead but still we would find ourselves on the same podium often.
And then we met!
All the frights and tragedies of those dark days and years were washed away in the flowing River Spree as we said, East is East, and West is West, and in West twain shall surely meet.
SS
