Nazi Germany and Today

As a qualified high school history teacher, World War Two is my favourite era to teach because it is the period I enjoy reading about for myself. It is kind of morbid to use the word ‘favourite’,  given everything that happened, but Hitler’s influence and ideologies fascinate me, even though I despise him with every fiber of my being.

Being in Berlin, not only for history about the Berlin Wall, but 1930s Germany when Hitler took power in 1933 up until the defeat of Germany in 1945 has also been such a wonderful learning experience for me. As I have been out of the classroom for a year and a half, being here has rejuvenated me into a learning mindset once again.

I was taking in all of the sights of the different histories but when I was at the museum ‘Topography of Terror’ which is located on the spot Hitler’s right hand men set up shop to set their ‘final solution’ in place you could say; I saw a photo of a mass rally in 1936 at this exhibit, so I took a photo of it.

What I saw in this photo was a place I had taken a photo of that looked pretty as I walked to Brandenburg Gate. But upon returning to this location and comparing both photos it is so striking just how different a time we live in now. I am in awe of the first photo, and seeing Hitler in this photo, walking in the middle with his arm raised just gives me goosebumps.

Knowing that you are standing right where one of the most evil men who ever lived has stood, breathed the same air…it is mind blowing.

So this is my photo of the day. I saw so much in Berlin today; but being able to compare one location almost 80 years apart, and seeing just how much power Hitler had at this time, made standing right there so hard to comprehend.

It was an unbelievable moment standing there trying to picture it. Unfortunately, it just isn’t possible.

But it is something I will never forget.

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