Being a city of such historical depth, Berlin is filled to the max with memorials of different types. Given my lack of historical knowledge of basically anything, I love it. It teaches me on all the topics the American school system failed to even mention. /mini-rant
Top left: At the concentration camp Sachsenhausen, the Communists erected this memorial during the time they were in power in East Germany. The backstory is that in the camp everyone was labeled with a colored triangle -- black meant you were a violent criminal, purple meant you were a pacifist (like Jehovah's Witnesses), pink meant you were gay, red meant you were a socialist, yellow meant you were a Jew. These triangles served a psychological purpose (for all the Nazi's hatred of psychology, they were sure dependent on it!) because none of these groups wanted to associate with any of the others, keeping them from ever forming an uprising and taking over the camp, despite the fact that there were thousands of prisoners and only a few dozen guards. As you can see if you look at the picture closely, the Communists saw it fitting to place a memorial on the concentration camp grounds that simple displays 18 red triangles. No purple triangles. No yellow ones. It is merely a memorial to the socialists who were imprisoned here. Not altogether appropriate, but still it stands.
Bottom left: a series of pieces of the Berlin Wall painted to remind everyone that the work is not over. There are still "more walls to tear down."
Top middle: Another piece of the Berlin Wall, now beautifully decorated and standing on a street corner with other decorated pieces of the wall. They remind me of a group of middle fingers standing tall against "Communist grey."
Top right: Checkpoint Charlie. The point at which all foreigners had to enter and exit when traveling between East and West Berlin. For 10 euro they'll stamp your passport with countries that no longer exist. Yes I did it.
Bottom right: Another set of middle fingers to Communism, though not as tall. During the Communist regime, the only automobile you could own were these super crappy, super ugly, identical pale cars. (If you kick the door, you'll actually blast a hole through it. I don't know why you would ride in one.) Today they are painted a myriad of loud obnoxious colors and patterns as a nice F-U to the past.
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