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Berlin Trip

Field trips to historical places are a very important part of the Germany SST experience. At carefully selected sites, Wofgang Bathe and Bernd Zickler of Jenakolleg, tour guides and lecturers explain the German past and present. The three-day trip to Berlin was a highlight. We experienced life at a fast pace, as we covered three centuries of history and large parts of the city on foot, by boat on the River Spree, on a three-hour bus tour, by U-Bahn and by city bus. From the end of World War II until the fall of the wall Berlin was two cities, West Berlin and East Berlin, and for 29 years the two were separated by a tightly guarded wall, probably the most secure political border that has existed any place in the world. Now the two cities are growing together, as exemplified by the development of the super modern Potsdamer Platz, until a few years ago lying in a desolate wasteland right at the border.

We attended a brief noon service in the Berliner Dom, an imposing Bismarckian structure, where we sang a German hymn with the congregation to the accompaniment of the powerful organ. Erin and Angie in front of the Schiller statue at the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt. The Konzerthaus is a Schinckel structure built in 1819, then badly damaged during World War II and renovated and reopened in 1984.
The museum highlights were the Pergamon Museum and the Jewish Museum. Here is the Jewish Museum, designed by the American, Daniel Libeskind. The building itself is an experience with its long steep corridors, the inside of the holocaust tower and the garden of exile as it exemplifies the history of the Jews. There are also many highly informative and interesting exhibits about Jewish life in Germany dating back to the Middle Ages and earlier. In various places in Berlin one finds memorials to the Jews. This plastic group depicts helpless Jews awaiting transport to an unknown location - a concentration or death camp.
We climbed into the new glass cupola - a symbol of the transparency post-war Germany has pursued in its policies - sitting atop the old Reichstag, which has served as the seat of government for the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, and, since reunification, for the present government. Our bus tour took us past a segment of the Wall, maintained as a memorial.
At the Hackescher Markt we visited the statue of the two socialist philosophers, Marx and Engels, in former East Berlin, of course. Shortly after the Wende, the square, which had been called Marx-Engels-Platz in Socialist time, was again given its pre-war name, Hackescher Markt. The boat trip took us past many of the new as well as former government buildings. Here is the new German "white house," Chancellor Schroeder's residence, which, for its appearance, is lovingly called "the national washing machine." Berliner's enjoy such names for important buildings, including "Jimmy Carter's smile" or "the pregnant oyster" for the U..S.-built Kongresshalle.
Inside the Sony Center in the ultra-modern Potsdamer Platz. Our own artist Ben posing beside one of the modern sculptures at Potsdamer Platz.



Eisenach and Arnstadt

A week after the Berlin trip we headed west to visit Luther and Bach country.

Also at Arnstadt, the church organist gave us a detailed and loving introduction to the two organs housed in the old Stadtkirche: a baroque organ (30 percent original parts from the time of Bach) and a romantic organ for post-1850 music. The former was perched on the third level with all its beautiful pipes and angels and twirling stars, the latter on the second level concealed behind a fabric screen.

Dan Stutzman on the wall outside of the Wartburg castle. The rooms of this castle and its legends are awesome. We'll long remember singing "Joyful, joyful . . ." in the large Romantic Festsaal famous for its Minnesänger tradition and its wonderful acoustics. And our guide did her best to join in to the Beethoven tune! Inside the walls of the castle. This is where Martin Luther stayed through the generosity of the ruler when there was a bounty on his head. During 10 weeks of his 10-month stay there Luther translated the New Testament into German, thus allowing the ordinary literate German to read Scripture for himself, while standardizing written German for all time. Perhaps the Wartburg brought to Luther's mind the image of "a mighty fortress" his hymn by that name!
The house where Luther lived with his relatives while a student in Eisenach. The other famous resident of Eisenach, about 200 years younger that Luther, was Johan Sebastion Bach. We visited the museum here in the city of Bach's birth and heard a variety of musical keyboard in a special small concert. Dan King got to operate the bellows for a small organ. This is a statue of the mature Bach at the museum.
An important visitor to Eisenach five years ahead of us was none other than President Bill Clinton. Here Ben finds the plaque commemorating this event. Clinton told a crowd of 30,000: " . . . never underestimate what you can achieve with your dreams as a free people." The woman hired to give Bill Clinton the tour of the Wartburg was also our guide! Eisenach is a city rich in tradition. Here is Chris at a city well decorated for the Brunnenfest, a festival celebrating life-giving water! (The Germans are still exemplary in their use and conservation of water!)
On the return from Eisenach we stopped in Arnstadt, the city where the young Johann Sebastion Bach had his debut, for it was here where at the age of 18, thanks to the influence of his many Bach relatives there, that he had the opportunity to tune the new organ and become the organist at the Stadtkirche. The recent somewhat controversial statue of Bach shows him as a youth of 18 who exudes a carefree somewhat slovenly attitude that, supposedly, characterizes many young people, even geniuses! Here Phil, Jennifer, and the two Dans, all four musicians, show their admiration, reverence and appreciation.