Jarrod in Germany: Berlin through the eyes of a political scientist and photographer

Also known as the world's longest blog post...

This extralong blog entry marks my return to blogging with a vengeance. I have a lot of stored up entries, some of which I've already forgotten, so prepare for the storm. My wife and I just returned from Berlin, Germany (she had a conference and I tagged along). I decided it would be a great public service if I reviewed Berlin from my perspective as a political scientist and photographer. You perhaps disagree, in which case the rest of the World Wide Web beckons. I would have done this on the fly while we were in Berlin, but I didn’t have time…I was too busy being a tourist!

First, a few general observations and recommendations:

1. Berlin at the end of February is very cloudy. If you want to shoot some nice photos, particularly if you want to make use of prime lighting, it pays to list what you want to shoot in descending priority and be prepared to shoot the day you get there. While we were there (10 days), I had exactly three opportunities to shoot at sunset. The first was the day we arrived and the second and third were a week later.

2. Stay at the Circus Hostel (http://www.circus-berlin.de). Fantastic price, very nice accommodations, and a great location. They also have a nice 5 Euro breakfast. Make sure you book well in advance if you want a private room with a bathroom en suite…there are relatively few of these. Across the street is a nice Mexican restaurant, and about a 15 minute walk down Rosenthaler Strasse to Dircksenstrasse is a nice Thai/Sushi place called Mao Thai. About 5 minutes or so in a different direction in La Cucina, a cozy Italian restaurant/pizzeria on Schonhauser Allee.

3. I saw very few overweight Germans and no obese Germans. I found this to stand in stark contrast to the United States and the United Kingdom. I predict a new health fad: the German diet. I also observed an inordinate number of bicycles.

4. Most places have physical manifestations of heritage (old buildings, statues, etc). What is remarkable about Berlin is the conscious effort the German government has made to reconstruct their physical heritage. Almost everything was destroyed in WWII, and as a consequence almost everything that looks really old is in fact fairly new. What is old usually shows evidence of the war, notably roundish scars that look suspiciously like bullet impacts.

5. Public transportation, as in most major European cities, is excellent. However, I found that if you are of reasonably descent health and have the time, much of the city can be reached by walking. Of the 10 days I was there, I only used public transportation on the days my wife was with me on my sightseeing.

6. Finally, I realize this is long and rather boring, so I have put in bold print the observations I think I particularly significant.

I now begin my review! With respect to the photography analysis, I’m sure that a better photographer—which would be almost everyone with a camera—would differ with my perspective. Just so you’re warned. I shot everything on a Canon 30D with a 17-40 L lens. I am not saying this is the optimal camera setup, only that the 17-40 is the only lens I have until my imaginary anonymous benefactor comes through. As a product of my particular setup, my photography emphasis is on buildings and landscapes rather than people. If you have a short telephoto lens, there are plenty of very interesting people to photograph here.

I’ve sorted my commentary by regions as described in DK Eyewitness Travel: Berlin. The photos were (quickly) processed using Google Picasa, so they don't represent a polished product. Clicking on the photos will open a larger version.

North of the Centre: This is where I started my explorations. The Circus Hostel is located in this part of the city. Located in what used to be East Berlin, the amount of graffiti is unbelievable. That is not to say the area is unsafe. I never felt in danger, but I’m kind of a big guy (6'2", 200 lbs). I did see women alone out well after dark though, so I think in general the city is quite safe.

Neue Synagoge: Partially rebuilt ornate Jewish synagogue. First the Nazi’s did a number on it, then allied bombs in WWII. Only the front towers were rebuilt. The site now serves as museaum of Jewish life in Germany before and since the war. It’s a few Euro to get in, but be prepared for the x-ray/metal detector security check inside the front door. The only places I encounted such measures were at places of Jewish significance.

Photography: Not much. The front of the building is nice, but difficult to shoot because of intervening trees and power lines for street trolleys. No photography indoors.

Poli Sci: Fascinating to look at how the Jewish citizenry sought to reassert their civil and political rights against a German government clearly hell-bent on taking them away. It strikes me that minority groups are a political ‘canary in the coal mine.’ How they are treated is a powerful indicator of the future political direction of the state.

Gedenkstätte Grosse Hamburger Strasse: A nice little memorial to the murdered Jews of Germany. Unfortunately, when I was in Berlin, it was fenced off.

Photography: Modest prospects, but I wasn’t able to get close, so photographing it remains an exercise in the hypothetical for me.

Poli Sci: The number of monuments to Jews is striking. The German willingness to confront and be honest about the past is refreshing. More on this when I discuss the German National History museum.

Sophienkirche: A small protestant church north of city center. Under renovation when I was there. Quiet spot.

Photography: Not much. Nothing remarkable architecturally or symbolically.

Poli Sci: N/A

Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof: A nice cemetery with some very impressive graves both in terms of notoriety and physicality. Bertolt Brecht (Life of Galileo, Threepenny Opera) and his wife are buried here, as are Enlightenment philosophers Hegel (dialectics) and Fichte.

Photography: Some impressive graves offer opportunities to do some nice perspective shots if the weather is nice and detail shots if it isn’t.

Poli Sci: Not much. It is interesting, from a philosophical point to note that the people with the biggest grave sites are not the ones that are best known. I would also venture to guess their social impact was smaller than their graves would suggest.

Museum für Naturkunde: Fantastic natural history museum. Some really innovative uses of audiovisual technology. A massive, if underwhelming presented, collection of minerals (The Smithsonian in Washington DC and the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History both do a better job of presentation). The largest complete dinosaur skeleton is on display as well as the finest specimen of a bridge species (a dinosaur that shows physical traits of both birds and typical land loving dinos). The focus on science and evolution is a pleasant reminder that the rest of the world is not caught up in America’s increasingly neo-medieval approach to science.

Photography: Some nice opportunities for detail/texture photography, but mostly snapshot type stuff.

Poli Sci: As I mentioned above, the museum is notable for its commitment to presenting science in a clear way. No mention of intelligent design rubbish. Aside from the obvious political debate over the issue in the U.S., the German approach suggests that perceptions of the United States may suffer as citizens in other countries see the U.S. sliding backwards intellectually.

East of the Centre: This section also lies in the former East Berlin. It has moderate shopping and eating options, most notably in the Nikolaiviertel area near the Nicolaikirche. On Karl-Liebknecht Strasse, the main road through the section, there are fast food restaurants as well as souvenir shops. Because I stuffed bread roles and cheese in my pockets at the Circus breakfast, I did not partake in the fine dining here. It was on Karl-Liebknecht Strasse that I first saw and was tempted by Dunkin Doughnuts. As I walked around, I discovered them all over the city J

Rotes Rathaus: Red Town Hall. A mildly interesting red bricked government building. Has some GDR legacy statues in front in the typical communist mold. I didn’t try to go inside.

Photography: Nice subject at sunset, enhancing the red of the bricks. I didn’t see any angles except straight on.

Poli Sci: Since I didn’t go inside, I don’t know the significance of the building other than it is a government building.

Nicolaikirche: Twin towered church. Looks to be fantastic, but was closed for renovation, due to open sometime in 2009.

Photography: Outside, the twin towers seem to be fairly unique. Plenty of space for a tripod out front. When I was there, it was cloudy with what seemed like every crow in the world flying about, so I tried for a somber, perhaps a bit menacing or Gothic, tone.

Poli Sci: N/A

Marx-Engels-Forum: A classic example of communist bronze sculpture. The East German government (GDR) put up a tribute to the duo which remains today.

Photography: Mostly snapshot stuff. If you’re really clever, you might be able to juxtapose Marx and Engels against the edifices of capitalism around them. Marx is sitting, Engels is standing.

Poli Sci: An interesting reminder that while the GDR and Soviets claimed to carry out the proletariat revolution, in fact they used Marx and Engels as political and philosophical shields to mask plain old authoritarianism. There was very little about their governance that adhered to the ideas of Marx and Engels.

Next door was an ongoing demolition with what had to be every crow and raven in Europe perched on the exposed steel. Those black specks are birds...

Neptunbrunnen: An ornate, interesting fountain focused around the figure of the Greek god of the sea Neptune. Surrounding him are what one can only suppose are his many offspring as well as creatures of the sea. He is held aloft on a big oyster shell by four half-human half-sea ‘horses.’

Photography: The level of artistic skill is amazing. The detail is superb. It really looks like the artist (Reinhold Begas) was sketching Neptune when he created the fountain. There are a variety of angles from which to photograph the fountain, although surrounding buildings make it difficult to isolate it in the frame. Detail work is also a very real possibility. I found an interesting angle juxtaposing the god of old against the modern day version represented by Marienkirche (see below). Unfortunately, the fountain seems to be turned off in the winter, so I did not have the opportunity for some neat water flow effects

Poli Sci: My only comment is the emphasis on ancient Greek gods in pre WWII Germany is interesting. I don’t know if they were trying to present the German empire as the spiritual successor to the ancient Greeks or if they had another purpose in mind.

Marienkirche: Saint Mary’s church. An interesting accessible church with no entrance fee. I spent about an hour and a half looking around and taking pictures.

Photography: The church cuts a modest figure from the outside, although its relative isolation makes it an appealing subject. There is a fountain behind the church that might be useful in framing a shot. The exterior has some nice details, particularly in the ironwork on the east side. The tower is also more ornate than other churches in this style. The interior has a wealth of architectural and detail photographic opportunities. Of particular note is the carvings on the ends of the pews, the alter and pulpit, and the baptismal font (with the font, you need a longer zoom to get a nice shot of the detail as it is in a roped off section). I was able to discreetly use a tripod, which is a necessity if you want blur-free pictures without bumping up your ISO quite a bit (no flash allowed inside).

Poli Sci: N/A

Fernsehturm: a tall tower capped by a long television antenna visible from just about anywhere in Berlin. You can go up to the observation deck and restaurant for about 9.50 Euro/person. Because I’m a poor graduate student, I didn’t ascend so I can’t comment on the view, although I suspect it is quite nice.

Photography: I can’t comment on the view from the observation deck. The best angle I found was shooting straight up. I think the best lighting is at dusk (just enough light to give the sky a dark blue cast) with the tower lit by artificial light. A tripod is a necessity and you can get close enough to the tower to make the shot work on the west side.

Poli Sci: A classic example of communist inferiority complex embodied in architecture.

Stadtgericht: Courts of Justice. Outside the building is nothing to look at, but inside is a great example of Viennese Secession architecture. The staircases are ornate and very photogenic. I didn’t roam beyond the atrium area because I don’t know what goes on in the building and since I don’t really speak German, I would have a hard time explaining myself if I went somewhere I shouldn’t have.

Photography: I shot the staircases and the atrium from the ground up. I got low (down on my knees) to use perspective to convey the majesty of the staircases as well as for practical purposes…the atrium was too tall to get it all in even at the low end of my zoom if I shot from head height.

Poli Sci: N/A

Franziskaner Klosterkirche: Franciscan Friary Church. Ruins of a Franciscan Friary bombed during WWII. Other than the fact that they are ruins, I don’t really see much significance to them.

Parochialkirche: Parish Church. A great example of the maxim ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’ The exterior of this large church looks more like a modern apartment building than anything else, rather modern and boring. Go inside however, and the simplicity of the church is strangely impressive. Bare floors, rough brick walls, a simple wicker cross, humble pulpit, and chairs. Not much else. No climate control or artificial lighting. The ceiling, such at it is, rises 50 feet above you and is crisscrossed by unfinished wood beams. I’m not a religious man, but the church struck me. It seems to me if you’re going to worship god, it should be as simply and as close to nature as possible. The church, despite its modern exterior, was in fact nothing more than a roof and four walls. It would be difficult to get much more simple or closer to nature and still be in a building. Of all the churches I saw this one was the most ‘spiritually’ impressive.

Photography: The massive size of the interior makes it difficult to get the whole thing in one shot. I focused on the cross and pulpit area. I also tried to play around a bit with the lighting given the stark nature of the interior.

Poli Sci: N/A

Stadtmauer: Old Berlin city wall. Nothing to look at but the remnants of Berlin’s ancient city wall. I saw nothing to photograph, and nothing of political significance. It seems to be to be one of those things that you see so you can say you saw it. If one was pressed for time, seeing it should not make the to-do list.

Oh yeah, I shouldn't forget St. George...

Museum Island: Immediately west of the East of Centre section is Museum Island. An island in the sense that the Spree river borders it on one side while canals demarcate the other two sides of this triangle slice of land, the most prestigious of Berlin’s museums can be found here. The Berliner Dom, Berlin’s requisite big church, is on the south-eastern part of the island.

Schlossbrücke: Bridge connecting Museum Island to the Unter den Linden section of the city. Designed by Friedrich Schinkel, the bridge has some excellent bronze work as well as 8 notable statues. As in other parts of the city, Berlin’s bridges actually made out quite well in WWII, avoiding significant amounts of damage, so the bridge here is the real deal.

Photography: The metal figures of seahorses and mermaids set in the side of the bridge make for nice detail shots while the statues present an opportunity to work with framing. The statues are wonderful works of art, but they are isolated against the sky, so I shot them on one side of the frame leaving open sky in the direction of their gaze.

Poli Sci: More Greek god figures (see Neptunbrunnen commentary)

Berliner Dom: Berlin Cathedral. An impressive cathedral rebuilt after WWII. We got in for the 4 Euro student entry fee. A nice part of the entry fee was the opportunity to climb up to a walkway around the main dome. From there we had a nice view of the city, and the weather was descent for a change, so we got some nice pictures too. On the way out of the church we saw the Hohenzollern family crypt. The sarcophagi of the kings had their crowns from life on top of them. We were in a hurry so I didn’t get to look at them as much as I wanted, and got no photographs.

Photography: Inside the cathedral, I was able to use a tripod from on of the overlook seating areas, which suited my purposes. Everything is pretty accessible visually, and the overlooks get less people traffic. The only downside is that when people do come through they vibrate the floor, which produces motion blur in long exposure shots. The church doesn’t have an abundance of light, so a tripod is necessary or high ISO. I didn’t try to use a tripod on the main floor, and I suspect that the cathedral staff would have gotten cranky with me if I did. I don’t know if it is disrespectful to take photos in the crypt (the dead don’t care…) but since I didn’t have an opportunity to take any pictures, I don’t know whether camera flashes get frowns. I didn’t see a lot of people with cameras out.

Poli Sci: N/A

Altes Museum: Old Museum. One of the five main museum on the island, the Altes has a lot of Egyptian artifacts, including a fairly famous bust of Nefertiti. Most of the exhibits are in German, so I didn’t spend a lot of time reading. There was a neat historical overview of ancient Greece in the Ancient Greece section. In general, the Altes was like most museums…a bunch of really old stuff that faded from my memory soon after I saw it. If I was pressed for time, I would skip it.

Photography: Snapshots.

Poli Sci: It is fascinating to think about the ability of people long since dead to make interesting stuff, but for me it had no more significance than that.

Alte Nationalgalerie: Old National Gallery. Pretty much like most other art museums in the world. There were a few paintings I thought interesting, and I took pictures of them mostly so I can look them up on the internet and order prints or posters if they don’t cost too much. Like the Altes Museum, if you are pressed for time skip it. I did find here the basis for the comment, received quite regularly when I had long hair, that I looked like Jesus. Inside is a painting of a red haired Jesus. I have to admit, much as I appreciated the compliment (although, they could have been suggesting I be nailed to a cross…) the idea that Jesus would have red hair and pale skin is pretty far fetched. I would imagine he looked a lot more like, oh I don’t know, a native of the Middle East.

Photography: Snapshots.

Poli Sci: N/A

Pergamonmuseum. This one was freaking awesome. Some German road engineer in Greece in the early 1900’s found the remains of the Pergamon Alter. Scholars knew about it from ancient Greece era epic poems that spoke about the amazing carvings that ran around the base of the alter. The Germans excavated what was left of the alter and brought it back to Berlin. The Pergamonmuseum is specially built to house the remains. It has a full scale mock up of the front of the alter, with the relief carvings running around the room. The free audio guide gave detailed explanations of what was occurring in every scene of the relief. I found it absolutely incredible what the artisans who worked on this thing over 2000 years ago were able to do. Really amazing. The museum also has a lot of full size temple columns from ancient Greece as well as the Ishtar gate from Babylon and a number of Islamic artifacts. The most impressive Islamic artifact was the outer wall of an ancient city in Jordan. The level of detail was extraordinary. Also in the museum collection was a glazed tile mihrab used to point the Muslim faithful in the direction of Mecca. It is difficult to see in the photo, but the metallic glaze used over 700 years ago is eye-popping. This was by far Janelle and my favorite museum.

Photography: Low lighting (to prevent damage I assume) makes photos difficult. I didn’t try to use a tripod, so increasing the ISO was the only option. Many of the relics on display are very large, making a wide angle zoom very helpful. In the end I found it difficult to do more than take snapshots, but the museum and its contents are so extraordinary I was willing to settle.

Poli Sci: Not being an expert in ancient Greek politics I can’t really add much here.

Unter den Linden (Under the lime trees): This is the historic main street in Berlin. When the Hohenzollern family was running the show in Prussia/Germany, Unter den Linden ran from their palace/castle to their royal park and hunting grounds in Tiergarten. At various times in the past the road has been used as a parade ground, and the historic lime trees were torn up sometime in the 1800’s and only recently replanted (four across, one on each side of the four lane road and two in the median). One of the main universities in Berlin is on Unter den Linden, as are some tourist shops and some very expensive automobile dealerships (some cheaper ones too…Volkswagen, Peugeot, etc…).

Deutsches Historisches Museum: German National History Museum. The amount of material in this museum is massive. I was here for 3 hours and barely got through one section (interwar Germany) . I breezed through the WWI section, and basically blew off the rest of the museum, which covers German history from BC to the present. Almost everything has English captions, making it very difficult for those like me who read everything. I think I could have spent two whole days in there and maybe hit most of it. It isn’t just that they have a bunch of stuff…its very educational. For example, those who say that democratic processes led the rise of Hitler don’t know what they are talking about. Then German President von Hindenburg (WWI war hero) had been consolidating power in the presidency in a conscious effort to de-democratize the German state for years. In the years leading up to the fateful 1933 elections, there were running street battles between the communists and national socialists (Nazis). While there was a vote in 1933, I don’t think anyone would classify it as part of a functional democracy. Even so, I thought it was interesting that while the Nazis did get a plurality of the vote, they did not get an outright majority. Hitler’s ability to take control of the country as he did came from the incredibly weak democratic institutions of the Weimar republic (the Reichstag basically disempowered itself on Hitler’s command). In part they were weak because von Hindenburg actively undermined and disempowered them. In part, they were introduced into a country from the top down with very little public support. The Weimar republic was introduced in the failing days of WWI, and returning soldiers in particular, who would later provide significant strength to the Nazis, were unhappy with the change. Anyway, the museum is a gem and worth as much time as you can give it.

Photography: None of any significance

Poli Sci: The United States could learn something from the German approach to their history. The Germans are brutally honest about what happened in WWII. Jews weren’t just killed, they were murdered. That is the language the Germans use. They make it very clear that Germans and their leaders purposely did really awful things. There is no effort at all to gloss over the past or to dissemble. It was a refreshing contrast to the United States, where the role of slavery is downplayed, treatment of Native Americans is all but neglected, and American foreign policy is downright whitewashed (quick, show of hands—how many of you know the US occupied and brutally repressed the Philippines for 50 years? Anyone?). This is not to say America is all bad—of course it isn’t, just like Germany isn’t. What it does mean that history should be reflected honestly in the museums and classrooms. We can’t learn from our mistakes if we either forget about them or bleach them of all darkness until they don’t matter.

Neue Wache. Right next to the German National History museum is the German national war memorial, dedicated to victims of war and dictatorship. In the US we have Arlington National Cemetery, with the pageantry associated with the tomb of the unknown soldier. In France, they mourn the lost generation of WWI at the Arc de Triomphe. The German effort is more solemn, and in some ways more appropriate. Inside an ornate classically styled building which used to function as a guardhouse sits a single statue in the center of a field of tiles. The sculpture, called ‘Mother with Son’ I think, is of a mother holding her injured or dead son. Nothing else adorns the inside of the building, and the statue is lit only by a single, circular skylight. An informational plaque on the exterior of the building indicated that an unknown soldier from WWII is buried there, in soil from a WWII battlefield, as well as the body of a concentration camp victim, likewise in soil from a concentration camp. The monument is a testament the fact that in the end, once all the bravado and jingoism is set aside, war is about loss. Sometimes war is necessary, but it should never be sought.

Photography: Neue Wache is a powerful place, and its simplicity offers an opportunity to try to capture the feeling of being there. The lighting is poor, and I didn’t feel setting up a tripod would be appropriate, so I bumped up my ISO and did the best I could. You can see I felt the best angle was down low, so I basically held my camera close to ground and shot blind.

Poli Sci: I already covered this above I think.

Deutsche Guggenheim: This the German extension of the Guggenheim. On Monday’s it has free admission, so I went on Monday. I’m glad I didn’t pay. The exhibit through April is called True North, and while it is interesting, it is small and not really worth an entrance fee. I didn’t take any pictures, but there were some on display. My favorite I think was a photo of a some snow covered hills that the photographer had skied across to reveal the topography.

Bebelplatz: You know in the last Indiana Jones Movie (Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade) when the Germans are burning books and Sean Connery tells the double crossing female archeologist that Germans should reading books instead of burning them? Well Bebelplatz is the actual plaza where they burned the books. In the center, underground and visible through a square of Plexiglas, is a white room filled with empty white bookcases, a memorial of regret for that most vulgar act. Next to the Plexiglas square is a plaque with a quote by the poet Heinrich Heine – “Where books are burned, in the end people will burn.” There isn’t much else to see, but the thought of being in such a place, as an academic, was stomach turning.

Photography: None. Just experience being there.

Poli Sci: The book burning reminds me of the total effort the Nazis made to control the thoughts of the public. Those who disagreed were vilified, reconstructed as threats to security and enemies of the state. Broadcasts of rallies showed thousands of people eagerly hanging on every word of their Nazi leadership and cheering jubilantly, making it seem to doubters that they were alone in their concerns. It reminds me of the efforts the Bush administration to control what government scientists tell the public and speeches and political rallies where the crowd is carefully screened to exclude anyone who might disagree. Just to make sure its clear I’m not just picking on Bush, there are reports that Hillary Clinton has done the same thing, and maybe all politicians do these days. Any way you cut it, its wrong. Political leaders should have to confront, on a regular basis, those who disagree with them and explain their policy positions. Leave mind control to the evil.

Französischer Dom/Konzerhaus/Deutscher Dom: French Cathedral/Concert House/German Cathedral. These three buildings make up a pleasant square off Unter den Linden. While I didn’t have time to go in any of them, the square makes for a very nice panorama shot. The statue in the middle is of the German poet Schiller. The French Cathedral was build by French Huguenot fleeing persecution in Catholic France and the Germans built similar cathedral as a gesture of support I guess.

Brandenburger Tor: Brandenburg Gate. I think this is probably almost as iconic for Berlin as the Arc de Triomphe is for Paris. It is one of those things that you have to see when in Berlin. The East Germans let it fall into disrepair and it and the surrounding square have been restored since the unification. The best time to shoot this is at night in my opinion. Unless you have a helicopter, straight on is the best angle I think. It is really difficult to get any shots without people in them.

I did notice something very interesting on my way to Brandenburg Gate. Both the US Embassy and the British Embassy are on Unter den Linden. The security measures taken for each embassy were symbolic of the psyche of the different peoples:

Note the differences. The US Embassy (top) is bunkered down. The message is clear: go away. We are afraid. The UK Embassy (bottom) takes a different approach. Bollards in the road block serious threats, but don't stop people from passing through. The message: there are threats in the world, but we are not going to live in fear.

Holocaust Denkmal: Holocaust memorial. I remember when the design for this was chosen a few years back. As I recall, it was controversial. In so many ways, this memorial is what it should be. It consists of a trapezoidal plot of land covered in rectangular columns. The dimensions of the columns are exactly the same except the height, which varies somewhat randomly, with those in the middle as a general rule taller than those at the edge. They are arrayed precisely in line along the x and y axes (that is, there are alleys or walkways between the columns that run from one edge of the memorial to the other uninterrupted in both the east-west and north-south orientations). The ground under the columns is rolling, with significant changes in elevation. There is no reason for the number of columns: their number has no symbolic meaning at all. The perfection lies in the memorial’s effort to address the political dynamic of the Holocaust. Internally, the vision of the world presented by the Nazis had a structure, a purpose, its own kind of rationality. That is represented in the precise geometry of the columns as well as in their precise alignment. But, underneath the façade of rationality is a deep and fundamental irrationality, represented in the random number of columns, the rolling ground, and the unpredictability of the column heights. The core, the substance of the memorial, the ground and the columns on top of it, are deeply irrational. In this way I think the memorial addresses the most dangerous aspect of the Holocaust. In every society there are people who would do horrible things. That is not controversial, and while the acts they may perpetrate are awful and historical for the victims, they are not awful and historical on the scope of society. What Hitler and the Nazis were able to do was perpetrate acts of such horror and scale so as to make them horrible and historical on the scale of societies. Moreover, they were able to bring with them on their insane journey many people who, on their own, would not commit such acts. What differentiates the singular madman/woman from the Nazis? The political process. It was through the political dynamic that the Nazis were able to be awful and historical at the level of society. It is the political process, how the Nazis manipulated it to achieve their ends, that is all to easily forgotten. It is just as important as the victims, who are remembered underneath the memorial is a museum outlining the progression of Nazi holocaust policy on the human level. Included in the museum are stories of families caught up in the Holocaust as well as diary entries from victims inside the concentration camps.

Tiergarten: This used to be the Hohenzollern private picnic area and hunting grounds. Now it’s a largely forested city district. There are a couple interesting monuments. One to Soviet soldiers who died taking Berlin in WWII. Included at the monument are the first two Soviet tanks to role into Berlin. The other monument is to Otto von Bismark, the first German Chancellor. It arguably his strategic brilliance that enabled the German unification without prompting a major European war, and it was arguably his absence that allowed the far less intellectually gifted Kaiser Wilhelm II to lead Germany into WWI.

Potsdamer Platz. A commercial redevelopment of an area in Berlin that was all the rage in the 1920’s. Now companies like Sony have a major presence. I thought it was notable for the architecture. This was the first place I encountered the ghostly outlines of the Berlin Wall. Janelle and I were here a couple times to watch movies in German. She’s fluent, but I had no clue what was going on. On the bright side, watching a movie in a language you don’t understand really forces you to focus on the visual aspects of movies if you want to get some idea of the plot.

Siegessäaule: Triumphal Column. You can see this thing all the way from Brandenburg Gate. The Nazi’s apparently moved it its current location because it got in the way of their master city scheme. It commemorates German war victories at the end of the 19^th century that resulted in the unification of Germany. For a couple Euro you can climb up to the top, which I did (the cashier looked long and hard at my student ID…did I mention Germans aren’t the friendliest?). I thought it was interesting that there appeared to be bullet scars on the marble columns at the base. Analytically, I thought it was very interesting that outside Berlin’s premier monument to German military prowess flew three flags: the German, EU, and Irish flag (I have no idea why the Irish flag was flying). Of particular note is the presence of the EU flag, an institution who, along with its predecessors (EC, ECSC), has played a critical role in preventing another major European War.

I’m running out of steam here, so I’m just going to summarize the rest of Berlin…

Kreuzberg. Location of the Berlin Wall checkpoint in the U.S. sector of the city, Checkpoint Charlie. Also in Kreuzburg is the last standing sections of the all as well as an outdoor narrative of the humanitarian atrocities and horrors perpetrated by the Nazis and East German government (Topographies des Terrors). The wall below is the last remaining portion of the original Berlin Wall.

Kurfürstendamm: The Berlin Zoo is located in this sector. Nice as zoos go, although at 9 Euro for students, it pales in comparison to the U.S. National Zoo in D.C. (free). You can get pretty close to the elephants, and we were able to see the lionesses and their cubs being fed. The male lion was quite unfriendly...while Janelle and I were looking at the cubs, I saw a stream of something come out of his cage and hit bystanders. You can guess what it was. Can't miss Knut the Cute :) (although he has outgrown the cute part). Also here is the Kaiser Wilhelm Gadächtnis Kirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Church). During the Nazi regime it was one of the bases of religious opposition to the regime. It was largely destroyed in WWII and instead of being rebuild the skeleton was left and a new church and belltower were constructed beside it. The new church and belltower are constructed using a grid of reinforced concrete with multicolored (mostly blue) glass in the grid squares. Quite a unique church.

Schloss Charlottenburg: The only thing I saw here was the outside of the palace by the same name (with Janelle). It was pretty pricy to get in, and we had a nice time walking in the free gardens behind the palace, so no regrets here.

Well that’s it. If you made it this far thanks for reading. There are a lot of places I didn’t see despite my fairly disciplined sightseeing (mostly art museums). If you have any comments, please feel free to leave them so I know you were here!

UCLA's new coach

Well I see, while USC is handily defeating Illinois, that our erstwhile rival UCLA has hired Rick Neuheisel as their new coach. This is just the latest in a series of unfortunate decisions by the Bruins. First, they fired Karl Dorell, an apparently stand up guy. Then, they went and hired a less than stand up guy in the form of Neuheisel. I got to the University of Colorado right after Neuheisel bailed, leaving behind enough secondary NCAA violations to put CU on suspension for two years. He also left behind a class of recruits whose parents he had just assured that he would be at CU to coach their kids. No surprise that he left the University of Washington under and ethics cloud. The LA Times has details. The main point is that Neuheisel is a less than inspiring leader and a poor role model. Contrast that with Pete Carroll, who regularly goes out into the rougher parts of LA to chat with young men facing hard times, sending a message that somebody important cares about them. Contrast that with Pete Carroll, who takes a mentally challenged, desperately poor young man under his wing, making him the special assistant to the head coach. Long story short: USC will continue to steamroll UCLA for years to come.

On Flying in the United States

Holiday Greetings to my loyal readers (which means I'm talking to myself here). I have just recently returned from the internet desert that is my parents-in-law's house, which explains my long internet absence. As you know, my wife and I live in Oxford, UK, so the holidays equals airline travel. In the past month I have flown from Oxford to Atlanta via Amsterdam and from Atlanta to Durango, CO via Salt Lake City. How appropriate then that I stumbled upon an opinion piece in the New York Times blog by Patrick Smith. In it, Smith addresses the current lunacy that is airport security in the US. I provide a few relevant quotes:

Unfortunately, at concourse checkpoints all across America, the madness of passenger screening continues in plain view. It began with pat-downs and the senseless confiscation of pointy objects. Then came the mandatory shoe removal, followed in the summer of 2006 by the prohibition of liquids and gels. We can only imagine what is next. To understand what makes these measures so absurd, we first need to revisit the morning of September 11th, and grasp exactly what it was the 19 hijackers so easily took advantage of...What they actually exploited was a weakness in our mindset — a set of presumptions based on the decades-long track record of hijackings.

In years past, a takeover meant hostage negotiations and standoffs; crews were trained in the concept of “passive resistance.” All of that changed forever the instant American Airlines Flight 11 collided with the north tower. What weapons the 19 men possessed mattered little; the success of their plan relied fundamentally on the element of surprise. And in this respect, their scheme was all but guaranteed not to fail.

For several reasons — particularly the awareness of passengers and crew — just the opposite is true today.

How about this nugget for those, including me, who have had innocuous toothpaste confiscated:

“The notion that deadly explosives can be cooked up in an airplane lavatory is pure fiction,” Greene told me during an interview. “A handy gimmick for action movies and shows like ‘24.’ The reality proves disappointing: it’s rather awkward to do chemistry in an airplane toilet..."the idea that confiscating someone’s toothpaste is going to keep us safe is too ridiculous to entertain.”

Does the TSA really think these liquids are dangerous? No:

consider for a moment the hypocrisy of T.S.A.’s confiscation policy. At every concourse checkpoint you’ll see a bin or barrel brimming with contraband containers taken from passengers for having exceeded the volume limit. Now, the assumption has to be that the materials in those containers are potentially hazardous. If not, why were they seized in the first place? But if so, why are they dumped unceremoniously into the trash? They are not quarantined or handed over to the bomb squad; they are simply thrown away. The agency seems to be saying that it knows these things are harmless. But it’s going to steal them anyway, and either you accept it or you don’t fly.

What does our willingness to tolerate TSA absurdity indicate about our society? Smith speculates:

rather than rethink our policies, the best we’ve come up with is a way to skirt them — for a fee, naturally — via schemes like Registered Traveler. Americans can now pay to have their personal information put on file just to avoid the hassle of airport security. As cynical as George Orwell ever was, I doubt he imagined the idea of citizens offering up money for their own subjugation...

How we got to this point is an interesting study in reactionary politics, fear-mongering and a disconcerting willingness of the American public to accept almost anything in the name of “security.” Conned and frightened, our nation demands not actual security, but security spectacle. And although a reasonable percentage of passengers, along with most security experts, would concur such theater serves no useful purpose, there has been surprisingly little outrage. In that regard, maybe we’ve gotten exactly the system we deserve.

I'll relate my own travel stories, two of them. First, upon arrival from Amsterdam in Atlanta, TSA required me to go through the standard shoes off metal out of pockets screening. Upon arrival. That's right. I had gone through security at London Heathrow, again in Amsterdam, and still had to go through US security when I arrived in the US. If I was a terrorist, wouldn't I have done my evil deed before I reached the US? After all, I was on a plane for 10 hours before US security got me. And if I was planning on smuggling something into the US, there are much easier ways than taking an international flight into the US...like swimming over from the UK. I should at this moment note that the Europeans, long accustomed to the threat of terrorism, do not make travelers take off their shoes. At all. Even in the UK, where the retarded shoe bomber originated. That I should have to go through security yet again after all the hassle of flying is ridiculous beyond absurd.

Second, my wife and I went through security at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport on our way to visit her parents. Like 'good' travelers, we took off all non-essential clothing, which for my wife meant her Columbia jacket, which had in its innumerable pockets her boarding pass. I saw nowhere in the line up to the x-ray/metal detector a sign that said that we needed to keep our boarding passes on our person. After all, attentive security people checked our boarding passes against photo ID before we could even get into the security line. The only place I have seen the boarding pass/ID check carried out in similar repetitive fashion was in (authoritarian) China.

Back to the story. My wife went through the metal detector, where she was promptly asked for her boarding pass. Of course, it was trapped in the bowels of the x-ray machine. The TSA guard got belligerent. He harassed my wife for the boarding pass repeatedly, even though it was impossible for her to show it to him before the jacket came out of the x-ray machine. Her shoes come out first. As she set them down to put them on while waiting for the jacket, both the male TSA guard and another female TSA guard accosted her, telling her she could absolutely not put her shoes on before the boarding pass was displayed, as if she was going to make a break for it if she got her shoes on. When the jacket did come through, my wife put it on to facilitate her effort to retrieve the boarding pass. At this point, the male TSA guard began threatening her with a strip search. A strip search! For my wife, who posed no security threat and was simply trying to fulfill the request to produce her boarding pass. Needless to say, the guard's aggressive and belligerent manner was completely unwarranted and inappropriate. Unfortunately, we did not think to get his badge/ID number so we could place a complaint until after we were out of the security line.

What's the moral here? It is exactly what Smith gets at in the final quote above. Americans are so paralyzed by fear we are numb to the stupid policies of our elected leaders and the bureaucracies they control.

The Big Picture

Courtesy of the Economist. Leave it Bush to miss the big picture.

Even Camels need security

Courtesy of the BBC. I love that their military vehicle is a Ford extended cab. I wonder how much that cost to ship over there.

On Microsoft Vista and why I'm going to learn Linux

In a few days I will meet my new laptop for the first time (my old one was stolen by a bastard in Malta...a story for another time, maybe when I find out what the verdict in his trial is), a shiny new Toshiba courtesy of the Bannerman Foundation. In between revisions on fellowship essays, I have been looking into this whole Windows Vista thing, which comes stock on my new laptop. As the Queen (ah, another blog entry...British royalty, an exercise in the ridiculous) would say, we are not impressed. There are of course the usual problems of poor driver support and flaws in the operating system (OS) that cause problems (crashes, not behaving well with other programs, etc.). These are not unusual for a Microsoft OS release: Windows XP endured similar problems. These are not what bother me.

Two things bother me. First: the increasing hardware demands of Microsoft. Second, Microsoft's integration of digital rights management (DRM) in the OS. I'll address these in turn.

First, hardware demands. I am the only person I know who has a computer that can run Vista. The memory and graphics demands in particular are tremendous compared with XP. Sure, Vista Aero, the flashy new interface on Premium editions, is nice. But the OS running alone, nothing else, takes up over 500 MB of RAM. 500! that's HALF A GIGABYTE. That is incredible to me. As it is, my wife's laptop, my brother's desktop, my mother's desktop, and my stepfather's desktop would all have to be replaced in toto (well, maybe not the hard drives). That's an awful lot of expense on top of $200 for the Home Premium edition (there is a cheaper, non-Aero version, but then what's the point?). Here's the rub: in a couple years, they will have no choice as Microsoft phases out support for XP, leaving it increasingly vulnerable to security threats. What's more, even if you have the hardware to handle Vista's neediness, it seems just wasteful to have so much in the way of resources tied up at the get go. Imagine how much better your programs would run if Vista was less greedy. This resource intense approach seems to be the trend for Microsoft. Each major release of its Windows OS uses more resources than the last. It was the same upgrading from Windows 98/2000 to XP, but the leap this time is eye watering.

Second, Microsoft has decided to incorporate DRM into its OS in a major way. Ostensibly, DRM is designed to protect copyrighted content from 'evil' pirates. DRM 'protects' downloaded songs from iTunes. DRM has a history of causing problems. As you can see in the video I posted the other day, DRM doesn't interoperate well. Apple DRM doesn't talk to Sony DRM or IBM DRM and so on. An Australian IT website reports that Sony-BMG CDs with copy protection are incompatible with Mac, making it impossible for a Mac user who legally bought and owes the CD to listen to it on their legal iPod. Speaking of Sony, who doesn't remember the Sony CD spyware problem. I think its pretty clear that DRM, while it may be alright in concept, is at best problematic in execution. Peter Gutmann, a computer science professor at the University of Aukland has a long (and I mean long, with lots of detail) discussion of the problems surrounding DRM implementation in Vista. Fortunately, there is a shorter (if 80 slides is short) PDF of his PowerPoint presentation on the matter. I'll summarize it thus: Vista DRM implementation is an extremely bad idea, unlikely to work, certain not to work in the way it was conceived, and certain to cause real problems for users. DRM in a computer revolves around establishing secure information transmission pathways. That is, from the moment you engage the media (download a song, put in a DVD or CD, etc.) to the time the media is incident on your sensory capacities, the information cannot be accessed other than by secure hardware. The point is, in short, to keep you or anyone from being able to copy the information into a format that is not secure (and then ostensibly distribute the now unsecured movie or music on the internet). This means that every step of the processing chain must be secure, from the drive to the speakers or monitor. I'll provide a few examples. Imagine, if you will, that you have purchased a new, protected content CD. Let's say you want to listen to your new CD on your computer. The connection between your CD drive and your audio card is what is called S/PDIF connection, a verrrryyyyy common format and in many computer configurations the only connection between the CD drive and the audio card. It is also not secure. So if you put your new protected content CD in your computer, you won't hear a damn thing if you are using a S/PDIF connection. Here is another example from Gutmann's website:

The same issue that affects graphics cards also goes for high-resolution LCD monitors. One of the big news items at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2007), the world's premier event for consumer high-tech, was Samsung's 1920×1200 HD-capable 27″ LCD monitor, the Syncmaster 275T, released at a time when everyone else was still shipping 24″ or 25″ monitors as their high-end product [Note F]. The only problem with this amazing HD monitor is that Vista won't display HD content on it because it doesn't consider any of its many input connectors (DVI-D, 15-pin D-Sub, S-Video, and component video, but no HDMI with HDCP) secure enough. So you can do almost anything with this HD monitor except view HD content on it.

Wouldn't that suck. Long story short, Microsoft is flexing its monopolistic muscle to constrain, in a significant way, what we can do with our computers. I'm sorry, but if I have an iPod and a monstrous LCD monitor, I want nothing impairing my ability to take full advantage of them or anything else I use on my computer. Vista and DRM are a disaster in progress, and I don't want to play a part.

There is a third issue. The information revolution has been a boon for society. I don't begrudge corporations making money off the revolution, but I do begrudge companies controlling the revolution, and that is what Microsoft does. I'm not saying they are malicious. I'm sure the people at Microsoft are just doing their jobs, and they make some very good software, but their control of the operating system, and their ability from that vantage point to control a great many things, deeply bothers me. The opportunity for innovation is repressed. New ways of using computers, both hardware and software, are stillborn. As I said before, Mitchell Baker of the Mozilla Foundation, makers of Firefox, gets it right:

it's hard to replicate interest in public benefit as opposed to shareholder personal wealth

That is a profound statement. Shouldn't we be supporting organizations that work for the public benefit, generating new ideas and ways to improve our lives, over organizations that seek to enrich a few whenever we can? I'm not calling for communism here; corporations and the market play an important role in society. In fact, I think moving away from Microsoft's OS is enhancing and empowering the market. As it is, there is no market; its all Microsoft, all the time. So, when I get my new laptop, I'll be formatting the Vista off and replacing it with a dual boot system: Windows XP and Linux (I can't decide yet between Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or Kubuntu). Linux has come a long way, and in many aspects it surpasses Windows. The only drawback, as far as I can tell, is that games don't run well on Linux. I don't have much time for that sort of thing anyway, but for those of you that do, the more people that use Linux, the more game makers will pay attention to it. In case you want to join me, I've provided some useful links:

How to replace Windows with Linux

How to install a dual boot system (with Windows XP already installed)

Ubuntu 7.10: Gutsy Gibbon

Linux mint 4.0

Oh yeah, and for those of you who want your computer to look very sleek, well Linux outshines Vista. And for those of you with older computers, Linux is very older computer friendly because its resource demands are orders of magnitude smaller than Windows Vista.

Thomas Friedman Gets it Right

I wrote last week in my guise as a constructivist IR blogger that Thomas Friedman had lost his mind. Apparently he found it again. His December 5 op-ed on the United States through the eyes of Iranian intelligence is absolutely stellar. I provide the three reasons the US is on a path to self-destruction:

First, 9/11 has made America afraid and therefore stupid. The “war on terrorism” is now so deeply imbedded in America’s psyche that we think it is “highly likely” that America will continue to export more fear than hope and will continue to defend things like torture and Guantánamo Bay prison and to favor politicians like Mr. Giuliani, who alienates the rest of the world.

Second, at a time when America’s bridges, roads, airports and Internet bandwidth have fallen behind other industrial powers, including China, we believe that the U.S. opposition to higher taxes — and the fact that the primary campaigns have focused largely on gay marriage, flag-burning and whether the Christian Bible is the literal truth — means it is “highly unlikely” that America will arrest its decline.

Third, all the U.S. presidential candidates are distancing themselves from the core values that made America such a great power and so different from us — in particular America’s long commitment to free trade, open immigration and a reverence for scientific enquiry wherever it leads. Our intel analysts are baffled that the leading Democrat, Mrs. Clinton, no longer believes in globalization and the leading Republican, Mr. Huckabee, never believed in evolution.

Clear-eyed genius.