(no subject)

[numberoneblind]

La la. In Berlin... went on a tour yesterday, then took a nap, then went out to a nice club where the most godawful picture of me EVER was taken (I'm not even gonna describe it because the only possible responses are "eeeeewwww" and "that's probably not healthy".... eh heh.)

Debating going to a concentration camp tomorrow -- I know I should, but kinda don't want to for some selfish reasons (like 'it will be depressing') and some valid ones (like 'tomorrow is my last day in Berlin and I'd like to see more of the city, since I spent today sleeping off last night instead of doing anything interesting'). But we'll see.

And now, off to get something for lunch/dinner/whatever we're calling this first-proper-meal-of-the-day.

Comments

[selfishsinner.livejournal.com]

I cannot wait until you are home!

[r-macduff.livejournal.com]

Going to a concentration camp may be less "deep" than you'd think. I went to Dachau, and the most profound lessons I got were these:
1. Wherever there's a tragedy that cannot be measured or put into a neat little package, people will arrive much too late to change it and then shit all over it (in the form of obligatory chapels 'of forgiveness', ugly sculptures, and trite monuments). You may feel differently, but I'd rather people just shut up and let places like that speak for themselves.
2. The eerie nature of Dachau came from things that were not intended by the original eerie purpose of the place, i.e. an unintentionally touristy atmosphere (snapping pictures constantly, big signs like "Krematoria This Way", etc.). Most of the buildings are missing, so that takes a lot of the punch out of it. And what's left is not that historically old, so it smells a lot like your grandma's attic.

Go ahead and go if you feel like it, there's still a lot to see and learn. But if you're uncomfortable now, just know that it may be unbearable-- for the wrong reasons.

[numberoneblind.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm glad I went because the history bits were interesting, but I definitely didn't pick up on as much creepy as I expected -- it's all been washed over by all the tourism, plus, like you said, most of the original buildings are gone (almost all of the ones there, and most of the others had been rebuilt by the Russians who used it right after).