Last night, I was watching the movie “Valkyrie” about one of the failed attempts to assassinate Hitler. In the final scene, most of the plotters are executed by firing squad. This scene was filmed where it actually happened – at Bendlerblock here in Berlin (see picture above). At the end, you were almost looking down into the courtyard. Which is when it hit me: I have stood in the exact same spot where these brave men died. Of course I knew that when I was there at the memorial but the scene in the movie brought it home in a much more powerful way.
Walking on history
In Berlin, you often do that quite literally.
You find these Stolpersteine (stumbling blocks) outside a good number of buildings in Berlin (and elsewhere in Germany and beyond. Read more here). These particular ones I often pass on my way to the station. What a powerful reminder of people who used to walk these same streets.
Admittedly Berlin has had more than its fair share of history but aside from the big stuff, I do often wonder about the lives that were lived in my little apartment in the 100 or so years before I moved in…
