"The final solution to the Jewish Problem" : the Wansee House

For our last full day in Germany we went to the Wansee house. This is where the Nazi officially decided to commit genocide. Minutes were taken at this meeting (notes) and there was a movie created based in those minutes. I've seen the movie twice, which was actually filmed here, so it was creepy being here on so many levels.

This is the actual room where the meeting took place.

Jen and I out back of the house waiting for the group.

Wansee is just outside of Berlin and is a gorgeous lake side community. The houses are large and almost everyone has a best in the lake. It's so sad to think that such horrible choices were made in such a beautiful place.

Inside the house there is a museum exhibit, which was very interesting. I was also able to walk the grounds. It was a lot cooler today than it has been but the sun was still warm. I sat outside on the lake for at least a half hour reflecting on all that I saw this week.

When we returned to the city I packed up most of my things. At 3:00 Amy and I were meeting a friend of a friend at the Holocaust Memorial. Michael, who we were meeting is... Now follow me here because it gets confusing... My day's best friend from high school, cousins, former co-worker. He's been living in Berlin since August and was going to show us around a bit after the museum.

We were in the Holocaust Museum for close to an hour. I think this was my favorite museum we have gone to. The audio guide was excellent and it was very well put together. The museum is below the memorial and it reflects what is above,this was definitely my favorite place we went and I will be doing my museum review for my portfolio on this museum.

 

 

We had to wait to get in to the Holocaust Museum so we were running short on time. We decided to get a cab instead of public transportation. Michael took Amy and I over to the last remaining section of the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery. The wall is painted by many different artists and was really cool. We followed the wall then crossed the river into a different part of the city. This area was very cool- it was very artsy with lots of graffiti. Amy and I were very excited to see such a different part of the city.

 

 

From there Amy and I said bye to Michael because we were meeting the rest of the group for one final dinner together. We ate outside and it was a lot of fun to all eat together on our last night.  Here is Janet and I!

I can't believe the week is over and we leave tomorrow. The wake up call is at 5:30am... I better get to bed!!!

:-)