Aarron Walter

It is hard to ignore the history of World War II here, a history that is much more layered and multi-sided than we normally consider. My wife Jamie and I have been combing Berlin for Stolpersteine, literally “Stumbling Stone”. Stolpersteine are the work of artist Gunter Demnig who installs small brass stumbling stones throughout Germany telling the story of Jews who were taken by the Nazis and their final destiny (i.e. murdered in Auschwitz, survived, etc.). The project is brilliant as it causes one to pause daily life when a stumbling stone is encountered at the scene of the crime. You stop to consider the people who once lived here, and the fear they must have felt as they were taken from their homes. The scale of the story of the Holocaust down to a size that you can wrap your head around; one person, one family, one story.

I stood atop Hitler’s bunker today. It’s now a small parking lot flanked by high-rise apartment buildings. There is a sign that indicates the significance of the site, but nothing more. A site like this is strange, because it should not be memorialized, but at the same time it cannot be forgotten. It felt wrong to put a living space here. It should really be just nothing, uninhabitable, or perhaps a big hole.

This week Jamie and I are heading to Krakow, Poland. The city is apparently very unchanged from its old world past, and not quite as overrun with tourists and commercial chains as Prague. Friday we will visit Auschwitz and Berkenau to continue our World War II education.

This past week has been filled with amazing experiences, and such little time to record them. On Thursday afternoon I took 15 of my students to the Germany State Library here in Berlin, which has a massive collections of rare books. We had the pleasure of a private talk on the history and evolution of Bible manuscripts from the 9th century to Gutenberg. We were shown a series of books created by monks and professional scribes with meticulous precision, many of which were amazingly illuminated at the beginning of each chapter. Almost all of them were written on parchment, some of them still retained their original bindings, and all of them were clear and well preserved despite their age (550 - 1000 years). We were able to get up very close to these books, and even touched a few, a treat that I will probably never be lucky enough to experience again. The scale of the books changed as more people needed access to them. The first and oldest book presented was huge; maybe 25 pounds with a thick covers and straps to hold it shut. The books got smaller and smaller, finally reaching pocket size around 1300 (it would be a big pocket though). The Bibles were often chained to a lectern to prevent theft, and many of the books had rust stains on the back page from the hardware. It occurred to me that the evolution of these early manuscripts follows a similar pattern as the evolution of computer technology, which started very large and scaled down to allow more people to use it and carry it with them as needed.

The icing on the cake was a parchment printed Gutenberg Bible. There are a number of paper printed Bibles, but just 5 parchment copies in existence, and we got close enough to breath on it! The amazing thing about this Bible is the quality of the printing, despite the fact that Gutenberg had little experience (no one in Europe did, he was the first European printer). He had done some initial printing samples prior to printing his Bibles, but none of them survived to reveal his learning process. The pages are even in color, the ink does not bleed, and the registration does not seem to shift. Gutenberg sold them with no binding, just in folded choirs so the patron could have the book bound to their specifications by another craftsperson. The books were not illuminated via printing, but did leave space for the patron to hire an artist to render illuminations if they could afford it.

We saw so many beautiful books that day, but when our paleographic guide plopped Gutenberg on the table I literally sang. The entire narrative can be listened to here. The presentation was easily the most exciting thing on the trip so far. Gutenberg changed the way we think and communicate. It was such an honor to see the document that made it all happen.

Students on the Berlin study abroad trip are posting their photos on a Flickr photo group. I have one of my own too.

Yesterday morning our group visited Meta Design on the West side of Berlin. Meta is best known for their design of the Adobe Creative Suite identity campaign, all of the Volkswagen design for the past decade, work for Audi, and so many other major brands. They are located in a great building that used to serve as the electrical control station for the entire city many years ago. The space is industrial with modern design, featuring some of the original electrical exchange systems. The presentation was fascinating. There was much talk of how branding works, their design process (quite organized, logical, and brilliant), and case studies. Evidently sound branding is now one of the biggest areas of focus for Meta, and they say smell branding is on the horizon. The idea of branding to more than sight makes a great deal of sense, as we have all experienced the power of smell or sound to bring us back to our past.

After Meta Design I ended up at the Gemaldegalerie (Painting Gallery), which houses an amazing collection. I was going specifically to see Caravaggio’s Love Conquers All, one of my personal favorites, but was surprised by two amazing Vermeers, and an amazing Albrecht Durer show featuring his drawings, printed books, etchings, and paintings.

As I travel from place to place throughout the city, I encounter buildings with shrapnel and bullet holes in facades of buildings. The frightening past of Berlin is still very present.

East Berlin is a hip part of town teaming with good food, interesting shops, flea markets
, fresh ideas and beautiful graffiti and posters everywhere. Life has been moving at break neck speeds since arriving here Thursday July 7. The World Cup is now complete, and many of the people from around the world visiting for the big event are returning home.

Saturday night a group of students, our guide Stefi and I went to the fan mile, a mile long stretch between the Reichstag and the Column of Victory, to watch Germany defeat Portugal for third place. The attendance estimates were at 1 million. Giant TVs hung suspended over the street showing the match in vivid color while fans made an incredible ruckus singing and blowing whistles and horns. There were plenty of sausages, beefsteaks, currywerst (a strange mix of curry powder and ketchup on sausage in an attempt to replicate bar-b-que sauce), and of course German beer. The crowd was generally pretty boisterous, but they went crazy during penalty kicks and goals. They were just generally pretty nuts!

Next weekend, as if the World Cup was not enough, Berlin is hosting it’s annual festival called the Love Parade also on the big boulevard between the Reichstag and the Column of Victory, which will turn out crowds as big as we saw on the fan mile. Occurring at the same time to counter balance the Love Parade is the Hate Parade. Both should be a site to see!